A week has past since our industries biggest awards night, The D&AD's. If you haven't caught up with the runners a riders then read on my friends and see what we made of it all.
Unfortunately we didn't make it to the night itself (new business, money bla bla bla) but all the results are up and available to view at the D&AD website, www.dandad.org
First up in the integrated category it's worth mentioning the runlondon campaign where Nike attempted to settle the age old battle of North vs South through the medium of running. Being a runner myself I liked it and pulling together a campaign rolled out over so many platforms can't be easy. It's nice to see that recognised – shame about the result though!
TV
The TV categories featured familiar names. One stand out for me was the Leo Burnett
The much loved Marmite "love it or hate it campaign" was again nominated, this time presented as Dermot Flynn illustrations of famous people/places we either love or hate – personally I can't stand the stuff but I think, despite being one of the longest running campaigns, these ads show it still has legs.
At quirky little ad for Lego (a twist on the famous builders poster) and an arresting series of posters for Amnesty International were others worth a mention.
Scottish agency GRP who triumphed as the Grand prix winners at this year's Roses awards got their mitts on a pencil with their work for NHS Glasgow and partners. I must say I wasn't sure about this on the night of the Roses but having now seen the work close hand I am completely sold. The attention to detail and the authenticity of the execution is truly exceptional and I think it will serve well in getting the intended message across.
Onto one of only 2 black pencil winners on the night and it's for best use of illustration for German agency Kolle Rebbe Werbeagentur GmBH with Eva Salzmann's as the illustrator and their work for War Orphans. It's a highly emotive piece and I think the sort of thing to really provoke a reaction. I showed my girlfriend it and she said it was horrible! Is that what they are looking for? Probably so I would suggest.
Another piece I thought stood out over the summer was Nick Georghiou's shot for the "St Wayne" poster which picked up a nomination in the best photography category.
Viral
Viral is now and a bigger shortlist than ever before. Sky One's "come home to the Simpsons" piece I saw a while ago and I must say it still brings a smile.
The first to make a deeper impact though was the Abbott Mead Vickers piece for breast cancer awareness. The impact of the closing seconds is huge and really brings home the message, "anyone" and I think communicates fantastically well to both male and female. "A little bit rude" by Publisis is cute enough, I remember the girls in the office going nuts over Ogilvy and Mathers' work for Dove when that was doing the rounds last year, "fingerskilz" will be something most football fans will get a kick out of (sorry!) and "web 2.0" is an another interesting use of the current trend for stop motion animation, although I must say I think I've seen about enough of it now.
Brand
I wanted to mention the identity for (RED) delivered by Wolf Olins. I've grown fond of this over the last 6 months or so and off the back of a tricky brief (how do you create an all encompassing brand that allows other brands to retain their own identity within it?) it only seems to grow stronger.
Digital
The second black pencil winner appears as a website for Nike+. The site is good looking enough but it's the way in which the user is invited and participates in this new virtual world that is really clever. The product itself is quite amazing (A chip in your trainer communicates with your iPod telling you how fast and how far you have run etc) and the site really builds on this unique technology by pulling users together and enabling them to compete against each other as individuals, teams and even countries. You can track your own and others routes, times and performances over time and get tips from Nike endorsed athletes on training regimes and even what their own "power songs" are.
A tribute to how successfully the site works is me; I actually went out the day after and bought the bloody thing!
There's plenty of stuff that I haven't commented on so if anyone has an opinion post a reply, it would be great to hear what you all think.
To see the full list of winners visit: www.dandad.org
Until next time.
