ADC Awards

ADC Annual Awards is the oldest continuously running industry award show in the world, with an incredible legacy of over 100 years. These awards celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design – all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship.

2025 ADC Awards - Illustration

Apple 100 Best Albums

Agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab / Los Angeles + Model Citizen + BeGrizzlee + MNFST

Client Apple

Category

Animation / Series

Annual ID

ADC104_ILT052M

For the first time, Apple Music unveiled its definitive list of the 100 Best Albums, curated by editors, musicians, and the press.
Released over 10 days, the challenge was to keep fans engaged—without using album names, art, artist names, or song titles.
Iconic gold artifacts served as cryptic clues, challenging listeners to decode each album—a secret language for true music fans.

The campaign launched in real time over a 10 day period with golden artifacts revealing across the internet and in person.


All iconic artifact was created with intention and specificity — crafted to represent an important element of each album. Throughout the design process, hidden details were included to pay tribute to the artists, album art, and its cultural impact.

Each day, artifacts were revealed in tandem with list reveal on three hand-painted murals near artists’ hometowns (LA, NYC, and LDN). In LA, the renowned minivan in front of Kendrick Lamar’s Compton home from the “good kid, m.A.A.d city” album (#7) was recreated in iconic gold, along with other LA native’s artifacts like Tyler, The Creator (#92) and Billie Eilish (#30). 


The stark composition, dramatically lit against black, paired with its album ranking evokes the permanence of a museum piece. Beyonce’s “Lemonade” (#10) is represented by a golden lemon styled as the emoji adopted by the Beyhive to support the album. It rotated in 3D, as if suspended in time, with a subtle buzzing sound as an additional clue for fans to uncover.

Paid placements invited fans to decode the artifacts and explore the list. Some were instantly recognizable, while others challenged even the most devoted superfans. After nine days of debate, the top 10 golden artifacts dropped in a single Apple Music Instagram post, igniting hours of fan speculation before the final album rankings were revealed.

2025 Awards

Total Points: 3

Merit Honor

Credits

Agency

TBWA\Media Arts Lab / Los Angeles

Production Company

Mnfst

Music / Sound Production Company

Model Citizen

Post Production Company

BeGrizzlee

Associate Creative Director

Tom Corcoran

Chief Digital Officer

Beth Keamy

Creative Director

Annie Rosen Savinar

Global Chief Creative Officer

Brent Anderson

Motion Designer

Pedro Silveira

Music Supervisor

Rowan Puri

Strategy Director

Helene Dick
Lauren Gary

Associate Music Supervisor

Gio Thomas

Global Head of Design

James Taylor

Junior Art Director

Bri Aguilar
Grace Hudson

Junior Copywriter

Dale Matthews
John Starkweather

Senior Designer

Jackie Rodriguez

Senior Motion Designer

Chris Balzano

Account Director

Celeste Roque

Account Supervisor

LuLu Shamberg
Rachelle Roldan

Associate Director, Project Manager

Pegah Ghannadian

Chief Communications Officer

Lu Borges

Communications manager

Daniella Morrison

Director of Art Production

Helen O'Neil

Director of Digital Production

Tracy George

Executive Director, Account Management

James McCullagh

Global Chief Production Officer

Brian O'Rourke

Group Account Director

Taren Talmage

Junior Digital Producer

Shannon Bradley

Junior Print Producer

Rita Elizarraraz

Music Coordinator

Gio Thomas

Music director

Josh Marcy

Project Manager

Heather Williams

Senior Art Producer

Nikki O'Toole

Senior Digital Producer

Sam Millare

Senior Print Producer

Anna Haro

Senior Project Manager

Adriana Monteiro

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