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Seen and noted

Guest Judge: Adam Cleaver, ECD, Collective London

 GUEST JUDGE /BEST AD OF THE WEEK   WORLDWIDE    November 06, 2012 20:08 (Edited: February 17, 2023 05:19)
BEST TV
Quite a mixed bag this week, but that did at least make the winner clear. While the spot for The Hindu may not be the most innovative ever seen, it did have a strong core idea and an effective execution. A college professor divides his classroom into two and instructs pupils to discuss an important issue, behaving exactly like real politicians. Cue slow-mo violent pandemonium. And what really worked for me were the endlines: 'Behave yourself, India. The youth are watching.' No sitting on the fence, no cop-out. The Hindu has a vehement opinion and it's not afraid of expressing it - or speaking for India's young millions.
Choosing the runner-up was a bit harder. I really wanted it to be The AA ad from New Zealand - when Kiwi ads are good, they're world-beating - but it just dissolved into a pile of mush, awkwardly aligning make-believe dramatic scenarios with the fall of the Berlin wall. Icky. So I'm going to have to pick the dirty nappies of Mamia. Babies are lavishly, lovingly filmed at the moment of, er, going poopy in their nappies at inopportune moments, to the horror of adult onlookers. The CGI is rather creepy and the endline, 'Ready when you're not' is obviously applicable to every single nappy brand on the planet. But sometimes that's what effective advertising is all about: grabbing the most obvious position because everyone else has forgotten what their product (or service) is actually for.

BEST PRINT
As a copywriter, I have a tendency to search out ads that offer really great copy. But with this week's winner, it's all about the superlative art direction. This Christmas ad for Marmite contains elves in Santa's workshop. So far, so ho-ho hum. But what effortlessly lifts this piece head and shoulders above everything else is the head and shoulders of the first elf, wedged deep inside the jar. As his legs scissor beautifully in the air, another elf sits on the ground, losing his lunch deep inside his hat. The staging simply looks wonderful and these kinds of strong visuals will create exactly the stand-out the brand needs at Christmas.
My runner's-up choice is a little predictable, but it's simply the next best ad so I'm choosing it anyway. Land Rover demonstrate the product truth of its Defender marque by sticking a lion on the back seat. Yep, the lion is defending its patch... from the back of a Land Rover. It's wordless, it takes a beat to figure out, it works. Job done.

BEST OUTDOOR
This week's outdoor winner is a simple piece of lateral thinking. Four Directions sell e-books - but how to publicise this in the real world, where people are reading, without using paper? Slap an edible QR code on a cookie and hand out the cookie in popular coffee shops. Scan the code to get a free trial e-book, then eat the cookie. No paper, no printing, no waste. Just some weird-looking cookies. Yum.
Runner-up is a Toyota campaign to sell rear-view cameras. How? By putting something precious that is hit and killed every year - young children - in the way of reversing drivers. A street artist was employed to paint beautiful images of children playing on to the back wall of car parking spaces in a garage to give drivers a jolt as they reversed in. It's gently chiding rather than shocking - no one would mistake these paintings for real children - but nicely done and would certainly grab my attention as a driver. Although I suppose if I noticed them in the mirror or over my shoulder, it might negate the need for a rear-view camera...

BEST INTERACTIVE
Another mixed bag. Again, the winner was obvious but the runner-up took a while to pick. So, in first place is a project designed to highlight the plight of the Netherlands' Metropole Orchestra. The 'pop, jazz and light music' orchestra's funding is under serious threat, so to draw attention they organised a one-day Tweetphony: tweet a piece of music no more than 140 characters long, and the best will be arranged and played live by a full orchestra. The execution isn't the glossiest but that just adds to the sincerity and likeability of it all. Combining the freshness and enthusiasm of Twitter (b. 2006) with an orchestra that dates from 1946 - and doing it in such a natural way - is brilliant. Anyone could take part and compose a piece. Because the Metropole Orchestra isn't for music snobs in evening gloves - it's for everyone.
Okay, here's my runner-up: Nissan Note. It's a long scrolling website. Yes, we've seen those umpteen times before. And the idea of creating animation, like a digital flick-book - seen that before too. So it's not original. But it did engross me. I scrolled up and down half a dozen times, exploring what I could do with the content. And the longer I spend on a car site if I'm in the market for a car, the more persuaded I'm going to become. Plus, I just love the way it doesn't look like any other car site I've seen for a while. Even if it does look a lot like a Uniqlo site instead.


https://www.bestadsontv.com/news/upload/AdamCleaver-web.jpgThis week's guest judge is Adam Cleaver, Executive Creative Director, Collective London.

Adam co-founded Collective London in October 2004 and works across all Collective accounts such as Honda, EA Games, learndirect, Sega, Callaway Golf, Living Steel, Snickers, Doritos and Guinness.

He is the lead conceptual creative and responsible for all the creative output of the agency.

Adam is an award-winning copywriter and conceptual creative with over 15 years' experience in the digital and direct marketing fields. He set up Collective after five years at digital agency, AKQA, where he was both Head of Copy and joint Creative Lead on the global Nike account. Before AKQA, Adam spent three years at direct marketing agency, Proximity London.

Collective London was founded in 2003, Collective is a digital strategy and creative agency that helps its clients to 'get to the future first' with powerful insight, memorable ideas and beautifully crafted experiences. Utilising its Creative Intelligence and Collective Labs teams, Collective helps clients increase profit by monetising the opportunities new consumer behaviours are presenting. Current clients include Honda, EA, BBC, Mars Pet Food, Pepsico, Callaway Golf and LOCOG.


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