• USA Today, Friday, January 2, 2009 10 AM

Laura Petrecca's compilation of the best and worst creative efforts of the year -- as proffered by trend forecasters, marketing consultants, ad agency executives, professors, USA Today readers and the Ad Team reporting staff -- contains links to videos embedded on the newspaper's Web site. The result is the disconcerting sensation of having to suffer through, say, a commercial for Nationwide insurance before watching the upbeat Wal-Mart spot or the "Whassup '08" online video for Obama (YouTube version sans ad) you actually came to see.

And the newspaper business wonders why it's in trouble.

That said, it's a generally entertaining lineup of advertisements -- including dazzling newspapers ads from Tiffany. And, leaning heavily on an Ad Age editorial from the Great Depression and its current director of data analytics, Bradley Johnson, Petrecca makes the case that lean times can create opportunities. The Depression "was a horrific time, yet consumers still consumed, advertisers still advertised and commerce went on," Johnson reassures us.

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