I could have called this post something lame, like, “British Invasion.”

Ah, the Brits. The British Television Advertising Awards. This long tradition of Walker screenings of the Brits brings a special breed of mayhem to the holidays. And if the comments on Joe’s post are any indication, the Brits are one of those holiday treats worth fighting for. And scrambling for. And bargaining for. And begging for.

I myself waited until it was almost too late. I scraped up a ticket at the very last gasp, then raced to find a good seat.

There were a lot of great winners this year. (The public service announcements are always big favorites with me.) Some of the adverts were so great, in fact, that as I watched them I began to hope that they would turn out to not be advertisements at all. I wanted desperately for the clip to end without some product being thrown in my face. I wanted to know that the designers and producers were making something for the sole reason of great design and execution, and not as a stellar attempt to sell me a less than stellar beer or pair of jeans or whatever. The perfect example of this, for me, was an ad for Sony’s Bravia LCD television. It was so beautiful, and the song so lovely, that I kept my fingers crossed that this one would turn out to be a music video. No such luck. But please enjoy it anyway.

Hands down, my favorite of the whole affair was a VW Golf ad starring Gene Kelly. I won’t ruin the surprise for you. Check it out.