AWARD’s long-standing tribute to unparalleled junior creative stars, the Encouragement Award, has re-launched as ‘The Bob Isherwood Encouragement Award’ - and entries will close tomorrow, Wednesday November 1.
Isherwood is the inspirational Australian who has been Worldwide Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi for 10 years. Sponsoring this Award is highly appropriate given Isherwood’s reputation for spotting and engaging new talent. Previous winner of The Encouragement Award, Leo Premutico, (recently named Joint ECD Saatchi & Saatchi New York) will judge the entries and will also give out the AWARD pencil to the winner at the AWARD Presentation Evening at the Sydney Opera House on 8th November.
Earlier in his career, Isherwood spent six years as a creative Group Head for Young and Rubicam London, followed by 10 years with Collett Dickenson Pearce in its Heyday, during which time he won a very rare Black Pencil at D&AD for Parker Pens.
In 1982 Isherwood returned to Australia to become a founding partner of The Campaign Palace, Sydney. He joined Saatchi & Saatchi in 1986, partnering CD Ron Mather and was appointed Creative Director in 1989 when Mather left to go directing. He was appointed Chairman of the Worldwide Creative board in 1995, and Worldwide Creative Director and member of the Executive Board in 1996.
The Encouragement Award has honored young creatives since 1992, recognising those who have demonstrated an outstanding ability to answer briefs with a freshness of thought and creativity.

Eligibility Criteria
• Maximum three years in an agency creative department
• Nominations taken by Creative Directors or Agency Management only
• Australian and New Zealand Applicants only
• Submissions – on CD or Email
• Four examples of junior’s work, aired or published within the last 18 months –jpg/mpg
• One Written reference from Creative Director or Agency Management - .doc or pdf
• Entrant’s biography - .doc or pdf

Post CDs to: The Bob Isherwood Encouragement Award, c/o AWARD at QVB 1055 Sydney NSW 1230 or email submissions to lucymckee@awardonline.com.

Entries Due by Wednesday 1st November, 5pm

The London International Advertising Awards, honoring the best of advertising, interactive and design, today announced the Grand Prize Winner of their inaugural Young Creatives competition. Katrina Mercer of M&C Saatchi walked away with $10,000, a Statue and a trip to London for the Awards with her television spot, “Star Wars vs. Star Trek.
“The brief was simple," explained Barbara Levy, President of London International Advertising Awards. “We wanted to get young people more involved in politics and they could use any medium they choose to express their idea in the competition."
More than 100 bright young creatives from around the globe submitted their entries. So competition was keen. Katrina Mercer, who created the concept and wrote the commercial, really impressed the judges with her innovative and fresh approach to tackling the problem of political apathy among young people.
“I looked at the brief and got the idea that if young people could get so involved in movies like Stars Wars and Star Trek, shouldn’t they use that kind of enthusiasm in politics?," said Mercer, who has been working at M&C Saatchi in Sydney for four years. “The hard part was getting it to fit into 30 seconds."
Mercer will collect her statue at the London International Awards ceremony on November 6th at the Hammersmith Palais in London.
“We are very pleased with the quality of work for this year’s show. Katrina’s entry is just one good example. You can be sure that we will continue to hold a Young Creatives competition again in 2007," said Barbara Levy.
A complete list of London International Award winners - including images and credits - is available November 6th at www.liaawards.com/winners

GPY&R Brisbane has lured Natalie Ambrosini for a Senior Art Director post. Previously with Clemenger Brisbane, Ambrosini has picked up a clutch of BAD’s, CREAMs and ADMA awards for work on business including Telstra, Ergon Energy and BoQ.
Emma Savage also joins as Senior Art Director - Interactive, from a stint freelancing and overseas work with Euro New York and Lowe London.
"Natalie has a proven track record of creative success and Emma will bring some serious interactive passion to the agency as well as decent global brand experience," says Brisbane MD Phil McDonald.
"What's really exciting is that we are attracting people with real interactive and media neutral creative abilities - where most of our growth will come from in the future".

