As part of the judging process this year we invited marketers from five big-spending influential brands along to a special judging day to pore over the work, read through the statements and watch creative reels. The marketers were not tasked with making the ultimate decision on Agency of the Year, but to provide some additional insight for the B&T editors to help focus our own thinking.
Members of the marketers panel were Sony’s Tim Rich, Coca-Cola South Pacific & Korea’s John Wardley, Vodafone’s Rosie Gray-Spencer, Virgin Atlantic’s Steve Brister and Toyota’s Peter Evans.
Some of what the judges said was slightly surprising.
While they collectively agreed they spend too much time in edit suites trying to rein back creative ideas, they also said that was what they expected of their agency—to push the creative boundaries. They all agreed they would rather have to rein in a creative idea than look at a bland one and have to push the agency to get more creative.
We also upheld a tradition of sending the shortlisted agencies’ reels to international creative judges for comment. This year, we focused on Asia.
National CD of O&M India, Piyush Pandey, was a big hit at the Caxtons last year. Shaun Branagan is an Aussie currently doing great things in Hong Kong as ECD of Publicis Hong Kong, and Andy Greenaway, currently regional CD of Saatchis in Asia, travels so much that our reels chased him all over Asia.
Grab a copy of B&T’s December 9 issue for the full Agency of the Year report.
Meanwhile, here’s a snippet of what the creative judges had to say:
Piyush Pandey
O&M India national CD
Broadly, my impression of the reels is that there is a shortage of human insight and an over-reliance on execution styles. And while some of them start out with good insights, they get mired in pretentious execution. Having said that, there were some nice ads. Especially in the M&C Saatchi reel.
The one campaign that stands out over all the work is for Sunblest.
Agency: M&C Saatchi
The ads are simple, unpretentious and inclusive. It has the power to touch the ordinary person out there for whom it was intended in the first place.
The Sunblest work in particular was noteworthy for being warm, witty and charming. The simple execution did justice to human insights which anybody who was ever a child, which obviously is all of us, can relate to.
The work for the Red Cross and San Diego Zoo stand out for the same reason: Relatable human insights with executions to match.
Agency: Clemenger BBDO
The Pepsi ad is nice. But none of the work is extraordinary. The Visa ad is being aired in India as well. It may work in Australia, but it is funny to watch out here. One is still looking for the bird seller—or for that matter any other street vendor—who accepts credit cards!
Agency: Leo Burnett
In one or two commercials, such as Canon, the executions are interesting. But, by and large, the executions work against the ads: Simple insights are clouded by over-execution. This is particularly true of the McDonalds ad about the child in you.
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
It looks like the showreel of ILM. Lots of special effects, few insights. Unfortunately, this is self-indulgent advertising that shouts 'I am advertising'.
Agency: BMF
Where have all the human insights gone?
Andy Greenaway
Saatchi & Saatchi Asia regional CD
“When I read the written submissions for B&T Agency Of The Year, I was struck by how similar they were.
All the agencies had a terrific year in new business, they all had good client stability and retention, staff turnover was admirably low and integrated (or holistic) marketing communications was a key aspect of each agency's business strategy.
However, true differentiation between the agencies was only apparent in the work. All the agencies produced solid, hardworking communication. But, all in all, only a handful of campaigns stood out as truly cutting edge.
Most of the work that shone through was from Saatchi and Saatchi - which is a refelction of the haul of International awards they won in 2005. But presentation is everything and BMF chalked up more points with their written submission to grab joint first place.
Shaun Branagan
Publicis Hong Kong ECD
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
TV: A very impressive reel with slick production and contemporary feel.
Powerful pro bono work, particularly the ad for the Pedestrian Council.
The Toyota Yaris work was the most interesting and most interactive campaign with a good microsite.
Only one weak spot, Olympus.
PRINT: Awesome. Cracking ideas, impeccably brought to life. The degree of finesse and crafting was exemplary with superb art direction, photography, typography and retouching. World Class.
INTERACTIVE: Solid without being amazing.
AMBIENT: Unlike a lot of ‘scambient’ it seemed mostly real and for real clients.
RADIO: Good to see someone still cares about radio. The campaign for Toyota spare parts was scarily real and hilarious at the same time.
OVERALL: Top notch work across many mediums. Hard to fault really.
Agency: M&C Saatchi
TV: Very engaging and charming reel with a lot of warmth and humanity. Finally someone has managed to give the Optus animals some personality - previously they all the charisma of a taxidermist.
PRINT: Stylish work that no doubt resonates well with consumers.
INTERACTIVE: A lot of work, all polished, but few real standout ideas.
OVERALL: Very strong across TV, print and interactive. A close second to Saatchis in my book.
Agency: Leo Burnett
TV: The TV spots were based on great insights and were beautifully produced and accompanied by stunning music tracks. If music is indeed 50% of any ad, then Burnetts got 50 out of 50.
The McDonalds animated spot is a departure from the usual live action and the Canon Dig!c is quite hypnotic, with both the action and music drawing you in. The good thing was I wanted to watch all of the spots again.
OVERALL: Whilst the TV impressed the rest failed to inspire.
Agency: BMF
TV: Aussie Lamb. What can I say? It would be un-Australian of me not to love this spot. Especially when it costs an arm and a leg in Hong Kong.
The Toohey’s ‘Tongue’ is a tough act to follow, but this is an admirable effort.
Dairy Farmers…milk with a twist.
PRINT: The print work was solid however I felt there was less attention to detail in the finishing of the ads.
OVERALL: Very good in TV, good in print and direct
Agency: Clemenger BBDO
TV: Solid, traditional reel. Full marks for getting some cheeky spots though for fairly conservative clients. However, Richard Gere releasing dozens of birds wouldn’t go down too well up here in the bird flu epicenter of the world.
PRINT: It’s not often that a print campaign makes you laugh out loud. But the V campaign ‘Say no to sugar’ did. A simple, arresting idea well executed.
RADIO: The Hahn 10 pack ads were the pick of the bunch.
INTERACTIVE: Not much to [write] home about.
OVERALL: A few good campaigns, Hahn still gets a laugh second time around, but not a lot of breakthrough ideas.
