After another round of hearty deliberation and unabashed industry solicitation, we've once again arrived at our It List. The 2007 installment contains the newsmakers, the artisans and ubiquitous folk populating the advertising landscape, as well as the trends, technologies and ideas that have impacted the space. As with last year, our list goes beyond individuals to include clients, companies and overarching ideas. So, without further ado, here's a list of the people, places and things that are, in their own way, helping to lead and redefine the advertising world in 2007.

Dante Ariola
MJZ's red hot all-rounder
Fourth time lucky for MJZ's Dante Ariola who crowned a year of pigeon-hole defying work with a flourish by finally receiving a nod from the Director's Guild of America.

In the past year he nailed filmic spots that made him one of the US's most coveted lensmen, including stunning work for the charged, Edward Norton-narrated journey into the driven, solipsistic world of the runner for Nike+ ("Addicted") and, (fittingly, for the man touted by many to be going into features), the playfully elegant homage to film, "Life Imitates Art", for JC Penney. He's also lent his rich narrative touch to the UK market with one of the most anticipated and fought-over scripts of the year so far, PlayStation 3's European campaign, This is Living. Convoluted and ambitious, it ties perfectly cast vignettes into an epic story that culminates in a bombastic, hallucinogenic, WTF ending.

But what's taken him to the next level is his step outside his comfort zone and into the realm of CG. Some canny script choices saw him land work across the creative spectrum. From the gorgeous Johnnie Walker "Human", bringing gravitas, originality and humanity to John Hegarty's legendary account, and the impeccable attention to detail and believability of the slapstick humor in Travelers "Snowball" to keen direction that brought the athlete's head, kid's body conceit to life for Gatorade ("Big Head"). This year Ariola made a whole new realm of filmmaking his trademark.

Joaquin Baca-Asay
Top DP turns director
Not satisfied with being one of the industry's most acclaimed and sought-after DPs, Baca-Asay made a monumental step last year by taking a brace of Nike scripts originally destined for Lance Acord and directing them himself. "Defy" and "Endure" are breathtakingly beautiful meditations on gravity affecting sportsmen and women, and the pain of losing, respectively. On the back of that he signed to Acord's prodco Park, following in Acord's footsteps from DP to director, and shortly after that Gorgeous for the UK, marking the prestigious prodco's first new signing in two years and first-ever not from the UK.

Baca-Asay - who has worked alongside the greats of commercial advertising including Mark Romanek, Brian Beletic and on Mike Mills's feature Thumbsucker - has DPed on Nicolai Fuglsig's affecting American Legacy Foundation "Melting Moms" spot and Tom Kuntz's awards-laden Skittles work in the past year alone.

With no intention of giving up the DP gig, that affords him the rare luxury usually not available to most new directors - being able to be extremely picky with his scripts. He defied expectation with his third spot, "Skateboard", a CG-heavy Nissan piece featuring a car-turned-skateboard, as his follow up to Nike, and on the back of just those two spots won our First Boards Awards top director prize.

Bolstered by on-set schooling from the industry's best and in a number of genres, he looks set for equally big things behind, as well as beside, the camera.

Juan Cabral/Richard Flintham
Making Fallon London's agency of record
Okay, so following up Sony "Balls" was arguably impossible, but love it or hate it, Fallon CD Juan Cabral's follow up, "Paint", coaxed Jonathan Glazer to make his only broadcast commercial last year and it was doubtless one of the ad spectacles of 2006, scooping the top gong at the BTAAs. Not merely a visual one-trick pony, Cabral (left) also worked on the copy-heavy Cannes Outdoor Grand Prix winner for Tate Modern. Both typify the agency's pure, unwavering commitment to creativity.

While a lesser agency might have wobbled at the loss of Fallon co-founder Andy McLeod to the directing world, Cabral and fellow creative director Richard Flintham (right) have gone from strength to strength, not only with the gigantic coup of winning Orange from a rampant Mother, but by championing charming, beautiful ideas-driven work to the agency's clients. Chris Palmer's recent Skoda "The Baking of", Dougal Wilson and Frédéric Planchon's Orange spots and sterling work from Pleix and Brett Foraker for Sony have been augmented by their effortless and untrumpeted transition into success outside the box.

"Tate Tracks", for the Tate Modern, honored with the Best in Show at the One Show, is a brand execution par excellence - art, music and marketing that truly belongs to the new advertising age. Stung as they must have been by "Balls" losing to Guinness "noitulovE" at Cannes last year, Flintham wrought sweet revenge, nabbing the creative team behind it, Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield, from under AMV.BBDO's nose. A truly world class act.

Coca-Cola
The year Coke got cool again
As a company, Coca-Cola is at a bit of a crossroads. Its North American sales are lagging, and after years of shunning non-soda brands (Pepsi, in contrast, has acquired several), it finds itself trying to peddle a lot of fizz to an increasingly health-conscious consumer base. But, according to a recent New York Times article on the soda giant, before venturing out to other liquid landscapes, the focus has been on getting things right with its core products.