Seen and noted

BEST TV
Winner: Taco Bell, Chasing Gold. I watched this one last and rejoiced because I was struggling for a standout spot, but then the ridiculous struck. It's so over the top and totally, well, cheesy but it also totally knows it. I'm so glad they went past the highs and into the downfall and torment of the artist. Fun.

Runner up: Volkswagen, The shoulder. Short, nice insight, simple execution. I like that the car salesman is likeable. I like that he's good at his job. I like that the appreciative burly tradies inadvertently make it bad for his health as a result. I like his performance. I think the commercial vehicle audience will like it a lot. I'd also like to think he'll get a transfer to selling polos instead.

BEST PRINT
Winner: Ambev, Stella Artois. I love a good rug pull. And a good beer. So, when I settled into this beautifully shot bottle of chilled refreshment and drifted down the page for the inevitable pithy Stella line that reassured my sense of taste, I was very pleasantly surprised. Clean, simple and responsible. In a good way.

Runner up: Rolling Stone Magazine, Immortal Cobain. As more and more music is created, it's rarer and rarer to see a band or artist that really changes things. When the world lost Kurt Cobain, Nirvana were underlined as one of those bands. This piece of print is clean, simple and provokes thought. It made me wish that Dave Grohl had stayed drumming for Queens Of The Stone Age. It also made me think the writing inside the mag might just be pretty good too. Advertising job done.

BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: AIB, The Book That Grew. I'm a sucker for craft and the passion to 'do things properly'. I've seen suits tailored for the Aussie cricket team made with wool from sheep who ate the grass from the legendary MCG sports stadium, and designed a book printed with ink made from grass so it smelled like the wonderful fresh cut stuff, but this book really is next level craft. I started watching with scepticism but that vanished pretty quickly. The amount of love, care and attention that has gone into the graphic design, execution and even the film was so good to see.

Runner up: Mastercard, Acceptance Street. So simple. It feels like one of those "Why hasn't someone done this already?" ideas which is always a good indicator and nice to see the Mastercard branding not taking over. If I came across this on the street, it would make me feel pretty good about the world.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Winner: Nissan, The Reborn Light. A fantastic initiative. These kinds of projects are incredibly hard to pull off. They take a lot of time, a lot of money and a mountain of tenacity. But it's a great demonstration of what's possible, and something the world can learn from, which makes it all worthwhile. Even if it is just to demonstrate what can be done with what we throw away, it's good. If it's being rolled out at scale, fantastic.

Runner up: Sioo:X, The Slow Fight Live Website. At the other end of the scale is this website for a wood treatment product. So simple, so stupid, so genius. Hey, that live stream of a live stream was great, let's do something like that. What if we challenge the actual sun to a fight and live stream it for like, 12 years? Sure. Let's build a boxing ring with a wood floor to fight in. Great. Let's challenge competitors to jump in the ring and see if they can take us on too. Perfect.




This week's guest judge is Dave Brady, integrated creative director at Colenso BBDO in New Zealand.

From multi-platform big brand campaigns to socially driven projects and brand identity development, Dave focusses on producing highly crafted, iconic pieces of work, that can live in any media.

Dave has spent over 20 years at both start-ups and major network agencies in London, New Zealand and Australia. He's earned over 80 local and international awards at every major international award show including two ADFEST Grande Lotus, an APMA Grand Prix, AWARD Best In Show, and a rare Cannes Effectiveness Lion.

Dave ran the Communications Council's AdSchool Art Direction Principles course for 2 years and has also had work selected for the Musee de la Publicite National Poster Collections in Paris.