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Beacons 2019: All eyes on FCB Media as it rains gold, PHD crowned Media Agency of the Year

It was FCB Media’s night last night at the 2019 Commercial Communications Council Beacon Awards, when the agency took home gold after gold in front of a sell-out crowd of New Zealand’s media personalities at Shed 10, Auckland.

Hosted by Madeleine Sami, the evening celebrated the industry’s best media-lead campaigns from last year, and highlighted the smart and innovative media thinking that is driving advertising and comms in New Zealand. 

The theme of the night was all about work ‘being seen’ and FCB Media was certainly very visible on stage: collecting the coveted Best in Show award for work with Flight Centre on The Little Christmas Nudge, as well as a total of 14 Gold awards. The Flight Centre campaign also won three Golds for Retail/Etail, Best Use of Data and Most Effective.

FCB Media also took home 11 more Gold awards for Oat the Goat (Ministry of Education), Undercover Crossword (Ministry of Social Development), Switch Stop (Mercury), Saving the Last of the Giants (Ministry for Primary Industries), and Pre-Testie Bestie (Health Promotion Agency). The Advertiser of the Year award, which is based on the number of metal trophies won at the Beacons, went to the Health Promotion Agency for the work with FCB Media. 

FCB Media’s Anne Lispham was named the Sandy Smith Inspiring Individual for 2019.

The prestigious Media Agency of the Year award went to PHD for the second year in a row. The award recognises PHD’s significant business results, award wins, new business growth, employee development and industry contribution.

PHD chief executive Nikki Grafton says winning the top award for two years in a row is a testament to the hard work, creativity and commitment of the team.

“We are lucky to have some of the most creative, strategic and technical brains in the industry on our team who constantly challenge themselves, each other and the norm, to find a better way for our clients.”

PHD was also recognised for its talent, with the inaugural Rising Star award going to performance director Katia Ducker. Her win follows a successful year for the SEO and programmatic expert, including taking home seven local and international awards for her efforts on the successful Newshub Election campaign.

Grafton says PHD is exceptionally proud of Ducker. 

“Her achievements boil down to an intricate technical knowledge and expertise, a strong work ethic and can-do attitude, a challenger mindset and a commitment to over-delivering.”

TVNZ took home the Sales Team of the Year award, as well as playing a role in a number of gold-winning campaigns. Commercial director Paul Maher says TVNZ’s success is down to its strength in connecting with New Zealand’s best audiences and collaborating with commercial partners. 

“I’m incredibly proud of our sales team – through the last year they’ve worked hard as a team to deliver value and innovation to our customers. That was demonstrated last night, not only through the recognition as Sales Team of the Year, but also our partners winning through collaboration on campaigns like Deadpool, Schweppes and Oat the Goat. I think they’re the best in the business.”

Media Business of the Year was awarded to oOh!media, which general manager Nick Vile says was a humbling result. 

“This award is a great recognition of the oOh! team, who have continued to work passionately over recent years to deliver success. It is an absolute pleasure to work with such a talented and driven group of people, whose  positive and proactive attitude reflects in the way we do business.”

MediaCom were also celebrated on the night, with four Gold awards – three of which were for work with 20th Century Fox and Deadpool. MBM took home two Golds for its innovative campaigns for Serato, and the remaining two Golds went to Ogilvy for the New Zealand Police Recruitment work, and Carat for their work with the Movember Foundation.

Convenor Derek Lindsay says the quality of the campaigns and entries this year set the bar high.

“The standard of entries and finalists clearly surpassed that of the last few years. We saw greater innovative thinking from many agencies and advertisers, along with better-written entries, resulting in more Gold awards and a close-run race for this year’s Best in Show.”

A full list of winners can be found here.

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