Cummins&Partners creative team, Chris Ellis (left in photo) and Chay O’Rourke (right) have taken out the single category and overall win in round one of the 2019 Siren Awards with the ad for Reflex Paper, “It Always Looks Good on Reflex Paper: Postman”.

Ellis and O’Rourke said: “Everyone knows the saying ‘It looked good on paper’, we took it to the next level, highlighting that the persuasive powers of Reflex paper are so strong, even the most implausible, absurd ideas seem feasible. This lands our protagonists in some humorous and ludicrous scenarios because, well…it looked good on Reflex paper.”

In the winning ad, Simon sees a flyer on Reflex Paper advertising ‘Bring your pet to work day’.  He takes his Great Dane with a penchant for postal-issue pants to work in an office full of petrified postman. Ellis and O’Rourke explained “Anything is possible on radio.  ‘Never work with animals or children’ may be true for film but on radio you can create the most ridiculous scenario”.

The winner of the campaign category (three ads or more) was radio and audio specialist agency, Eardrum.  Creatives Ralph van Dijk and Tristan Viney created the three ads in the ‘Radio Alive’ campaign for Commercial Radio Australia, to bring to life radio advertising success stories, highlighting that radio is live, engaging, dynamic and delivers results.

Winner of the craft category was sound studio, Sound Reservoir, with one of the ads in the winning “Radio Alive” campaign, “Make Cars Happen”.  Sound engineer: Paul Taylor used rapid-fire audio effects of a rev of a sports car and an angelic choir in the winning ad.

Director of the ad, Eardrum’s Ralph van Dijk, said: “We simply wanted to communicate that radio makes things happen.  This fast-paced sound effect-based framework captures the “aliveness” of radio and illustrates what can be achieved when marketers utilise radio and all its assets.”

Four ads were highly commended in the single category; Cummins & Partners, “It Always looks Good on Reflex Paper: Solar Power Farm” from Chris Ellis and Chay O’Rourke; Eardrum with the Radio Alive ad “Make Cruises Happen” from Ralph van Dijk and Tristan Viney; The Monkey’s with the ad “Bushfire” for NRMA from creatives Dennis Koutoulogenis and Jake Rusznyak; and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for the ad “Heavy Metal Lullaby” from creatives Rowan Mansfield and Elsa Caruso.

Highly commended in the campaign category were; The Monkeys creatives Dennis Koutoulogenis and Jake Rusznyak for the NRMA ad “The Real Moments of Help”; Ikon Communications creative team Craig Merrett and Zac Goldberg for the NIB ad “Getting Older Has Its Perks” and Clembenger BBDO Melbourne creatives Ellie Dunn and Emma Powell for the ad “Coffee with the Ex, Invite Only & Still Got It” for Eastland Shopping Centre.

Three ads were highly commended in the craft category: Sound Reservoir sound engineer Paul Taylor with the ad “Make Real Estate” for Commercial Radio Australia; Nylon sound engineer Stuart St Vincent Welch for the ad Bushfire for the NRMA, The Studio at SCA sound engineer Carl Step for the ad “Ken Rights” for Edith Cowan University.

Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia said: “The Siren Awards continue to highlight the excellence in radio advertising.  Our 2018 Gold Siren winners are at the Cannes Lions this week competing on the world stage, showcasing Australian radio ads.”

The Siren Awards, run by Commercial Radio Australia, celebrate the best in radio advertising and are judged over five rounds throughout the year by a panel of industry experts, made up of creative directors from leading ad agencies, known as the Siren Creative Council.

The 2019 Gold Siren winner will be announced in May 2019 and wins a trip to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.  The client of the winning 2019 Gold Siren Award also wins a ticket to Cannes.  Silver Sirens are awarded in each of the three categories: single, campaign and craft.  There is also a client-voted award, a $5000 cash prize, presented to the writers of the ad voted the best, by a panel of clients.

Round two of the 2019 Siren Awards is now open. Entries close 7 July 2019.