We made a list, we checked it twice, and once this goes to print, we'll probably find out who's naughty and nice. As is customary every December, we recently took a few (hundred) hours to sit down and review the work of the world's best production companies. Even in our commercial-addled stupors, we're happy to report that 2006 yielded some fantastic work; and so, without further ado, we present an alphabetical listing of 20 production companies that impressed us this year.

Read about Smuggler, our Production Company of the Year here: Still Free

ACADEMY FILMS
After a big 2005, London's Academy Films was on a roll again this year. Jonathan Glazer helmed one of the most anticipated spots of the year (Sony Bravia "Paint"), returned to music videos after six years away with a disturbing take on Massive Attack's "Live With Me", and capped off the year with the provocative Motorola "Red". Stellar spot work also came from Frederic Planchon (VW Polo "Angel's Day Off"), Nick Gordon (Nokia "Fame") and Walter Stern (Vodafone "Bubbles"), and Martin de Thurah nabbed best new director honors at the CADS. New faces included director Jason Smith (ex-Home Corp.) and music video commissioner Liz Kessler.

ANONYMOUS CONTENT
Although anchored by event spots from Joseph Kosinski (who turned out a pair of incredible machinima-aided pieces for Xbox 360's Gears Of War and Halo 3) and David Fincher, whose Motorola "Pebl" made its North American debut during the Super Bowl, Anonymous' reel ran deep this year. Malcolm Venville turned out a classy slo-mo confectionary for Nike ("Swing Portrait"), Mark Romanek delivered strong work for Apple and Aussie Garth Davis enjoyed a coming-out as an A-lister with epic spots for Xbox, Tooheys and Boots. Factor in the recent additions of Jake Nava, Rob Cohen and PES, and the Los Angeles-based prodco looks primed to stay on pace for 2007.

BISCUIT
Workaholic teddy bear Noam Murro might have spent a significant amount of 2006 building his feature film career, but that didn't stop him from also lensing an incredible 14 spots, among them big-budget extravaganzas for clients like Verizon and Nike. Elsewhere, Biscuit's Tim Godsall enjoyed a banner year of his own, lending his talents to three superb comedic campaigns for T-Mobile, Starburst and Holiday Inn, while Toronto's The Perlorian Brothers continued to pursue their own brand of blunted stupidity for Domino's and Milky Way.

BLINK
While resident ace Dougal Wilson had a typically strong year, the real story of Blink's 2006 came from its peripheral players, many of whom either advanced a few notches up the ladder or came from nowhere to make a major splash. In the former category: design trio Lynn Fox, who turned heads with a moody setpiece for Audi ("Spider") and later proved their hand at live-action with the superwoman conceit of "Crashes" for Axe. In the latter category: Aussie latecomers Family, who joined the prodco in time to make fun of limp-wristed Swedes for Ikea ("Testing") and Ben Hibon, whose stunning anime short for MTV Asia ("Codehunters") has future IP written all over it.

BOB INDUSTRIES
Much like 2005, this past year saw big news in the features department for Bob directors, with Davis Guggenheim's global warming doc An Inconvenient Truth reaping accolades and Dayton/Faris' Little Miss Sunshine reportedly taking in just under $60 million in domestic box office since its release through Fox Searchlight. Spot-wise, Dayton/Faris provided a show of hands for HP's "The Computer is Personal" campaign featuring such celebs as Jay-Z and Shaun White. Other highlights came from Blue Source's hilarious work for Whiskas ("Hank" and "Hubert") and Snickers ("Song"), and Alan White's "Ferris Bueller" for DirecTV.

EPOCH
His profile suitably tweaked by the critical success of his 2005 feature film Junebug, Phil Morrison enjoyed a nice little commercial run this year, bringing just the right touch to campaigns for Apple ("Mac vs. PC") and Volkswagen ("Safe Happens"). Elsewhere, comedy hotshot Matt Aselton rekindled his fruitful love affair with TBWA, New York for Starburst ("Ernie", "Factory") and Stacy Wall scored big with a sing-songy anthem for Pot Noodle ("Intro") and another handful of LeBron James vehicles for Nike. On the roster front, Epoch maintained an even keel, losing only David Preizler to upstart Serial Dreamer.

