The finalists have been announced for the 19th annual Siren Awards, which recognise the best radio ads in Australia over the past 12 months.
Winners will be announced on 30 May at the Siren Awards, hosted by Commercial Radio & Audio and ARN as a livestream show at 12:30 pm AEST. The 2023 Gold Siren winning creative team will be announced during the show, hosted by ARN’s Mitch Churi, host of The Night Show and co-host of The Pick Up on the KIIS network, and Nat Penfold, KIIS radio announcer and producer on the Kyle & Jackie O Show.
The winning ad agency team will receive the coveted Gold Siren trophy, two tickets to the 70th Annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with travel and accommodation, and their winning ad entered into the Cannes Lion radio award. Their client will also receive a ticket to the Cannes Festival with travel and accommodation. Ford Ennals, chief executive officer of CRA, organisers of The Siren Awards, said: “Radio advertising works. Effective creative radio campaigns cut through to the hearts, minds and wallets of listeners, like a hot knife through butter. The Siren Awards acknowledge how agency creativity, combined with the intimacy and immediacy of commercial radio, enable calls to action in listeners like no other medium.”
The creative teams awarded Silver Siren Awards will also be revealed on 30 May, with three categories: for a single radio ad, a radio campaign and an excellence in audio craft award. The 2023 Gold Siren Award winner is selected from the three Silver Siren winners. These awards are judged by The Sirens Creative Council, a panel of ad and radio industry experts. A Bronze Siren will be won by the writers of a radio ad or ad campaign that has met best the rigorous criteria of creativity, as defined by a client panel.
“The Siren Awards is the only place that celebrates Australia’s best radio creative work each year. It creates a benchmark for creatives to match or exceed and gives advertisers confidence to use the medium,” said Ralph Van Dijk, chair of the Sirens Creative Council.
Making the finalist list this year are agencies M&C Saatchi, BMF, Eardrum, Marketforce, The Monkeys, Rare, AT Creative, The Hallway, The Royals and Wildings Creative, along with sound studios Cue Sound, Massive Music, MDS Audio, The Studio at SCA, and Soundbyte.
The campaigns were for clients including ALDI Australia, Coates, Boating Camping Fishing (BCF), the Department of Education the WA Football Commission, Steggles Turkey, 7-Eleven, Liquor Barons, Queen Victoria Tea, Friends in Need, West Australian Ballet, Baiada, Revel Brewing Co, The Men’s Table and Scitech.
“Radio is part of our lives – over 80 per cent of Australians have listened to radio in the past week. And with the emergence of new opportunities for advertisers in the digital audio space, there are so many opportunities for creative audio productions,” Ford said.
“This is the 19th Sirens Awards, and we thank ARN for helping us host a livestream show which will reveal the best radio ads that Australia has produced in the past 12 months. It’ll be a cracker of a show.”
