We asked top creatives from the industry for their three favorite ads from the past 30 years, one per decade. Here are Cliff Freeman's picks.

1980s:
NYNEX
"If it's out there, it's in here"
Chiat/Day/Mojo

My choices for the best creative of each decade all fall under the "never saw it before, never saw it since" category -- exquisitely crafted, beautifully executed, emotionally powerful advertising art. "If it's out there, it's in here" concept, or I guess you could say campaign idea, for Nynex in the '80s is probably my favorite of the last 30 years. Nothing about it missed. You could pick your favorites (mine being probably "Furniture Stripping," "Dumb Waiters" and "Rock Drills"). Print also worked gangbusters.

As for the runners-up in this decade, the '80s were a long time ago and I was starting an agency, and all I remember is the "1984" commercial, which I think would overshadow all of the runners-up.





1990s:
CHANEL
"Share the Fantasy," "Egoiste"
In-house; director: Jean Paul Goude

The "Share the Fantasy" Egoiste spots from Jean Paul Goude for Chanel ... the visual personification of ego and hedonism as personified by a true visual artist. In the case of "Share the Fantasy," so spare and sleek with only a male, a female, a pool, an airplane overhead ... wow, unforgettable. The "Egoiste" spot springs forth from 40 different balconies of the Carlton Hotel in Cannes, as dazzling females in some sort of delirious emotional state shout out the word "Egoiste!" High praise for a new perfume from Chanel.

Runners-up for the '90s: Let's start with Nike, and let's follow with the Smith & Wollensky "Waiters" stuff. The Chevys restaurant "Fresh TV"-my favorite Goodby, Silverstein campaign, which is saying a lot when there's the "Got milk?" stuff (best and maybe only great thing Michael Bay ever directed). Bartles & Jaymes. Oh, and the really, really great ESPN SportsCenter stuff-my favorite being when Bill Bradley tried to get a job there and they asked him if he had ever done anything big and he said he had addressed the Democratic Convention, which was followed by, "No, we mean something really big." The original Snapple campaign. The Oakland Athletics stuff. And the Eveready batteries campaign.






2000s:
BURGER KING
"Whopper Freakout"
Crispin Porter + Bogusky

My original choice for the best ad of this decade was the Ikea spot "Lamp" out of Crispin, and my feeling and admiration for it were reflected in the opening paragraph of this opus. However, I changed my mind and have settled on "Whopper Freakout" for Burger King, also out of Crispin. It's about as far from "exquisite" as humanly possible -- shot, as we all know, from what looks like the vantage point of a security camera. But as a way of reawakening the latent Whopper obsession -- dynamite!

Runners-up for this decade: Let's start with Nike, and let's follow that up with the "Hate is good" work for Honda (how can this not be the best?). Loved the Mini campaign, love the current AT&T work (creative give me a call: 212-710-8660). Matt Vescovo's stuff. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association radio, as well as the Budweiser radio. The Xbox "Halo" work. Certain pieces of Geico. The Miller High Life work (another one of my personal favorites of all time), Sony PlayStation, Levi's, TracFone and Adidas.