FURLINED

In its first full calendar year, the Blink-partnered Furlined grew more fully into its own, simultaneously establishing itself as a top-drawer comedic venue thanks to Speck/Gordon's still-hilarious riffs on Geico's indignant caveman and as a bringer of a distinctly more European, art-minded sensibility, thanks to Pleix's paint-themed work for Infiniti. In the new media realm, visual artist Charlie White turned out what many considered to be the best of the Adicolor campaign with "Pink", and then unceremoniously left the company. But with Pekka Hara, Douglas Avery, Vaughn Arnell, Ramon Bloomberg and Family among those added, Furlined ended the year much stronger nonetheless.

GORGEOUS
Pardon the pun - 'twas another gorgeous year for this London prodco, with golds at Cannes and the BTA and silvers at D&AD for Chris Palmer's "Cameraphone", Cannes gold for Frank Budgen's Xbox "Jump Rope", and a quite respectable third place appearance in the Gunn Report. But no resting on laurels here - Palmer's live-action recreation of The Simpsons open for Sky notched over 10 million hits on YouTube, making it the most-viewed commercial on the site. His other highlights included CDC "Sun" and Carlsberg "The Old Lions". Nice work for Levi's included Budgen's "News Story" and Tom Carty's "Straight Walk". And Vince Squibb joined the roster full time.

HSI
Roster-wise at HSI, former creatives Don Shelford and Jon Knecht (aka Don & John) joined the fold, Graeme Joyce (ex-Untitled) came on board for the US, directorial duo Diamond Dogs joined from Colonel Blimp, and Simon Green signed to HSI London. In spots, Paul Hunter scored with Burger King "The Stuff of Legends" and Coke "Ice Dance"; Paul Middleditch's "The Wave" for Bud was a Super Bowl highlight, and Julien Lutz's "Tea Partay" for Smirnoff Ice lit up YouTube. Sam Bayer helmed videos for The Strokes and My Chemical Romance while Justin Timberlake tagged Paul Hunter and Michael Haussman for promos.

HUNGRY MAN
Led by veterans Jim Jenkins (who delivered typically memorable work for FedEx and Embassy Suites) and Bryan Buckley (who enjoyed a big year with multiple classics for both Burger King and Sprint-Nextel), America's top comedy shop continued to induce guffaws with workmanlike authority in 2006. And while Brendan Gibbons continued to shine and directors like Paul Gay, Allan Coulter and Hank Perlman all made advances, David Shane's standout work for Opel and Comcast have him poised as Hungry Man's future all-star in waiting.

INDEPENDENT
Between Jake Nava's arresting short for Trident ("Stop The Guns"), Daniel Levi's coming-out as one of the UK's most talented music video directors and First Boards Awards winner PES's temporary migration to London for Orange and Playstation, Independent did a beautiful job in the talent development category this year. Being Independent, they also landed their fair share of biggies, and managed to bring Mr. Murro over for a handful (Rexona, Orange). Always building, the company also inched ever closer to realizing the dream of its own in-house model UN with the additions of Australia's Mathew Jerrett, Argentina's Armando Bo and America's Mike Maguire.

MJZ
It was another year of accolades for MJZ, with a second Cannes Palme D'Or, a second chart-topping performance in the Gunn Report, and Sony "Balls" landing heaps of hardware at Cannes and The Sharks among other shows. Stunners emerged from star directors such as Dante Ariola (Coke "Parade", Johnnie Walker "Human") Fredrik Bond (Lynx "Billions"), Tom Kuntz (Skittles "Trade"), Rupert Sanders (Sears "Arboretum", PS3 "Egg", "Doll" and "Rubiks") and Nicolai Fuglsig (Orange "Illumination", Cadillac "New Job"). Still, there were a couple of notable moves, namely up-and-comer Stephanie Green to Little Minx/RSA and EP Brian Latt to Tool of North America.

MOXIE
Bicoastal Moxie got the very most from its divergent and multi-disciplined roster this year, tapping Martin Granger for a handful of Combo's spots, Frank Todaro for an uncharacteristically zany Milk campaign and Errol Morris for a dual-pronged examination of the Internet for AOL. Even sometime director Wes Anderson rebounded from last year's frankly disappointing Dasani work to deliver the Internet smash "My Life, My Card" for Amex. On the business front, Moxie partnered with ex-BBDO vice chairman Jimmy Siegel and Freud Communications to create the New York-based "issue advocacy" prodco, A-Political.

