While New Zealanders kicked back to the cricket and flocked to Adele, the weekend saw those in adland braced for another round of awards as the Asian regional creative festival, AdFest, announced its winners. Local agencies Clemenger BBDO and Colenso BBDO are among those celebrating success.
Clemenger BBDO took home six awards from the event, including a prestigious Lotus Grande for Humanity awarded to NZ Transport’s ‘Hello‘ in the Interactive category.
The campaign also picked up two golds, including one in the Direct category, and a bronze, in the Film category.
As well as ‘Hello’, the agency was also recognised for ‘The Conscious Crossing‘, which received silvers in the Promo and Design categories.
Clemenger BBDO director of social marketing Linda Major says it’s honoured to be awarded the Lotus Grande for Humanity for a safety problem that is growing around the world, facilitated through technology but not yet able to be solved by technology.
“The desire to stay connected is only being better facilitated through smartphones so we have a tough job on our hands to raise concern about the real-life risk and consequences of distraction while driving. In asking people to drive ‘phone free’, we’re swimming against a tidal wave of smartphone utility and addiction,” she says.
“The solution was tapping into the human need at the core of the behaviour. Social connection is the primary reason for people reaching for their phones, so we worked with this need rather than against it, using passengers to deliver our message for us. We gave people a lighthearted way to make their discomfort visible to their driver. Something they could own, to remind their driver to put their safety before the need to check the phone.”
The awards follow on from the agency’s success at Axis earlier this month, which saw it take home two Grand Prix, eight golds and the Grand Axis for ‘The Conscious Crossing’.
The Axis Creative Agency of The Year, Colenso BBDO, also received a number of accolades at AdFest, with a Branded Content award and a gold in the Mobile category for Pedigree’s ‘A Dog’s Story’ as well as a gold in the Media category for Amnesty International ‘Unblocker‘.
Anchor ‘X-Ray Casts‘ was also well recognised, as it picked up gold in Direct and two silvers—one in Media and one in Outdoor.
About the wins, creative chairman Nick Worthington says: “It’s terrific to represent NZ on the Asian stage, and to have our sister agency Clemenger BBDO Wellington awarded the Grande Lotus for Humanity for its consistently brilliant road safety work really puts NZ creativity in the spotlight. Naturally, we’re delighted with our successes too, particularly for Fonterra’s Anchor brand which represents a massive business opportunity across Asia, and for Pedigree and Amnesty International who are both doing great work and championing creativity for good.”
