Special Group and Salt Interactive’s brilliant online banner for Orcon has already been acknowledged at the Axis awards, The Webbys, AWARD and elsewhere. And it’s also dominated proceedings at the Caxton Awards, which aim to showcase excellence in newspaper advertising across Australia and New Zealand, by taking home Best use of Newspaper Space, Best Rich Media, Best Rich Video and the Quinlivan Black award for Best in Show.
As an indication of where news—and newspaper advertising is going—this was the first time in the 36 year history of the awards that a digital campaign has won the Quinlivan Black award.
Colenso took home two Caxtons for Pedigree Smart Puppies, while DDB’s Mayday for New Zealand Coastguard and Osama by Barnes, Catmur & Friends for Hell Pizza won one each.
- Check out all the winners here. 2011CaxtonAwardsWinnerstable
“All of the judges were very interested to see how the industry is applying creativity to the new tech mediums that now exist in newspapers,” says Caxton 2011 chair of judges and George Patterson Y&R chief creative officer Ben Coulson. “We were incredibly impressed with the quality of entries, which proved beyond doubt that newspapers, in whichever form they take, remain one of the most important mediums for great creative advertising.
“I’m really excited by this year’s winner. Orcon’s expanding office banner is modern creativity at its best. It shows us the creative way forward, it surprises and delights with its idea, execution and use of the medium, turning a humble banner ad into an interactive mini TV show. This campaign demonstrates that we should always treat every brief like a chance to do something brilliant. Its creators and the client were brave enough to trust it would generate attention way beyond the norm for this type of medium, and they were right.”
The awards had a record number of 24 agencies named as finalists and a total of 23 Caxtons were awarded over 16 categories.
“Congratulations to the Caxtons judges and Special Group for moving the Caxtons up a notch,” says Robert Munro, general manager of the Newspaper Advertising Bureau. “It’s perfect timing for newspaper brands.”
