Most spots are mired in confused concepts, exaggerated executions and forced funniness. Category breakers tend to stand out like beacons.

January's Best Spots review saw another round of great Apple commercials, this time comparing the PC's complicated upgrade procedures to Mac's ready-to-play system. Geico gave us another comical caveman spot, set on the balcony of a party where one member of the caveman clan accuses another of betraying his racial identity by signing up with Geico.com. And to promote the FedEx Cup, a humorous FedEx spot has a caddy follow around an office worker to help him through his day.

But the most surprising commercials this month came from brands that have been relatively quiet of late. Coca-Cola began running two engaging animated productions, one giving the violent Grand Theft Auto video-game environment a cheery makeover in which the hero passes out Cokes rather than sprays of bullets or bludgeoning blows-a nice twist. But my favorite of the two is "Happiness Factory." The name is a lot to live up to and the extravagant animated spot manages to do so with a fantastical journey that takes place inside a vending machine. Animated by psyop, it's a feast for the eyes in which happy creatures whiz by to get the Coke through the "factory" and snowmen are used as the sacrificial cooling agents.

Another animated spot, this one for Chips Ahoy!, grabbed our attention in January. I always found it odd that commercial culture gives us anthropomorphic food products, from the California raisins to the M&Ms gang, that we grow to love and then in real life ruthlessly gobble down. "Convertible" plays with that dark comedy. A group of cookies are enjoying an afternoon road trip in their car. The tunes are blasting and they happily bop along, singing an arrangement of The Human League's "Don't You Want Me." A hand reaches down into the scene and grabs a cookie from its seat as the friends continue their sing-a-long oblivious to the giant threat above them. The hand continues picking off its prey until the driver finally realizes he's singing alone. The animation, by Loose Moose, the music and the humorous take on road-trip snacking produces memorable chuckles.

And finally, a toothpaste commercial that I actually can praise. I absolutely love the new Rembrandt commercial (part of its "Brilliant mouth" campaign) with its steamy kiss set to Griffin House's soulful track "Waterfall," about "holding onto your love." No product shots, no demonstrations of the toothpaste's super-whitening power, no bathroom shots, just a close-up of a lingering kiss between two young beauties, showing us the true value of a brilliant mouth. It's hot, provocative, memorable and probably pretty polarizing. I can see some conservative moms being bothered by its prime-time slots, but it is, after all, just a kiss. Perfect for the Valentine's Day reminder it gives at the end.