Advertising Eden: Triumphant start for Adam & Eve

The founding directors of Adam & Eve may have paid £1m to Sir Martin Sorrell's WPP to break their contract and go it alone, but it was worth every penny.

Started by David Golding, James Murphy and Ben Priest, the award-winning agency has had a strong year, with a number of ads – like this one for Cadbury Fingers, and the John Lewis Christmas campaign – making ITV's top 50 of the year. The 'Always a Woman' ad for John Lewis has drawn 2.5 million hits on YouTube, helping the retailer notch up record sales of over £120m a week in the run-up to Christmas.