Score one for advertising, and for anti-advertising too.

Plenty of campaigns—in all sorts of styles, themes and textures—found the perfect formula of idea and execution to produce something brilliantly compelling in 2014. But it was Droga5 and Newcastle Brown Ale's meta takedown of the industry, and its biggest night, that represented the pinnacle of ad creativity this year.

Droga5's Under Armour campaign also makes our top 10 list this year—the only agency with two entries. And in fact, it was a strong year for sports advertising generally—largely thanks to the World Cup, from which we've included our favorite execution.

Elsewhere in our top 10, we have a prank, a food spot, more comedy, a Christmas ad, a short film, a celebration of family and a brutal PSA. Four spots came from outside the U.S., and fifth was made without an agency at all. Also, there's not a single traditional 30-second spot in the bunch, as if we needed more proof that the shape of advertising is changing.

See the full top 10 list below. And congratulations to all the agencies and marketers for making the year's best work, and raising the bar for everyone.