Seen and noted

This week, I sat with members of the China creative department in Shanghai to discuss the ideas altogether, and here is our response.

BEST TV
Winner: France 5. Domestic Violence. Brutally simple and powerful. It's a difficult subject to take on as it has been approached many times before, but in this case I felt it. Literally. We seemed to agree on this one.

Runner up: Toyota Hilux. Ode to the Hilux. It was a real toss up between this spot being the winner or not. I felt it was a pretty epic New Zealand spot, full of black humour. Animals simply dying to be carried home in or on a Toyota Hilux, did somehow make my bad-taste-ometer register as 'a little uneasy.' But maybe that's just me. The China crew had no issues though, and felt the effects were well done.

BEST PRINT
Winner: Norwegian. Norwegian Knitwear Socks. Not because I am a Scandinavian, but then again, maybe it is, as I could really feel the chilly winters night in Oslo being enticed by the thought of a warmer climate. And the socks pulled it off well. China felt it too, though they didn't love the type of sock!

Runner up: Livrarias Curtiba. Books for Every Moment. Bookstores that offer a book for everything is not that unusual I guess. However, in this case, it was simple and done with a visual charm. Nods from the China jury here, as it was easy to comprehend in another language.

BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: Xbox, Survival Billboard took first place here. Or should I say 'last,' as this felt like a very British approach to experiencing things. Last man standing after almost 21 hours, reminds me of the line, "last rat standing" in the movie Skyfall. And all for the love of Lara Croft! Really? The Chinese felt this one was one of the picks of the week, and particularly liked the fact the public got to choose how the participants were tortured by the weather.

Runner up: Amnesty international. Tear Gas Scented Candle. This reminded me of how powerful, yet underused the sense of smell is in our business. An evocative piece, which had me imagining what Tear Gas really does smell like, even if I have no idea what that is, thankfully. We found the VO a little strange, however China was equally clear on this one too.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Winner: Louis XIII. 100 Years. The sheer audacity to get a client to buy into a film that will not be released for 100 years is to be applauded. And also a very elegant reminder of the four generations of cellar masters it takes to produce a bottle of Louis III cognac. Seems like pretty special stuff! We had a lot of debate about how interactive this was, but it seemed suggestions of the content of the film seeded and discussed managed to get it into the category. Maybe we were missing the whole picture. And getting John Malkovich to write, was a coup. I particularly liked his line, "I was John Malkovich" as a voice from the grave at the end. The team also felt the drink would go down a storm in the Shanghai clubs too.

Runner up: Don't Drink and Drive. A very clever use of a personality who seems to have influence over the kids, preventing them from getting behind the wheel after drinking. We didn't get all of the in-jokes, but I guess you have to be from New Zealand for that.




This week's guest judge is Nils Andersson, president and chief creative officer of TBWAGreater China.

In 2014, Nils was named Greater China's Creative of the Year by Campaign Magazine. The Won Directory also ranked him 4th most awarded Creative Director in the world and his Penguin 'Mic' campaign was the most awarded print in the world.

Originally a member of the British Olympic fencing squad, Nils studied graphics and was then offered a place at the Royal College of Art.

He began in London as a designer and moved on to create award-winning campaigns for the likes of Land Rover, Ford, The Royal Mail, Woolworths and ING Barings.

In 2001, he moved to Tokyo as ECD of TBWA Japan. He later went to Beijing as Greater China ECD Ogilvy & Mather, where he led them to become one of the most awarded agency groups in the world and the first Chinese agency to win a D&AD Yellow Pencil.

Nils joined Y&R as China President & Chief Creative Officer, where he guided them to become the most awarded agency in China at Cannes for two consecutive years and earned them Campaign's 2014 China Agency of the Year accolade.

In 2015 Nils rejoined a resurgent TBWA as President & Chief Creative Officer, Greater China.