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Whybin \ TBWA and OMD young’uns take out Fairfax Spike glory

Six teams teams of young
media and creative agency whippersnappers were named as place getter in last
night’s inaugural Fairfax Media Young Spikes Media and Integrated Competitions,
but it was the Whybin TBWA and OMD teams that took out the winning spots, and
each will now represent New Zealand at the Young Spikes competition held in
Singapore in September.

Fairfax New Zealand joined
Drogra5’s Creative Spirit programme only four months ago, which aims to provide
employment for disabled people in the creative sector, so it’s little surprise
the campaign brief was centred around building awareness of the programme and
encouraging businesses in the creative sector to join it. The entrants were
asked to develop media strategies or integrated advertising campaigns for
Creative Spirit. 

General manager of sales and marketing for Fairfax
Media, Sandra King, was one of the judges in the Media competition, and
described the quality of the work as testament to the energy and passion of
the future of the industry. 

“It was wonderful to be able to review that work with
the other judges and we were all encouraged that the New Zealand industry’s
future is in good hands.” 

In the
Integrated competition, judges were impressed overall with the broad
range of approaches the teams took, exploring the rich creative territory
Creative Spirit provided. But it was Whybin TBWA’s Thomas Darlow and Lucy
Morgan (pictured) who took out the category with their ‘Be what you say’ campaign.
Judges commented:

“What a powerfully provocative way of engaging the
creative industry – to challenge what they say about themselves. It borders on
emotional blackmail, or at least guilt marketing, but no creative business
wants to be seen to be bullshitting about its creative beliefs. By individually
targeting each creative business using their own creative philosophy, values,
or principles, the work immediately connects with its audience and dares them
to back it up by committing to Creative Spirit. By taking the idea beyond the
direct audience to a wider public audience, staff of the targeted creative
businesses become involved in putting ‘pressure’ on the company bosses to do
the right thing. Simple and brilliant. Well done to the team.”

In the Media competition, judges commented the entries
were of high quality with a generally clear argument and logic. 

The entries that initially stood out demonstrated a
degree of empathy for the subject matter and displayed a human/consumer insight
as it relates to Creative Spirit. The top three entries were chosen largely by
the fact they had insight, leading to a clear connection idea which was carried
right through the campaign. 

But it was OMD’s Abigail Morrish and Lauren Siemer
(pictured) that triumphed with their ‘If nothing is more creative than being
different, let’s act different’ campaign. 

Judges described the entry as very mature with
fabulous insight  generation and a
clear link through to execution. 

“It clearly linked to internal decision makers in the
creative sector. The  supporting document
was impressive and showed the ability to articulate thinking as well as
completing it. The strategy tapped into our target audience with the thought  ‘there is nothing more creative than
being different’. All around this was a very impressive entry. Congratulations
to Abigail and Lauren from OMD for a wonderful entry. Best of luck in
Singapore.”

The second and first runner-ups for each category
were: 

Integrated Competition

Second Runner-Up: Colenso BBDO’s Wawa Wang and
Shakira Twigden for ‘More of what you love’

Judges commented: 

“Good specific focus on a single audience – the office
manager/CEO PA, who will most likely be a major gatekeeper on the decision. By
locking into this audience the ideas became a lot more focused. The idea had a
really clear ‘What’s in it for me factor’ that was motivating. The inclusion of
an innovative app that measured their daily workload, which was a great way to
help the audience realise the extra help from someone from Creative Spirit
would help them do the things they love more.” 

First Runner-Up: DDB’s Jennie Liddell and Julia
Ferrier for ‘Wear your disability

Judges’ commented: 

“Getting people in a creative business to all show off
their weakness by putting it on a t-shirt was a brilliant way of creating wide
empathy for people with ‘real’ disabilities. By getting the whole company
engaged in the issue there is a greater chance of the whole organisation
embracing the idea of adopting the Creative Spirit programme. It seemed like an
innovative way to target companies and get them involved in a creative way.” 

Media Competition 

Second runner-up: MEC’s Michaela Fenton and Darelle
Paniora for ‘The same thing that drives me.. Is what drives me too’

Judges commented:

“This entry identified a clear truth around the
influence of others they respect and that those who may partake in the CS
programme are not that different from those making the decision to employ them.
The truth was leveraged to a central theme. The entry showed how this thinking
could then come alive creatively supported by a media strategy that
demonstrated the relationship between an executive and a Creative Spirit
employee.”

First runner-up: Spark PHD and PHD IQ’s Fou Brown and Brendan
Hewitt for ‘The Application’

Judges commented:

“The amount of work that went into this very smart
interpretation of the need to change perceptions is obvious. The strategy was
nicely summed up by the thought of hire to understand to understand to hire.
This entry understood the need to connect with the target audience in a
currency they understood – an idea. This thinking was brought alive via a clear
device that could be used across all channels and was supported by an amazing
video. The idea at the centre of their strategy was the job application process
and this was brought alive creatively and through the selected channels.
Congratulations on a really strong strategy, execution and packaging.”

The judges

 

Sandra King, GM of Sales and Marketing for Fairfax Media, and for the Media competition; Alistair Jamieson, CEO, Starcom, Barry Williamson, Media Director, MEC and for the Integrated Competition; James Mok, GroupExecutive Creative Director Australasia, Draft FCB and Jose Alomajan, Digital Partner, Droga5.

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