Apple's latest iPhone 5 commercial — starring U.S. tennis stars Venus Williams and Serena Williams — landed with a thud on January 1st, touting the iOS 6 "Do Not Disturb" feature just as users discovered bugs were still being worked out.

Allstate's 2012 Thanksgiving campaign thanks its insurance agents (such as Frank Vento and Lilian Rodriguez, whose own home was flooded; watch their stories, below) for going above and beyond during super storm Sandy. Any other Thanksgiving campaigns you'd note today? Post a comment below. Allstate's message:

Sandy was one of the most devastating storms to hit our country in the last 50 years. Over 50 million Americans in 20 states were impacted. Today, Allstate would like to thank the over 1,000 Allstate Agents who worked around the clock, helping customers before, during and after, super storm Sandy. All of you truly are, Agents of Good. Share their good works with others.Continue reading...

Google is touting its voice-activated search app in a new TV campaign. Above, a mom scrambles to pull together a costume based on the eighth president of the United States — Martin Van Buren, with an assist from her Nexus tablet — and below, a replacement baseball umpire gets a little help from the app on his Android phone to refresh his memory on the rules:Continue reading...

Apple's 2012 Thanksgiving TV commercial ("Turkey," above) highlights the iPhone 5 Shared Photo Stream function of iOS 6 ("it's as easy as pie"), with a music track that references its new "Orchestra" spot, below, and its earlier iPhone 5 commercials. The narrator is, once again, actor Jeff Daniels, whose HBO series The Newsroom returns in June.Continue reading...

Forget taking on the Buick Verano or the Chrysler 200. The latest U.S. commercial for the 2013 Dodge Dart TV ("How to make a car safe for an unsafe world," below) puts the model to the test in the event of a giant lizard attack. Now we're talking! Other commercials in the campaign include a kick-off spot with Red Bull Racing driver Travis Pastrana, and another new spot titled, "How to make a great car interior."Continue reading...

Chrysler released a trio of new "Imported from Detroit" commercials touting the 2013 Chrysler 300: "Show up," above, and below, "A Title You Can Earn" and "Advice." The automaker is planning a special edition of the Chrysler 200 with Eminem, whose 2011 Super Bowl commercial for the brand introduced the tagline.Continue reading...

TED’s third cycle of “Ads Worth Spreading,” winners were tested this time around by Ace Metrix amongst U.S. consumers on a broad set of criteria including, Persuasion, Watchability and Emotional Sentiment.

“We sought out ads that were driven by ideas,” said TED Curator Chris Anderson in a press release. “At TED, we’ve seen the power of imagination and innovation. We want to reward companies that have invested in longer-form, beautifully crafted campaigns that value human attention and intelligence, and take the time to tell a thought-provoking story.”

A qualitative and quantitative view of each ad’s performance, along with insights from the creatives behind the winning ads and the nomination teams that chose them is available here.Continue reading...

Old Navy debuted its latest commercial Wednesday night, featuring Joan Rivers and Mario Cantone. The pitch: "Old Navy is bringing bold color back with Little Bold Dresses. They come in so many colors, your go-to dress this fall might be green, pink, blue, red or purple. Starting at $19 for women and just $15 for girls, even critics Mario Cantone and Joan Rivers can't help but agree that bold is the new black."