Write the future did what most of us expected, it won big last night at the Dutch Art Director’s Club (ADCN) Awards: the Standing bulb (read: Grand Prix) and three golden bulbs (Integrated, Film, and Print/Magazine). Massive Music also won an award for the music in this commercial. Overall, TBWA\Neboko won most awards, taking home 2 golden (in Film for Pearle and in Print for Heineken’s Social Networks) and 4 silver bulbs. Live Interactive billboard (n=5) won gold in Outdoor. Bavaria’s DutchDress (Selmore) – causing such a big stir at the World Championship football last summer – also received a very deserved golden bulb in Activation. Christian Borstlap’s posters for the overview exhibition of Dutch advertising classics won gold in Graphic Design. In Interactive there was no gold. This could mean that digital creatives are still mostly tech driven, rather than aiming for the big idea. It could also mean that the ‘traditional’ creatives (the largest part of the Jury) are not able to fully appreciate digital innovations. Or it might be a bit of both. In any case, there were three silver bulbs in Interactive for Philips ‘Wake up the town‘ (Tribal DDB), Live Interactive Billboard (see above – a big digital idea, created by a ‘traditional’ agency), and Vodafone’s Madame TreSesti (Achtung!). Our very favourite film ‘Drama Queen‘ for the Young Director Award (TBWA Helsinki, directed by Rogier Hesp) got a bulb in the category Young Directors, but unfortunately not gold.
We are a bit late with this post, but only last Friday did we receive a copy of the ADCN (Art Directors Club Netherlands) book 2010. The annual, featuring the best (as in, most creative) work conceived in Dutch advertising, was accompanied by a little note saying “We look forward to receiving your review in our inbox”. In other words: “Quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter”. A bit cheeky, but fair enough. After all, we were quite happy to receive our personalized (“No. 790”) Limited Edition ADCN book. So to post about it, is the least we can do. The book that celebrates the ADCN awards – including the prestigious ‘lamps’ – is created by a different agency every year. This year the honour went to …, Staat, an ad agency that specializes in design. Though years ago VBAT created a mandatory grid for the book, …, Staat took the liberty to change the fonts into Helvetica and Times. The reason was that the fonts had to fit the concept, which is putting classic bookbinding on a pedestal. And that is why the book breathes craftsmanship; it has a distinguished gray textile cover, is gilt-edged, and has a traditional ribbon-marker. The concept was further translated into a sub-cover underneath each chapter, with a pressman’s jargon equivalent of the chapter itself and a matching photo. So for example the chapter “Print and Outdoor”, is subtitled “Landscape”, with a short explanation. All in all, …, Staat’s concept fits the holy bible of advertising like a glove; craftsmanship meets craftsmanship. Cause when you leaf through the work and see things like Philips Cinema 21:9 , Kit Kat Jesus, and Stanislav, you realise that apart from all the mumbo-jumbo, advertising still thrives best through craftsmanship.
Last week the Dutch Art Director’s Club (ADCN) awards, or simply the ‘Lamps,’ were divided between the most creative Dutch agencies. DDB was the big winner, with 3 silver Lamps – and 29 nominations, out of 204 nominations. DDB’s best silver Lamp went to its commercial made for Ziggo. DDB’s digital sister, Tribal won two times gold with Carousel for Philips, which is no surprise after having won already so many international prizes. Indie won 2 golden and one silver Lamp; all for Domino’s pizza. Indie’s golden awards both went to ‘Delivery Point‘ (outdoor and activation), silver went to ‘Builders‘. Kong won 2 golden lamps for Stanislav (interaction and activation). Out of the 7 golden and 15 silver Lamps, our most favourite Lamp (gold) went to Kit Kat Jesus by Ubachs Wisbrun/JWT. It’s brilliant in its simplicity and shows you don’t need an incredibly big budget to come up with a great idea.
If you think this great ad for Activia was made unauthorized by an amateur creative, trying to build up a portfolio; you are very right! The ad was made by Anna Komarek – or rather, advertising agency Pink and Poodle, that conceived Anna. The ADCN (the Dutch art director’s club) asked Pink and Poodle to promote the new ADCN website, on which the ADCN members can from now on integrate their portfolio and social media pages. Anna – sexy and ambitious at the same time – infiltrated the ad creatives’ social networks in search of a job. She promoted herself on Facebook and Twitter, using YouTube video’s and a very ‘promising’ Flickr portfolio. And although most of Anna’s followers knew she was a hoax (“too staged”, as someone commented), her job hunt made pretty interesting content. And this of course immediately proofed the value of the improved ADCN site. Wonderful strategy, brilliant execution. Pretty lamp (= ADCN award) worthy!
This weekend ‘Carousel’ for Philips, made by Tribal DDB, won a Film Grand Prix in Cannes! Last week the online case was already awarded with a silver Cyber Lion. According to film jury member Richard Bullock (180 Amsterdam) the jury was unanimous and quick to decide that this was a Grand Prix. David Lubars (BBDO), who presided the film jury, called it mind blowing and said it showed the way forward. True enough; the technique gives an extra (interactive) dimension to film. And when content is fully animated, the viewer can even change the ‘camera’ angle in any desirable way – which we saw earlier this year in the commercial for the game Killzone 2. Other Amsterdam winners in Film: TBWA\Neboko won silver for its Heineken walk-in fridge and bronze for its IDFA films – both commercials won a golden ADCN lamp earlier this year. Amsterdam agencies Indie and Ogilvy also won a bronze Lion for respectively Orange Babies and Sensoor.
From a creative perspective, the ADCN Lamps are the most desirable awards; they represent the BIG ideas – nothing else. So it makes you wonder why this year only 2 Silver Lamps went to the category ‘interactive’ (Selmore/Achtung! and Skipintro); mainly traditional advertising gets awarded! And when you compare the Lamps with the (interactive) Spin Awards, it is striking that only two creative concepts won both awards; Upload Cinema (Lowe/Draftfcb) and Fortheloveofgod.nl (Skipintro). Does this mean that most big-idea creatives don’t have a digital mind? Or does it mean that digital creatives don’t come up with big ideas?
This (cinema) commercial by TBWA\Neboko for IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) was awarded last night at the prestigious ADCN (Dutch Art Directors Club) awards with a golden Lamp. Check out all the winners here. We love the IDFA film (‘you can’t make up reality’), because it is creative, insightful and convincing – the three essential ingredients of advertising. It’s typical that this work is hardly recognizable as a TBWA product. Was it because it was a ‘non-budget’ production? In any case it proofs that creativity needs an inspiring product rather than a big budget. Interesting detail: all the (real!) actors and Oscar winner Mike van Diem worked on it for free. Here’s another one: Jesus Camp.
When the online bank Icesave was offering sky high interest rates last year, the ‘economical’ Dutch en masse moved their virtual savings to the Icelandic bank. But when the credit crunch made the bank fall over, they were left empty handed – that is, almost, since the Dutch government came to the rescue. With this banner, made by S-W-H, placed on the ‘Icelost’ forum, Bolletje offers all the disappointed savers a free breakfast by returning the purchase money on their bank account – with the cheeky text added: “provided that you still have one”. Bolletje has always been known for its Dutch rusk. A few years ago though, the brand radically expanded its product portfolio, changed its package design (BrummelkampHoekstra) and hired a new advertising agency (S-W-H). The perfectly integrated and striking communication this year won a golden ADCN ‘lamp’ – the Dutch equivalent of the D&AD ‘pencils’.
