FCB Media dominates the medal table at inaugural Beacon Awards—UPDATED

The first-ever Beacon Awards took place last night at the Viaduct Events Centre in front of a capacity crowd, and it was FCB Media that got by far the most exercise, with independent MBM winning agency of the year, MediaWorks TV winning media brand of the year, Maritime New Zealand taking client of the year and Nielsen’s Claire Harris accepting the inspiring individual award. 

With big screens hanging over a stage located in the middle of the venue, the newly refreshed awards, which were conceived, branded and promoted by FCB, looked more akin to a boxing event than an industry award. And the Short Walks campaign from TRB, which saw agencies choose the musical anthems they wanted to accompany them as they walked up to the stage if they won added to that. Jesse Mulligan did a good job controlling the crowd as MC (and poking a bit of fun at himself along the way) and the comedy threesome from Auckland Daze were also on hand to to entertain the crowd. 

• Check out the entertaining call for entries campaign here. 

FCB Media’s ‘Peoples’ Stories’ for Noel Leeming took best in show, as well as three golds in retail/etail, best collaboration and most effective. The executive judging panel said it was a bold and well-integrated approach, with great execution that created very strong sales results. They agreed Noel Leeming Group should be applauded for backing an idea that provided a clear departure from traditional retail advertising.

“It was a high stakes gamble that paid off.”

TVNZ said: “The campaign was a four-way collaboration between TVNZ, APN, The Radio Bureau and FCB Media where the strengths of each media platform combined to bring exceptional results. A feature of the campaign was the unprecedented speed of the TVC turnaround – just six hours from a location shoot to broadcast as an approved TVC.”

Maritime New Zealand’s ‘Nudging Behaviour Change’ entry took a total of five golds, including advertiser of the year, with wins in best use of insight, best integrated campaign, social marketing/public service and best communications strategy. 

FCB Media’s Message in a Bottle for Sony’s waterproof headphones won gold in consumer durables and best use of owned and earned, as well as two silvers in best smart media idea and best small budget. L’Oreal’s Nailing It took one gold in best use of owned and earned, as well as silver in best launch and best small budget. And FCB also took two silvers for BMW’s Signalling Success, and one each for its Xbox cinema takeover, Census Youth, the Electricity Authority, RaboDirect and Health Promotion Agency. In addition to winning best in show, FCB Media was awarded a total of nine golds and 13 silvers and this good performance follows on from winning Campaign of the Year at the Festival of Media Asia earlier this year. 

In a release, managing director Derek Lindsay said: “Our focus is always on achieving great outcomes through smarter thinking for our clients. It is therefore fantastic that such a diverse range of campaigns were recognised across a number of categories.”

MBM’s ‘An Accident Waiting to Happen’ to launch Whittaker’s L&P chocolate took gold in FMCG and best launch, as well as silver in best comms strategy, best use of owned and earned and most effective. 

In his acceptance speech for agency of the year, which was a separate, more holistic award and not related to the number of awards won on the night, co-founder Sean McCready spoke of the support the independent creative agencies and largely New Zealand-owned client base had shown MBM since it was established a few years back and how good it was to be the masters of their own destiny as an independent agency themselves. 

MediaWorks TV’s Paul Maher was typically frank in his acceptance of the media brand of the year award, which it won over TVNZ Ondemand and iSite Media, letting fly with a few F bombs and thanking clients, agencies and staff for their support during a tough period (or as he said succinctly, “last year was a bitch”). 

“Television’s unparalleled reach, and cost efficiency make it without question the medium of choice for advertisers but the industry faces challenges: high costs for international content and the pace of change in a rapidly evolving media environment,” says Maher in a release. “In 2013, we took the brave decision to change our approach to television content, moving away from an old fashioned reliance on studio output deals to new, flexible commercial arrangements with our international partners, and invested more in popular local programming. It was a calculated risk, but we knew it made sense for viewers, clients, and the bottom line. The secret to MediaWorks’ success across the board is the commitment, resilience and talent of our people. Thanks to the efforts of everyone at MediaWorks TV we’re now in a strong position to aggressively target the programmes our viewers want, that drive ratings for our advertisers, and are well aligned to our TV3 and Four brands.”

MediaWorks TV director of sales and marketing Liz Fraser says advertisers told it they wanted to reach people on multiple platforms and MediaWorks is “uniquely placed in the New Zealand market as the only media company with TV, radio, digital, mobile and social assets”. 

“One of the outstanding achievements of last year was the way we worked across the group to deliver unprecedented results for clients and audiences.”

In 2013, MediaWorks TV enjoyed significant increases in revenue share and overall profitability. The Block NZ was the number one 2013 show on television in the critical 25-54 demographic, with more than 70 percent of New Zealanders tuning in on-air and engaging on social and web platforms. More than 3.3 million viewers watched The X Factor NZ, which was a social media phenomenon, with record engagement for TV3. TV3’s news and current affairs division was central to the network’s success, as was the Friday night comedy line-up featuring 7 Days and Jono and Ben at Ten. Four continued to perform well, and was the major beneficiary of a new content arrangement with Fox.

Claire Harris, Nielsen’s managing director of media, said winning the inspiring individual award in honour of Sandy Smith meant a lot to her. And it was especially poignant given that she is soon to leave New Zealand to work for Nielsen abroad after 15 years with the business. 

Harris was first appointed as the director of client services for AC Nielsen Australia in 1999, before moving across to the Nielsen’s media research team in New Zealand in 2001 to take up the role of director of television services. After holding this position for five years, she was appointed managing director of Nielsen TAM in 2006 and then to her current role in 2012.

The only other golds on the night were given to Spark PHD for Tui’s Catch a Million campaign in best small budget and to OMD and Clemenger BBDO for Blazed in branded content. Spark PHD also won two silvers for Heineken Open Play, and one for Weet-bix collectors cards. And OMD took a total of six silvers, two for V robbers and one each for Heart of the City, Tourism Australia, Wellington Ukelele Orchestra and NZTA.

Of the other winners, Mediacom took two silvers for BNZ; Starcom took one for Samsung’s Smart Phone Line; Open/Special Group earned one silver for Unitec’s ‘What Does Success mean to You’; and Ogilvy & Mather Media rounded it out with one silver for Kimberly-Clark’s ‘Dress to Impress’. 

The much sought after NBR best dressed award went to Ash Hekkens of FCB Media and Michael James of OMD. 

Check out the NBR’s gallery here. All winners are below and can also be seen on the CAANZ website.