The year’s best advertising was saluted on June 5th at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at the annual gala AICP Awards celebration and screening. Since 1992, AICP has hosted this industry-wide celebration at MoMA to honor the winning work, which is annually made a part of the archives of the museum’s Department of Film.
Winners for the 2025 AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial, the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Post Awards premiered earlier in the week. The top winners in each competition – the AICP Show’s Advertising Excellence, the Next Awards’ Most Next winner and the Post Awards’ Best of Show honoree – were highlighted at a presentation at MoMA. The screening was followed by a gala celebration. The AICP Next Awards Premiere and Reception was held at The Times Center on June 3, 2025, with the AICP Show premiere screening on June 4th at MoMA, and the AICP Post Awards debut earlier in the day on June 5th at MoMA.
The winning entries for 2025, as well as each year’s collection of winners, can be viewed exclusively at www.aicpawards.com, the AICP Awards Archive website.
Judging for each of the three AICP Awards competitions were led by their respective Chairpersons: Patrick Milling-Smith, Co-Founder & CEO, SMUGGLER Group, and Chairperson of the AICP Show; Judy John, Global Chief Creative Officer at Edelman and Judging Chair for the AICP Next Awards; and James Razzall, President, Advertising North America of Framestore and Chairperson of the AICP Post Awards.
Milling-Smith and Razzall, along with AICP CEO Matt Miller, headlined tonight’s MoMA gala and shared the winners with an assembled audience from a cross-section of the industry, including marketers, agency, production and post production ranks executives and artists.
The AICP Show’s Top Honorees
The Advertising Excellence winner in the AICP Show went to “Flock” for Apple, directed by Ivan Zachariáš of SMUGGLER. The piece was also a winner in Animation, Concept, and Direction. The most-awarded production company in the AICP Show was SMUGGLER, with nine honors. ICONOCLAST scored seven nods, while MJZ earned five.
The most honored directors in the AICP Show for 2025 were: Vania and Muggia of ICONOCLAST, with five honors; Ivan Zachariáš of SMUGGLER with four wins; and David Shane of O Positive with three winning pieces in the Show. The Best New Director honor went to Leve Kuehl, for UNHCR’s “Through My Eyes,” a brand-direct piece produced by UPPERFAST, The Sweetspot and 27km. Kuehl now directs via The Sweetspot.
The most honored agency in the AICP Show was TBWA\Media Arts Lab, with seven honors, followed by Apple/Apple Marcom, with four honors. Mother had three winners. adam&eveDDB, AMV BBDO, Small, Special U.S. and Wieden+Kennedy each had two honors.
The most honored brand in the AICP Show was Apple, with 10 honors, followed by A$AP Rocky and Uber (Uber Eats & Uber One) with three wins in the Show.
The AICP Next Awards Top Winners
The Most Next honor, the AICP Next Awards’ Best of Show winner, went to IKEA Canada’s “SHT” created by Edelman Canada. The “SHT” campaign seeks to bring to light that Canadians consumers are being “taxed double” when buying second-hand items, which is unfair to consumers and counter to sustainability efforts of reusing products. The piece won in Creative Commerce and Public Relations, two categories new to the Next Awards for 2025.
As the winning entrant of Most Next, Edelman directed a $10,000 grant from the AICP Foundation to Off the Street Club, a Chicago-based organization offering a haven where kids can leave their worries behind and just be kids. Off the Street Club - Chicago’s first Boys and Girls Club - is dedicated to youth development and helping children escape the challenges of their environment.
The most honored agencies at the Next Awards this year were Edelman and FCB, each with five honors among its various offices. Earning three honors were Apple/Apple Marcom along with TBWA\Media Arts Lab; and Meta, Creative X, and Mojo Supermarket.
Leading the list of most honored production or development companies at the Next Awards this year with three honors each were The Mill; Sweetshop; and Mojo Supermarket. Apple Immersive Media; Division 7; Cadence Films; Indiana Production; Let it Rip; Picture North; and Rakish all earned two honors.
The most honored brands at the Next Awards with three wins each are: Apple; IKEA Canada; and Meta/Facebook. AB InBev - Michelob ULTRA. Coordown, Dramamine and Powerade each earned two honors.
The AICP Post Awards Top Winners
Winners of the AICP Post Awards acknowledge the work of the individual post production artists behind the winning pieces. The Best of Show winner this year went to Editor Sebastian Zotoff of MakeMake Entertainment/Rock Paper Scissors for Doechii’s “Denial is a River” music video. Carlos Acosta and James Mackel directed the video via LOTUM. The entry also won in the Editorial: Music Video category.
The most honored agency at the Post Awards was 4creative with two wins; and the most honored brands, with two honors each were Apple and Channel 4 Paralympics. The artist Doechii also earned two wins.
Sponsors help make all of the AICP Awards competitions and events possible. AICP Partners and Supporting Partners, who support all AICP events throughout the year, are Cast & Crew; Musicbed + Filmsupply; Universal Production Services; Wrapbook; Catch+Release; Film Hawaii; NEED Financial Services; Saturation.io; Sony Pictures Studios; and Warner Bros.
The list of 2025 AICP Awards Sponsors Benefactors includes: 1Park9; Apache Digital; Aspen Travel; Audio Spectrum; AwardCore; Be Electric; BIG Digital; Colorlab; Cutters; Directors Guild of America; Ellenoff Grossman & Schole LLP; Framestore; Heard City; Human; IDC; Istros Media Corporation; JMR Equipment Rentals; Kodak Motion Picture Film; LBBonline - Little Black Book; Optimus; Republic; SDN; SHOOT Magazine / SHOOTonline; Source Shots Slate; TCS, Inc.; WORK Editorial; and XR-NY.
The 2025 AICP Awards Patrons include The Roots Production Services; SAG-AFTRA; and Voices.
Framestore created the graphics and design language for all three competitions, with music and sound design produced by Human. All showreel editing was performed by Cutters.
Established in 1992, The AICP Show is the most important advertising showcase in the U.S. dedicated to excellence in craft. The AICP Post Awards, which debuted in 2001, honors excellence in a wide range of post production crafts and disciplines. And the AICP Next Awards, launched in 2007, highlights the winners of the 12 Next categories, which honor innovative marketing communications. Each show in the AICP Awards Suite is housed in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators.
Honorees of the AICP Show, The AICP Next Awards and The AICP Post Awards are preserved in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators.