Seen and noted

BEST TV
So Rustlers wins. This is what TV is really good for. A trivial, trashy convenience product made epic through a bit of storytelling and a killer track. It's the mind numbing misery (in a good way) played through this spot that makes it feel a newer idea than the rest.

The Volvo spot is a strong runner up.
Again its channelling an unexpected darkness to cut through, but it does it with a crafted, Channel 4 charm. The glossy joy of the track opens the idea up for people and makes the terror of the idea entertainment. Will this be the poke the vanilla car category needs to take the gloves off and start making good work again?

BEST PRINT
Winner: The BBC Children In Need is a tidy idea and restrained enough to keep off the mountains of other crap most ads like this end up having to put on. The aesthete in me just wished the actual execution of the notes had been messier and more tactile, and the piece as a whole was begging for a line that made a little more sense of the folded money as message?

If I can pretend this poster for Fernet Branca was a print ad, and then pretend that the bad retouch of it into a poster site hadn't made me question its legitimacy for ten minutes, then this is cool. 'Life is bitter' is a lovely thought for this excellently repellant aperitif.

BEST OUTDOOR
Trump blockers. Trump bold. Trump-O-tainment. Best use of Trump.
There's going to be Trump categories at all the award shows this year.
But there's good Trump and bad Trump. Trying to jerk tears from me with a dog petting experiment is the wrong side of the weepy Facebook film camp for me and Trump on his own is enough to cry about.

But the Trump Bus wins. And does what great outdoor should do. Arrests you, and captivates you for longer a printed message on a big white bus should. It's funny. And like the best outdoor, iconic. It becomes more than poster but an icon and a totem for a moment in time. Sure it's a gag, but its a great one, and in a few years when we're all laughing about how fucking mad we all were in late 16, the rolling eyes will come rolling back.

No runner up.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Winner: Stockholm agency Round & Round give good Trump. The Great Trump Escape isn't a huge idea but it's smart. A cheeky dirty bit of tactical recruitment, and some nice pr for the agency to boot.

The AXA Expensive Everyday Items is a strong campaign thought with pr and the brand baked in. It doesn't win here though because the interactive side of the idea is actually the least powerful part.

I also liked Notes On Blindness as a tech craft piece, its emotive and clever, but I'm worried it misses some tinder inside the idea to make people actually care. It feels like the MS guys talking to themselves right now. Please have an idea with this idea, and make people care.



This week's guest judge is Nils Leonard, the outgoing chief creative officer, Grey London.

As chief creative officer of Grey London, Leonard has overseen eight of the most profitable and awarded years in the agency's fifty two year history. He is one of the youngest agency chairman in the world.

In 2014, his commitment to creativity, innovation, talent and culture culminated in Grey being named D&AD’s most awarded UK agency, IPA Effectiveness Agency of the Year, Campaign's Network of the Year & Direct Agency of the Year at the Big awards.

In 2015, Grey became the only agency in the world to win two Grand Prix in Cannes. Nils was voted into the Ad Age Creativity Fifty and was named the most creative person in advertising in the world by Business Insider.

2016 has already seen the agency named a Contagious Pioneer, one of only 12 agencies globally to be selected by Contagious as consistently setting the standard for excellence and innovation as well as being D&AD's most awarded agency for the second time in 3 years.
His most recent work on the Tate Britain won the Grand Prix at the Design Week awards and picked up 15 lions at the Cannes festival of creativity.

A creative champion, agitating for change and diversity in the industry Nils is on the board of trustees of D&AD, is in the Debrett's 500, is listed as one The Sunday Times' 500 most influential people in the UK and has been voted into The Hospital Club's hClub 100 - celebrating the most influential and innovative people working in the creative industries in Great Britain today.