OUTSIDER
Outsider's London and US offices excelled in comedy this year - witness David Lodge's Cannes Lion-winning "Pregnant", "Gay" and "Wedding" for Vodafone; Dom & Nic's driving puppets in Vauxhall "Get Up & Go"; and James Rouse's 80-spot Budweiser World Cup campaign. But there were also evocative highlights from visual directors Anthony Atanasio (Levi's "Moonbathing", filmed in HD), Steve Hudson (HSBC "Scuba", NSPCC "Caravan") and Outsider USA's Jörn Threlfall (Hyundai "Life Shapes"). Dutch director Bart Timmer, already with Outsider London, signed with the US office as well, while director Cris Mudge, who left Mustard for Outsider in 2004, returned to his former home.

PARTIZAN
Thanks to major spots for FedEx ("Stick"), 3 Mobile ("Text"), Mountain Dew ("Fall", "Master") and Axe ("A Love Story"), Partizan's Traktor had a monster year, even by its own standards. But beyond the work of everybody's favorite Swedish directorial collective, Partizan still enjoyed a bust-up year that saw them continue to capitalize on Antoine Bardou-Jacquet's heavy-hitting status (Orange - "Fish"), further develop the likes of Ace Norton, Chris Cairns, Michael Gracey and Nagi Noda, and maintain their general ownership stake in roughly 70% of the quality music video gambit.

@RADICAL.MEDIA
Plenty of action here in '06. Longform division Radical Thinking was launched, headed by entertainment industry vet Bob Friedman. @radical London EP Daniel Sapiano returned to The Mill, replaced by Nikki Fox. Loyalkaspar, F. Gary Gray and Zack & JC joined the roster, while First Boards Award winner Jeff Labbe split for Fools and Horses, and Mikko Lehtinen left @radical London for New York's Big Mama. Work-wise, The Glue Society scored with Canal + "March of the Emperors", Chris Milk helmed vids for Kanye West, Gnarls Barkley and U2/Green Day, and longform projects (Ford "Bold Moves" and "The Gamekillers" for Axe) made waves.

REBOLUCION
Argentine prodco Rebolucion had one of the more lol-worthy reels of '06, with the roster of Armando Bo, Baby, Lemon and Luciano Podcaminsky seemingly unable to helm a spot that falls flat. Highlights include Lift "Professor" from Lemon, Podcaminsky's work for Sprite ("AHHH", "Secret") and his work with Armando Bo on MTV's Don't Kill The Music campaign (including Silver Lion winner "Father and Daughter"), and Bo and Baby's "Musical" for Rexona. Bo signed with Independent Films in London for UK representation, while Podcaminsky tied for fourth place with Stink's Ivan Zacharias in this year's director's tally in the Gunn Report.

RSA FILMS
Big news in features for RSA this year, with Ridley Scott's A Good Year and brother Tony's Déjà Vu both opening in November. As for spots, Jonas Akerlund gave Crispin's "Unpimp My Ride" campaign a suitably twisted take, while Neill Blomkamp provided typical tech wizardry for Gatorade ("Birth") and Adicolor "Yellow". Another Scott sibling, Jordan, provided eye candy via Land Rover "Extraordinary". Roster changes included the signing of Stephanie Green (ex-MJZ), and the departures of Patrick Daughters (for The Director's Bureau) and Chris Cunningham (forming his own prodco with FilmFour's Jim Wilson).

STINK
London's Stink stocked up on awards in '06, including best prodco nods from the Midsummer Awards and the BTAAs and a second place tie for the Palme D'Or at Cannes with Hungry Man. Strong Stink contenders for the upcoming awards season include MTV "Shot" (Neil Harris) and two pieces from Nacho Gayan - Lux "Balloon" and Guinness "Sky". Stink staples such as Ivan Zacharias (the adidas +10 campaign) and Ne-O (Toyota "Humanity") also didn't disappoint. New signings included some top-drawer talent - Psyop and Yann Demange joined the roster, while Randy Krallman and Happy came aboard for UK and Euro representation.

THE SWEET SHOP
In severing its American relationship with Czar.US and opening a New York office of its own, the New Zealand-founded The Sweet Shop made a significant play towards the global market this year. Happily, that move dovetailed with some of the finest and most consistent output of its five-year tenure. From Steve Ayson's ubiquitous breakthrough for Folgers ("Happy Morning") and Michael Wong's gorgeous parable for Vodafone ("Live") to James Pilkington's summerwear ethics query for Trumpet ("Undies") and Melanie Bridge's decadently art-directed piece for Toblerone ("Lose Yourself"), The Sweet Shop's reel oozed equal parts good-naturedness and class.