Back in 1996, Daniel Barnes started up his own agency. In 2008, he was joined by Paul Catmur, who moved down the road from his role as ECD at DDB to fight the independent fight. And seven years on, Barnes Catmur & Friends has established a solid reputation for pumping out effective work, its in-house media model is catching a bit of attention and some big clients have come knocking recently.
2015 will mark the 35th anniversary of the Axis Awards, and to commemorate this milestone CAANZ will be showcasing some of the work that has been awarded over the course of that period. But, as has always been the case, this year’s edition will be about awarding the best work produced over the course of the last year. And to do that as effectively as possible, CAANZ has introduced a few changes to the awards categories for this year’s event.
As part of our series with the One Percent Collective that’s dedicated to celebrating good work and inspiring a bit more generosity, Ant Salmon, managing director of Big Communications, doffs his cap to Andy McDowell and all the others who have done their own thing.
The hair is being groomed and the guitars are being tuned for tonight’s Beatles-themed Battle of the Ad Bands at the Kings Arms, and while the winner of the last two year’s events, Barnes, Catmur & Friends’ Friends Electric, is out of the running this year (all the members are thought to be pursuing solo projects after a huge falling out, with Daniel Barnes going through his Sting phase and focusing on the lute), it’s an opportune moment to show off the saucy full-length music video the band made as part of its prize from its win in 2012.
Last year, Barnes Catmur and Friends finally ended Aussie dominance at the Campaign Asia Pacific Awards by becoming the first Kiwi agency to win the Australia/New Zealand Independent Agency of the Year category. In addition to this, the consistent indy team won the Battle of the Ad Bands, showing that its creative streak also extends into other disciplines. Given that the agency spent 2013 moving from strength to strength, it comes as no surprise that managing partner Daniel Barnes was positive, albeit laconic, in his assessment of the year.
As part of last year’s Battle of the Ad Bands, the winning band, Barnes Catmur & Friends’ Friends Electric, ate the 50 gallons of personalised ice cream and drove the Audi slightly above the speed limit. They were also given a recording session at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios and had a music video filmed. So, as the industry gears up for this year’s musical showdown tonight at the Kings Arms, what better time to reveal the fruits of that labour.
Westpac’s Martine Jager heads back to Oz, Colenso shares the account management love, CAANZ announces four new board members, indies band together to create new agency forum, Orangebox makes a big Wellington hire, Fairfax goes Peat mining and Alexander Communications goes global.
The shots were downed at the door, the undies went flying onto the stage regularly and the screams were deafening last night as seven bands came together and rocked the hell out of the King’s Arms for the fifth annual Battle of the Ad Bands, a night that some jokingly—or not so jokingly—call the most important in advertising. And after being there or thereabouts in previous years, the worthy rock gods and goddess in Barnes, Catmur & Friend’s Friends Electric finally took the top prize, prying it from the cold dead hands of TBWA\, which had won it for the past two years but didn’t feature in this year’s festivities.
Barnes, Catmur & Friends gives a high five, Donovan and Boyd go solo, Toa Fraser joins the 8com roster, First Rate and Market United become one, Radio Rhema names its new chief executive, Massey stalwart professor Philip Gendall receives a new title, online retail advertising network iNC launches in New Zealand, Datamine hires a new geek, and Sam Neill puts his name to short film comp Tropfest.
After a fair bit of digging and probing, we can reveal the creative buffs behind the Labour Party’s new design are advertising agency Barnes, Catmur & Friends, with head of design Crispin Schuberth responsible for the final logo design. But unlike politicians, getting a straight answer from the agency about the design was easy.