Hasta La Creative!

Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi aren’t just winners on the court and on the field — they’re the champs of YouTube: Their “Selfie Shootout” ad for Turkish Airlines, created out of Crispin Porter & Bogusky Los Angeles and directed by Joseph Kahn via HSI, took the No. 1 spot in YouTube’s ad competition, part of the platform’s 10th anniversary festivities.

Last month, YouTube announced that advertising had “come of age” on the site: Four of its 10 most-viewed videos in 2014 were ads. So held a contest among 20 of its most popular ads, asking consumers to vote for their favorite. Contenders included the likes of VW’s Little Darth from “The Force,” Old Spice’s Man Your Man Could Smell Like, Evian’s Roller Babies and more — but apparently, they weren’t enough to top Turkish Airlines, whose spot featured Mr. Bryant and Mr. Messi globe-hopping as they tried to one-up each other with their extreme selfies. Check out the four runners-up below.

To cap off the celebration, YouTube also examined the 20 ads in the contest to come up with a list of trends that defined them in the hopes of enlightening viewers on what makes ads stand out on the site. One of YouTube’s conclusions: “Take the time you need to tell your story.”

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