Dear bloggers,

Below is an article written by Saatchi & Saatchi Australia executive creative director David Nobay about the CB Blog.
If you have an opinion about the blog you can either email me a brief paragraph or two, or if you have more to say, either for or against, feel free to elaborate at length.
I know there will be quite a few against, but if you have an opinion PRO the blog that is especially welcome to counter the argument put forward by Nobby.
Opinions will be published in Campaign Brief magazine first, then later on the blog (unless you specifically request otherwise) to encourage more attributed, and less anonymous, comments.
If you want to contribute to this (no negative anonymous comments will be used), I need your spiel to michael@campaignbrief.com by the end of this week, Friday 27th October.

Regards,
Lynchy

PS: There are many things for which the CB Blog, with about 1100 hits a day, has played a central role: increasing AWARD and The One Club membership to record levels, getting OZ/NZ jurors on international award shows, promoting events with spectacular results, getting NZ into the Caxtons, informing the industry of news and people movements, showing and discussing good and average work, links to most TVC production companies, discussing issues (like AWARD judging recently) and keeping expats informed of what's going down back in OZ. To a lesser extent, some of the above may apply to the nz creative circle blog.


***


Anon-imosity

I’m not a big fan of the CB Blog. There, I’ve said it. Actually, a lot of
people in the business say it. But, like the Blog, it doesn’t matter. Because they’re essentially anonymous. I guess they’re not keen on drawing the Blog’s invariable fire: rather like outing a bully in class, only to get your head kicked in once the bell goes.

I suspect some in the industry at this point may suspect my motives are wholly Saatchi-centric. Sure, it’s true that our name does feature heavily on the Blog, but I accept that. We make more news than most, and with that news rightly comes opinion; good and bad. No, the reasons behind my point-of-view are (at least I’d like to think) more objective.

Firstly, in my opinion anyway, the CB Blog celebrates cowardice and, worse still, positively encourages bitchiness.

Rather than the veil of anonymity protecting the innocent, it allows anyone with an axe to grind – but no experience to back it up – full rein to vent their spleen. While I concede this may be mildly cathartic for those sorry souls who carry their chip on the shoulder (“I never got the good briefs/good job/right salary/fully formed penis/trip to Cannes") like a heavily laden rucsac, I question how this ultimately makes our industry a smarter place to work. Worse still, it opens the door to targeted, professional sabotage. Don’t like the look of the competition at a particular agency? Forget the boring, old-fashioned method of trying to out-write and out-think them by penning a better ad. No, these days all you have to do is seed the notion on the Blog that the competition’s latest ad is a scam, and leave the rest to the good online townspeople of Salem. By the time the accused has rebuffed with sworn affidavits from their client, it’s too late, and the bonfire’s familiar crackle can already be heard (trust me, I’m still trying to get the smell of smoke out of my clothes!).


Before anyone suspects that the gallons of mint tea I consumed on my recent, annual detox has made me all mushy and holier-than-thou, hang on: I like a good stoush as much as anyone in this business and haven’t yet completely lost my sense of humour, (especially now I’m off the wagon at last). Actually, I admit about 1% of the Blog is a fucking hoot. But it’s also a very expensive, little joke: at a time when our industry is finding it harder than ever to be taken seriously by clients, the Blog is fuelling just the kind of catty, superficial crap that got us marginalised by big business as “adwankers" in the first place.

What do I mean by catty?

Well, look for yourself. How much of any issue on the Blog is debated with objectivity, wit or constructiveness? An easier calculation would be how much of it is puerile, misinformed, inarticulate ping-pong, played out by a lucky few juniors, unencumbered by the necessity to work more than 2hours a day? And it goes far beyond inane, but essentially harmless banter. Six months ago, the tone and content of the Blog dipped so frequently into homophobic, racist and legally slanderous territory that Lynchy decided to step in and pre-edit every day’s offerings before publishing them, in fear of being marched off to court. (Which begs the question, is a pre-screened, pre-edited blog even a real blog?)

