Christian Borstlap proudly presents 5 (out of 7) bulbs to the press – photo by Matthijs Immink.
Unfortunately it took us half a week to recover from the ADCN (Art Director Club Netherlands) awards (read: the party afterwards). Which is why only now we’re able to do a write up. Anyway, unlike last year the venue (Gashouder, instead of Concertgebouw) and James Bond-inspired opening show were quite impressive; sexy girls, wearing tight latex suits (apparently a special desire of Etcetera’s Peter van Leeuwen), entered a box-ring stage accompanied by pumping music and a light show. It even made us feel a little proud about our industry: “Yeah, we work in advertising, baby!” The English-speaking presenter, Juan Señor, who also does the awards in Cannes, made the chitchat-interviews on stage with the different Jury presidents – just like last year – feel somewhat bipolar. Though we very well understand that the ADCN wants to include the international agencies, most Dutchies were either hard to follow, because of their not so fluent English, or simply doing their speeches in Dutch. But enough about form, let’s talk about the awards. Then again, form won Big last Wednesday.
Art director Christian Borstlap’s Part of a Bigger Plan won 7 out of 28 bulbs in design related categories: 3D design, Motion graphics, and Art Direction. Here’s one for Louis Vuitton. His agency’s impressive amount of bulbs made ad magazine Adformatie wonder whether Christian Borstlap – with his “mini studio” – is simply the best or whether the competition is mediocre. It’s not either/or; if Borstlap rules – and he does in our opinion – he automatically makes the rest mediocre. What it does show is that his formula works. In other words, nomen est omen; small really is the new big, because ‘Part of a bigger plan’ is able to hire the right talent for the right job. It makes the agency nimble, without having to make concessions on quality. Indie did also well with 4 bulbs for Domino’s. If you talk about true advertising ideas, but in unexpected forms, these are your examples. Here are two: One Phrase Serenade and Safe Sound Scooter. Indie and Domino’s really deserve a consistency award for winning every year at the ADCN awards with truly original work for Domino’s – is what one jury member told us. Three agencies won 2 bulbs: Dawn (for Artis and Triodos), Achtung! (for Volkswagen and Skoda), and Havas for very innovatively turning Twitter into a musical instrument: Tweetphony. The very best idea of the evening was awarded a Grand Prix; Woedend and WeFilm created an interactive film, directed through Twitter – we interviewed the makers about the project last August. All in all, an inspiring list of winners proving that even in times of crisis creativity in advertising doesn’t need to suffer.
We like the distinctive art direction of this De Groene Amsterdammer (political/cultural magazine) ad, created by Dawn and director Johan Kramer. The only thing that puts us off is that it feels a little too highbrow – the previous one (also by Dawn) almost comes across as mainstream compared to this hipsterness. Even our editor growing a stache – not just in November – doesn’t feel inclined to take a subscription – let alone to give one away. But for all those intellectuals who feel isolated and know instantly what Francis Ford Coppola and Fukuyama have to do with each other, we’re sure ‘De Groene’ is a wonderful magazine.
As we all know Europe is in crisis. Or, to speak marketing lingo; has a huge image problem. Since the Dutch elections are due – September – employers and entrepeneurs (to be precize VNO-NCW, MKB-Nederland, LTO Nederland) joined forces and asked Dawn - that seems to have become the new political ‘conscious-of-Holland’ agency – to make Europe sound like a profitable concept again. And they did a good job. This is the very first piece of advertising we’ve ever seen that makes Europe sound convincing. The film, directed by Natasja Reeuwijk and Morad Bouchakour, is pretty straightforward, but the message – aptly shown in black and white – should at least have the potential to make even the sceptics doubt whether we should be so anti Europe. And when you think of it, it does fit the Netherlands better to be pro Europe. After all, the Netherlands has always been a small trading nation, forced to look outward rather than inward, not afraid of other cultures, and constructive on an intergovernmental level. Looking inward is definitely not what has made Holland so prosperous ever since the 17th century – and makes Amsterdam kick ass as advertising capital, for that matter. On a dedicated website you can learn more (in Dutch) about Europa & De Feiten (‘Europe & The Facts’).
What an optimistic, intelligent, and persuasive commercial for Triodos – a bank that solely invests in durable, social, and cultural projects – by Dawn. We can’t really remember seeing a bank advertise itself with such a credible tone of voice. The most powerful message here of course is that the power doesn’t belong to big anymore, the force is with small. Not coincidently Dawn did something similar for Alex a while ago; ‘the big bank theory’ – that is, message-wise similar, not as convincing. This film really makes you wonder what happens if we’d all “follow our hearts and use our heads”. Directed by Bram Schouw (hazazaH).
Art director and co-founder of Dawn, Pepijn Rooijens (42) is leaving Dawn for Lemz. Rooijens, who also worked at Ogilvy and FHV/BBDO is known for his designy feel for art direction, resulting for example in the wonderful Artis outdoor stickers. At Dawn Rooijens formed a team with David Snellenberg, though the magic between the two had disappeared already a while ago. At Lemz Rooijens will be creatively leading the IKEA account with Remco Marinus – which hopefully will make the brand a little more attractive.
This spring a baby boom is hitting Amsterdam zoo Artis. To celebrate this, Dawn came up with outdoor stickers. The agency was inspired by the farm-animals-car-window-stickers from the 70s-80s. Since the stickers can be removed and reused elsewhere, it is the first outdoor campaign that can physically go viral. What an incredibly handsome idea.
