It’s been a big week in adland as the winners of D&AD and The Webbys have been announced. Local agencies walked away with 21 pencils and six Webbys, with Colenso BBDO, Y&R and Assembly picking up gongs at both events.
It was a great show by local agencies at D&AD, with 21 pencils—including two Yellow, four Graphite, and 15 Wood—putting New Zealand in eighth place for the year.
The Yellow pencils went to Y&R its Heinz Australia ‘Geoff’ campaign in the campaign Branding & Identity category, and DDB for its Netsafe ‘Re:scam’ campaign in the Service Design category.
Y&R executive creative director Tom Paine says it’s fortunate to ply its trade in a country full of talented production partners and creative-minded clients.
“So while it’s no small feat, it’s little surprise to see New Zealand agencies holding their own at D&AD year after year; in my opinion, it’s the highest creative accolade.”
‘Re:scam’ also received a graphite in the Direct Response/Digital category and two Woods in the Direct Product & Service and Websites categories.
DDB also received three Woods for its Lion ‘Fight for Territory’ campaign, in the Out-of-Home, Use of Interaction and Tech-Led categories.
Chief creative officer Damon Stapleton says he prizes every pencil DDB has been given because they’re very hard things to win
“To pick up seven in one go is an awesome effort. I want to acknowledge the fantastic teams both at DDB and client-side that worked on Re:scam and Fight for Territory. These were innovative campaigns that required a combination of world-beating creativity and technical expertise – and they’ve now been acknowledged as world-class.”
Meanwhile, Assembly was also rewarded for its work on the ‘Geoff’ campaign, with a Wood pencil in the Animation for Film Advertising category.
Geoff The Film from Y&R New Zealand on Vimeo.
And proving well-deserving of the Client-Agency Partnership of the Year Award at the 2017 Stoppies, Colenso BBDO’s ‘SelfieStix’ campaign for Mars NZ was also rewarded with a Wood pencil in the Digital Tools & Utilities categories.
Both campaigns have already been celebrated with ‘The Child replacement Programme’ picking up a Grand Prix and Gold at the Axis Awards as well as seven Cannes Lions. ‘SelfieStix’ also won a gold at this year’s Axis Awards.
FCB is another agency converting a number entries to pencils, with four all up. One was a Graphite in the Art Direction for Film Advertising category for its ‘The Lost Night’ for The New Zealand Health Promotion Agency, while the other three are Wood for ‘Go Balls Out’ for Testicular Cancer New Zealand.
The three pencils are in the Use of Digital & Social Media, User Generated and Use of Social categories. They add to the campaign’s existing haul of three Golds at last year’s Effies and two Cannes Lions.
FCB executive creative director Tony Clewett says: “They say ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’. Well, we ignored that with both these campaigns, as we were so passionate about them. Four D&AD pencils? Brilliant. Most brilliant.”
Ogilvy & Mather’s ‘Freeze’ for New Zealand Police is another campaign that’s seen its awards haul added to, with a Wood pencil won in the Agency-Client Collaboration category.
The campaign has previously won the Grand Axis, a Grand Prix and six golds from this year’s Axis Awards.
And the final pencil, went to JWT for its Ford Ranger direct mailer. It received a Wood pencil in the Writing for Printed Materials & Graphic Communications category.
This year’s 21 pencils follows last year’s 12 and 2016’s 30.
Last year’s haul included five Graphite Pencils and seven Wood while 2016 saw 11 Yellow Pencils, five Graphites and 14 Woods given to local agencies.
Since 1999, New Zealand has picked up one Black, 26 Yellow, 43 Graphite and 138 Wooden Pencils at the D&AD Festival.
Now, the wait is on for the D&AD Impact Awards later in the year, which last year saw Colenso BBDO pick up a Graphite Pencil in the Responsible Production & Consumption for DB Breweries ‘Beer Bottle Sand’.
In 2016, Colenso BBDO pick up the country’s first White Pencil for ‘Brewtroleum’.
Webby Winners
It’s been a week of celebrating for local agencies as the winners of the 22nd annual Webby Awards have also been announced and six local campaign are included among them.
Two of those campaigns belong to Colenso BBDO, with ‘The Child Replacement winning in the Cause Related Campaign category, while ‘The Annoying Lump’ for the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation won the People’s Voice Award in the Best Media Strategy category.
About the win, managing director at Colenso BBDO Scott Coldham says it knows how tough Webby Awards are to win.
“We’re in the company of everything cool on the internet and competing against some of the biggest digital brands in the world, which is great company to keep. Digital is a key focus for us and, as an agency in New Zealand, we’re stoked to also win an award based on a global public vote.”
Heinz Australia’s ‘Geoff’ campaign is also a double winner this week, with Assembly and Y&R winning in the Best Use of Animation category.
Another winning video was Y&R’s ‘If it’s Not Gay, it’s Not Gay’ for Rainbow Youth. It received the People’s Voice Award in the Video Ad Shortform category.
Y&R managing director Jono Key says to win for two separate and very different types of campaigns is fantastic.
“We were very lucky to work with two great clients in Kraft Heinz Australia and Rainbow Youth. We’ll be celebrating with pies and baked beanz tonight.”
Also included in the winners is Gladeye, with its ‘FML’ work for HuffPost Highline winning in the ‘Best Individual Editorial Experience’ category.
Gladeye CEO Tarver Graham says the Webbys are the high-water mark of creative recognition in the industry and it’s incredibly proud to have produced a win.
Meanwhile, Heyday’s website for Garage Project won the People’s Voice Award in the ‘Shopping’ category.
