Jun
9
2010
Last week I attended the D&AD Awards dinner at the Roundhouse in Camden. (Check out their YouTube channel btw)
Well-organised, it was a smooth and enjoyable evening. Paul Brazier, D&AD President, did a solid job of opening the evening and there was entertaining and irreverent MC’ing from Jimmy Carr. There were also plenty of references to the commitment and tenacity of the many judges who travelled from around the world to get the Olympia in Kensington during the problems with volcanic ash in April.
As examples of the work on show, I thought I’d call out five of the Pencil winners. For my own extra gratification I’ve also added a TV advert that I wish had been submitted as it’s one of my personal favourites.
The Trillion Dollar Wallpaper campaign was an inspiring use of the rocketing Zimbabwean inflation to highlight the country’s difficulties and promote the sale of the Zimbabwean newspaper to the outside world. This campaign won a number of awards in the evening and massively boosted sales of the paper (and importantly its messaging)
Details and images of the billboard campaign
Video talking about the integrated campaign
Loved the M&C Saatchi campaign for DSG, highlighting the consumer technology available at dixons.co.uk once you’ve been to the trendiest shops in town to look at it. Particularly liked this as there was a feeling that stores such as Dixons would suffer with the advent of internet shopping and particularly price-comparison sites for consumer electronics. They have embraced this and are positioning themselves as the go-to site for the consumer pragmatist.
We Choose the Moon is an interactive site which recreates the 1969 journey to the moon. Plenty of video, audio and interactivity which takes you through the excitement. Particularly interested in the radio conversations which were relayed out through the site in time with the same events 40 years earlier.
In the Environmental Design category was one of the few winners of a coveted Black Pencil – the High Line project.
From their website:
“The High Line was originally constructed in the 1930s, to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan's streets. Section 1 of the High Line is open as a public park, owned by the City of New York and operated under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Friends of the High Line is the conservancy charged with raising private funds for the park and overseeing its maintenance and operations, pursuant to an agreement with the Parks Department.”
The last project in the list, although many more caught my eye, was ‘The Regulars’, a TV commercial for Victoria Bitter in Australia. The idea of a parade with ‘Men who’ve had their Arm in a Cow’ banners is something you can almost believe, looking forward to the copycat real-life events.
Stepping away from the Awards to an advert which I feel would have stood its ground amongst the entrants: ‘Embrace Life’ for Sussex Roads Safety Partnership, more details available at www.alexandercommercials.co.uk. This one of the more beautiful pieces of advertising I’ve seen and is simple and positive rather than the shock adverts often used in this topic. They now have a Facebook Group around the campaign and the commercial.