Agency: Ogilvy New York

Name of campaign: “Data Visualization”

Launch date: April 2010

Creative credits: Worldwide executive creative director: Susan Westre; executive creative directors: Tom Godici, Greg Ketchum; creative director/copywriter: Rob Jamieson; creative director/art director: Chris Van Oosterhout; production company/editorial: Motion Theory; executive producer: Lee Weiss

Why we liked it: If you can't figure out a way to get a puppy into an ad, a baby will do just fine. In this television spot, IBM Corp. features a cute newborn. But this baby isn't a borrowed-interest visual; the baby dramatizes how data can help predict the future and keep the baby healthier, the crux of IBM's “smarter planet” theme. In this case, the ad describes how data— “every heartbeat, every breath, every anomaly”—can be used to detect potentially life-threatening infections 24 hours sooner than previously possible. It's just one more in a series of consistently brilliant ads from IBM going back at least 15 years.