Ironically, I’ve always held that one of the best things about working in Australia is the lack of anonymity in the business. At the expense of sounding a bit Californian, we genuinely boast an “Advertising Community" here, and that’s not to be taken for granted. When I worked in the States, for instance, you never had a clue who was doing what, let alone enjoyed the chance to meet up regularly over a beer, play fooseball and catch up with guys from rival shops at shows like Caxtons. Working in a relatively small pond should be a good thing. Admittedly, the proximity should make us more competitive; but surely not at the expense of our basic social skills. Sadly, these days when we do converge as an industry, you can tangibly sense the room eyeing each other up; deciding whether the guy grinning at you over his beer is also the bastard that called your campaign unmitigated shit, your dress sense laughable and your mother a she-goat on the morning’s Blog. Mass Paranoia! Cool, eh? Like it wasn’t enough when we just suspected it was the clients and research companies that hated us. (Speaking of folksy, little communities, I’m told the issue is even worse in NZ, where their Blog makes ours look like an online puff-pastry discussion group.)

My second and more pressing reason for discounting the Blog is arguably more selfish: it doesn’t add any value to my day – a day, which like most of you I’m sure, is sufficiently busy to expect that a ten minute online distraction would at least reward me with some nugget of useable knowledge beyond “I hear so and so is a twat and works for a crap agency, so there!".

On the other hand, would I profit from a daily, online update on what the broad industry thinks about my work and that of others I respect? Absolutely. As creative people, perspective is our lifeblood. Without it we’re rudderless, (hence, the importance of international awards – but that’s another subject for another day!). Problem is, that’s my whole issue with the CB Blog: what value are all those hundreds of perspectives to me without any evidence of where they come from?

As the late, great John Webster skilfully illustrated in his legendary TV spot for the Guardian newspaper back in the eighties; a story told from different angles has very different meanings. Think I’m talking bollocks? Indulge me in this simple exercise: I’ll take a classic entry from today’s Blog, but credit it with four different authors. Is the insight the same? Is the impact consistent. If the subject was your work, would you care?


“I’ve seen this idea a hundred times before and the execution is crap"
David Droga

“I’ve seen this idea a hundred times before and the execution is crap"
John Singleton

“I’ve seen this idea a hundred times before and the execution is crap"
Trish Jones, AWARD SCHOOL student

“I’ve seen this idea a hundred times before and the execution is crap"
Howard Draft, DM Guru

The issue for me isn’t that one opinion is more worthy than another. All these hypothetical cases have a valid perspective to comment on a piece of creative work. The point is; the significance of each perspective changes with its author. And, as such, if I was a Blogger, my rebuff would change accordingly. Without knowing the source of the opinion, the CB Blog really is “the blind leading the blind" and as such pretty worthless as a source of information. Does that stop it being titillating? No, of course not. I have no doubt that, regardless of content, the site appeals on some level to the voyeur in all of us. But then so does roadkill and Chinese bear-baiting, so is that really a reason to exist?

Before I come off overly righteous here, yes, I admit it: I have cruised the Blog myself from time to time. I am a user; if infrequent. However, like President Clinton, I never inhale. As for the Saatchi creative department; I’ve instructed them to stay off the Blog unless they have something sufficiently mind-blowing to say that warrants including their name. To my knowledge, only Luke Chess has since regularly contributed (which suggests he’s either very profound, or that I need to talk to Traffic about giving him more work).

So, for the record, that’s my opinion: my perspective on the CB Blog. Granted, you may not agree. But at least you know it’s mine.

Nobby

George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne has launched the latest VB instalment with a new TVC suggesting the moustache might just be the secret behind the world's greatest ever cricketers.
David Boon makes another appearance in the 30 second commercial which also gives reason to why Ricky Ponting and his boys lost the Ashes last time round - none of the players in the first 11 had a mo.
The commercial is the lead-up to this season's 'VB BOONANZA II - Battle of the Tashes' campaign that sees the return of the famous Talking Boony figurine alongside a new and improved Talking Beefy (Ian Botham) figurine.

Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Copywriter: Josh Stephens
Art Director: Ben Coulson
Agency Producer: Simon Thomas
Production Company: Renegade Films
Director: Tony Rogers
Producer: Jen Livingston
Sound Design: Steve Williams

8 Commercials' director Paul Goldman's third feature film, Suburban Mayhem, opens nationally in cinemas this Thursday, 26th October.
The film has had huge success on the festival circuit. It had its world premiere at this years' Cannes Film Festival - an Official Selection in Un Certain Regard, then went to the Toronto International Film Festival, was the official closing night film at the recent Melbourne International Film Festival and is currently screening at the Chicago Film Festival.
Suburban Mayhem leads the nominations for the prestigious AFI Awards, it's 12 nominations include: Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actress.
The film was produced by Leah Churchill-Brown, written by first time screen writer Alice Bell and stars New Zealand actress Emily Barclay (In My Father's Den) in a much talked about powerhouse performance.
According to Margaret Pomeranz, from ABC's 'At the Movies', Suburnam Mayhem is the "best Australian film of the year". To view the trailer go to: http://www.suburbanmayhem.com/main.html
Paul Goldman is represented through 8 Commercials.

Adfest, the Asia Pacific Advertising Festival, has confirmed that John Hunt, worldwide creative director of TBWA, will be the Chairman of the TV jury for next year's four day festival at Pattaya Beach, Thailand from 14-17 March.
Piyush Pandey, executive CD of Ogilvy & Mather India, will chair the Print jury and Linda Locke, regional ECD of Leo Burnett will chair Outdoor.
Hunt, who is based at TBWA\Hunt Lascaris in Johannesburg, was born in Zambia and educated in South Africa. He has been working in TBWA since 2003. Under his leadership, he has successfully reshaped the TBWA network and in the last few years, TBWA has been voted as Creative Network of the Year, both at Cannes and in numerous publications including Ad Age and Creativity. Most recently TBWA won 39 Lions at Cannes, and its Paris agency was Agency of the Year for a record fourth time.
Pandey is based at Ogilvy & Mather in Mumbai. Since 1994, under his leadership as a national creative director, Ogilvy & Mather has been named India's most creative agency ten times in the last eleven years. O&M India is now ranked amongst the most creative offices in the entire O&M worldwide network. And O&M India has also won a dozen Lions. In 2004, Piyush became the first Asian to be the president of Cannes Lion International Advertising Festival.
Linda Locke has been named amongst an elite global few, in Advertising Age International's feature story, ‘Women Breaking Barriers' and in October 2003, she was honoured with the prestigious Chairman's Award at the Singapore Creative Circle Awards. At the same award show in 2005, she was one of five individual recipients honoured with a Champion of the Creative Circle Award for her years of contribution to the industry. She was featured as one of the 16 most influential Creative Directors in Singapore. Linda is a highly awarded creative with over 300 awards to her name including a string of accolades from local, regional and international shows – she is a Gold Cannes Lion winner. This year Linda has been invited to be a part of the prestigious Cannes Lions judging panel.
The chairpersons and the jury will convene for a week next March at PEACH (Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall) Pattaya, Thailand, the hub of Thailand's East Coast. All the entries will be reviewed and results will be announced during AdFest on 14-17 March, 2007. The awards presentations will be held during the last two days.
According to Adfest's Jimmy Lam, the reason the festival is having different judging panels led by different Chairpersons, is for each judging panel, making up of creative leaders in the region, to focus on one award category: “We want the judges to have ample time, to crutinize each entry so as to identify and award the works that best represent the Asia Pacific region with great cultural differences and similarities. Judging creative works is a lot of hard work. We also want the judges to be able to enjoy the sun and fun of Pattaya, instead of getting stuck in a freezing room for five days to finish judging entries in all sort of different categories."

