The Globe and Mail

Canada's top creative directors have chosen Dove's "Evolution" as the best Canadian ad of the year. The 75-second spot, which shows how advertisers use digital editing to create phony models never ran on television or in movie theatres. Instead, it has been viewed almost five million times on YouTube.

The creative directors who critique ads in the weekly Hard Sell feature helped me come up with a shortlist for the best and worst ads of the year, then voted on the list to determine the best and the worst.

When the votes came in the results were came in overwhelmingly in support of "Evolution" as the best and "Being Frank" -- an ad starring disgraced Olympian Ben Johnson -- as the worst.

My prediction for 2007: "Evolution" and "Vigil" will both do extremely well this year in international award shows, helping Canada to recover from a poor showing in 2006.

Here's how the votes came in:

The "best" shortlist:

• Becel's "Broken Escalator" by Ogilvy & Mather 10%
• Bell Solo's "Vigil" by Rethink 25%
• Dominion/A&P's "The Chosen One" by Rethink 0%
• Dove's "Evolution" by Ogilvy & Mather 65%
• Hockey Canada's "Dirty Hand" by DDB Canada 0%
• WWF's "Beautiful Day" by Draft FCB 0%

The "worst" shortlist:

• Cheetah Power Surge's "Being Frank" by D'Angelo Brands 90%
• Dairy Farmer's of Canada's "Protection" by Cossette Communications 10%
• SportChek's "Hockey Dad" by Venture Communications 0%