It's unpleasantly early in the morning here in New York, so I've caffeinated and eaten a pastry with an unpronounceable filling. In light of the pressing 12pm deadline, I'm going to try and keep short and sweet-ish.
BEST TVWinner:
IKEA beds. Mother has managed to create consistently beautiful work for IKEA over the last few years. They've taken away some of the brands more playful side but replaced it with truly cinematic films. 'Beds' does it again - it's stirring stuff, beautifully shot and finished off with a great line.
Runner up:
Nivea Men. A tough choice for the runner up, but I picked Nivea because of the smart thinking behind the campaign. Men's skincare is a tough category and one loaded with cliches. They've found an angle that's authentic and very masculine, without being pretentious. So often these sort of content campaigns run thin very quickly â I think there's mileage here. I hope this re-appears in the digital categories at award shows, if there's more interaction baked in it could be a contender.
BEST PRINTWinner:
Last 55. I wasn't bowled over by the print this week. It seems a little niche on the whole. That said, the Maui Dolphin ad is startling in both its message and simplicity of art direction. It's my winner for this week, but not something that makes me green with envy.
Runner up:
Dot. Having worked on Volkswagen for a few years I know how hard it is to create standout automotive print. There are hints of various other car campaigns in this execution, but I still think it's an interesting layout and an engaging idea. It won't trouble the juries (unless you can remove the car, bottom left!) but it's still commendable.
BEST OUTDOOR Winner:
Dead parrot. How can you not love this? It's a dead parrot, it's pushing up the daisies, it has ceased to be, and so on. High-five to the model maker.
Runner up:
Cover drive. This is a neat little idea. When advertising works well it's often because the agency got the occasion right. I hope they manage to continue this on to more events in the future. Be interesting to see if they can add some more social legs so the campaign can travel.
BEST INTERACTIVEWinner:
Words can be weapons. Great insight, great idea and great craft. I love the lengths they've gone to, to get this right. It particularly appeals to typographic nerd in me, but its strength is much great than that. Sometimes these 'project' type campaigns are all fluff and numbers; I think there's something more substantial here.
Runner up:
McDonald's. Maccas have really stretched themselves over the last few years and become far more digitally savvy. This is another client I've spent a number of years working on, so I know first-hand how they've started to embrace social media. The production values are great and the way in is compelling. I like it.
This week's guest judge is Nick Pringle, creative director at Grey, New York.
Nick Pringle grew up in Kent, England. His first introduction to the business was packing 20,000 copies of Oglivy on Advertising in a factory in Maidstone. After walking out with a copy concealed in his trousers, he decided to get a job as an account man in London.
His time as a suit at DMB&B ended after three years when he moved into the creative department. He has since picked up at every major award show including: two Cannes Golds, three One Show Golds and two Silvers; plus a yellow pencil and multiple nominations at D&AD.
In 2013 Nick was ranked the number one creative in Australia. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York and works as group creative director at Grey.