Cougar’s new ‘Master the Cougar Arts’ ATL campaign, via agence George Patterson Y&R Melbourne, is already a big hit with Australian males and advertising critics alike - the odd CB Blogger excluded. Starring Barry ‘The Cougar’ Dawson, the campaign launched on Friday 8
September 2006 and was awarded the accolade of ‘Best TV Ad of the Week’ on the ‘Best Ads on TV’ website, as judged by the executive Creative Directors of Saatchi & Saatchi New York.
The Master the Cougar Arts campaign builds on the emotional connection between 18-24 year old males and the Cougar brand, utilising self deprecating humour and the retro style tone that has proven popular amongst this audience. The hero of the campaign is
Barry ‘The Cougar’ Dawson – a self proclaimed master of manliness who is slightly but obviously not as smooth as he would have us believe! Barry has even found himself on RSVP.com where he received requests for dates by two lovely ladies!
Master the Cougar Arts is Cougar’s biggest creative campaign since the brand was first made famous with the 2001 “Five Cougars Thanks" campaign via The Campaign Palace, Sydney.
“We are excited about the Master the Cougar Arts campaign," said Brea Herde, Senior Cougar Brand Manager. “Barry Dawson has proven a hit with our target market. Master the Cougar Arts supports the brand’s position, making no demand of the consumer to
behave or feel differently, but to simply enjoy being who they are."
Developed by the team at George Patterson Y&R Melbourne, the Master the Cougar Arts includes 2 x 30sec and 2 x 45sec TVC’s, magazine, outdoor, online and in-store elements.
To view the Master the Cougar Arts ads, please visit www.cougararts.com.au.

CD: James McGrath
Writer: Ant Keogh
Art Director: Grant Rutherford
Producer: Romanca Jasinski
Director: Steve Ayson
Producer: Claire Kelly
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
DoP: Greig Fraser
Casting: Kirsty McGregor/Adrian Dentice
Editor: Jack Hutchins
Sound: Level Two Music/Flagstaff Studio

BMF Sydney celebrated its incredibly successful 10 years in business as one of Australia's biggest and most creative independent agencies with a party at Slide in Darlinghurst for staff, clients and loyal suppliers. 10 was the dress theme and a highlight of the night was the appearance of special guest Paul Mac at 10pm (of course).

CB Bloggers may recall an article on this blog about The Massive Joke. Well here's a follow-up.
After 10 days of bidding, seek.com.au has purchased The Massive Joke for a grand total of $610. Cummins & Partners, Melbourne copywriter, Jason Rose will now write, perform and record a stand-up comedy routine revolving around Seek in the coming week or so and then post it on YouTube.
"The goal was to see whether the concept would work and it certainly has," says Rose. "It was also great to get a mainstream company on board. At one stage I thought I'd have to ask the local fish and chips joint."
The question now is how popular the clip will be once it hits YouTube. If it is popular, it will also be interesting whether other companies will be keen to give it a go.

There’s a fine line between brave and brainless: The Drawing Book Studios toed this line with an advertisement during the Muslim cartoon riots last February, which leveraged the media hype surrounding the riots to state the obvious - Illustration gets noticed.
That was Matt Jackson’s first move as partner and director of new business at the Drawing Book. It was the business’s founder, Patrick Doab’s company strap line executed Jackson’s way. Which is what he will be doing more of in order to ensure that illustration booms again in the 21st century.
Says Jackson (right, with Doab): “Illustration, like advertising, thrives on exaggeration and metaphor. Photography provides proof of something that happened in the past, but illustration is free to portray what is possible in the future or even impossible. Some agencies need to be reminded of this now."
Prior to becoming a Partner in Drawing Book, Jackson did five years hard time with DDB, Saatchi & Saatchi and BMF. Which he says helps immensely when it comes to understanding what clients need and, most importantly, when they need it.
This month the studio has launched a new book featuring beautiful reproductions of their artist’s work. The book is free to anyone who asks for it.
They also launched their new website in response to the industry wanting bigger samples that were easier to find. Go have a look now at drawingbook.com.au

The Campaign Palace Melbourne has lost the prized Jeans West business, an account they have had for the past ten years, to Smart after a pitch. As a result, Smart has resigned the Jay Jays business.

