Alison Brod

You’re global agency of record for AB InBev’s Corona beer and a pandemic shares your client’s name. What do you do? If you’re master tactician Alison Brod, you shush the client until it’s time to resurface, then cannily position the brand as an advocate for beleaguered independent hotels. Brod and her team managed to hit multiple home runs this year, promoting Old Navy’s initiative to pay employees to work the polls on election day, amplifying Country Time’s $100-apiece “bailout” to kids whose lemonade stands got shuttered by the pandemic, and turning Burger King’s “Moldy Whopper” (it drove home the brand’s plans to eliminate preservatives) into a global sensation. Brod’s brand stable also includes Yelp, Urban Decay, Garnier, L’Oreal Paris and Volvic Water, among others; the agency executed 180-degree turns on all of its campaigns to make them relevant in 2020.