An ad titled ‘Women in Engineering’ by West Australian agency Marketforce has won the Single category, and is also overall winner of the third round of the Sirens Awards 2015.
Women In Engineering was conceived by Marketforce for client Curtin University, with the aim to create an ad that would inspire and empower women to become engineers.
Listen to the spot here.
The 30 second ad was written by Alida Henson, Megan Riley, Guy Howlett, Neil Martin, Pat Lennox & Ben Green, and directed by Pat Lennox & Ben Green. With clever use of distorted sound to gain attention, the ad spot highlights an engineering achievement by a woman who had a significant impact on the very medium on which the ad was played.
The Marketforce team said that their inspiration was radio itself. “We gave people a little taste of what the world would be like without the ingenuity of female engineers, like Hedy Lemar.”
The Campaign category was also won by Marketforce for “Father’s Day” for City of Perth. Written by Alida Henson, Megan Riley, Pat Lennox & Ben Green, and directed by Pat Lennox & Ben Green. The radio spot addressed the brief to convince people to take their Dads to Perth City on Father’s Day, and features a real Dad interacting with his kids, reminding everyone through humour just how tough being a Dad can be.
The Craft category was won by Sydney agency Eardrum, Australia for their ad “Cabbie” for Commonwealth Bank, and was sound engineered by Steve Hessell (20Below) & Myles Lowe (Song Zu). Directed by Ralph van Dijk, the ad demonstrates the usefulness of the new “cardless cash” system for ATM withdrawals, through the awkward predicament of needing to pay a cab driver when you’ve left your wallet behind.
Joan Warner, chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia said: “The third round of Sirens 2015 has continued to showcase the high calibre of radio ads being produced by agencies, and we’re also very pleased to be seeing an increased amount of entries as we move into each new round.”
The Gold Siren winner receives a trip to Cannes to the Cannes Radio Lions, and two tickets to attend the festival. The client of the winning 2015 Gold Siren Award also wins a ticket to Cannes. Silver Sirens are awarded in each of the three categories: single, campaign and craft. The winners are decided by a panel of industry experts, made up of creative directors from leading ad agencies, known as the Siren Creative Council. There is also a client-voted award: a $5000 cash prize awarded to the writers of the ad voted the best by a panel of clients.