University graduates have been targeted in a new marketing campaign designed to promote advertising as a career.
'Free Your Right Brain', the first-ever campaign promoting advertising to final year university graduates was developed by The Campaign Palace Sydney and integrated agency Wunderman, for the Advertising Federation of Australia.
Executive Creative Director of The Campaign Palace, Paul Fishlock (pictured) said the campaign draws on the scientific principle that the right brain is associated with creative thinking, intuition and imagination, while the left brain deals more in logic, numbers, critical thinking and analysis.
“The advertising industry wants to attract people who are in touch with both sides of their brain to work in an exciting creative business that thrives on diversity." Fishlock said.
Initially, the campaign is designed to promote the 2007 AFA Advertising Graduate Trainee Program in which selected graduates undertake a nine-month traineeship in a leading advertising agency. Graduates can apply now for the traineeship via the website. www.freeyourrightbrain.com.au
Information nights on the program will be held in Sydney on 6 November at Saatchi & Saatchi and in Melbourne on 8 November at Leo Burnett.
Longer term, the campaign is designed to make advertising a more attractive career option for top graduates than professions such as accounting and law.
AFA Chairman Russel Howcroft, said the campaign would compete with increased efforts by other professions to attract the ‘best and brightest’ from university.
“Advertising, is an exciting and influential business. Brilliant advertising and branding are behind many of the great business success stories of our time.
“We are very excited about the campaign which will help graduates understand that advertising offers a wonderful career path especially for people who are both creative and business oriented."
The Campaign Palace’s Sarah Jacobs, a 2005 trainee who worked on the Free Your Right Brain campaign, said the pace and diversity was what had attracted her to advertising.
“As a junior planner I am helping to build some of the most exciting advertising campaigns with some great brands. I am thrilled that ‘Free Your Right Brain’ will open the possibilities up to a whole new audience," Ms Jacobs said.

About the AFA Graduate Trainee Program
The AFA Advertising Graduate Trainee Program has been operating for more than 20 years. It provides practical on-the-job training in a leading advertising agency for nine months.
Trainees work as account executives and gain exposure to account management, strategic planning, media, creative, and TV/print production. They are paid a basic salary over this period. Competition for the limited number of spaces available is very strong and graduates are expected to demonstrate superior communications skills and the ability to generate ideas.
Applications for the 2007 Program are now open and will close on November 17, 2006. Selection days will be held during December 2006, for further details and downloadable entry form visit www.freeyourrightbrain.com.au

Who is behind the Program?
The AFA represents more than 160 leading advertising and marketing communications agencies in Australia. It has recently implemented an Accreditation Program for agencies to help lift professional standards and promote training. Only accredited agencies can apply to take a trainee.
A team from The Campaign Palace led by Managing Director Lindsey Evans and Executive Creative Director Paul Fishlock volunteered to develop the ‘Free Your Right Brain’ campaign. Leading integrated agency Wunderman, part of the Y&R Brands Group, developed the website.
A series of fabulous photographs for the posters and website were captured by photographer Helen White who also generously donated her services.
Others who donated their services included Convenience Advertising and the Print Centre in Melbourne. The AFA is immensely grateful to all these companies for their talent and generosity.

Former Graduate Trainees now in leading roles:
Many former trainees have achieved senior positions in Australia's leading agencies: Matthew Melhuish CEO, BMF Advertising; Belinda Rowe, Managing Partner, Optimedia; Julian Martin, CEO & Head of Strategy, LOVE; Matt McGrath, CEO, Y&R Brands Australia and New Zealand; Matt Cumming, Interactive Creative Director, M&C Saatchi, Jane Connor, Client Services Director, Clemenger BBDO; Ben Lilley, Managing Partner, Smart.
Of the younger generation, former AFA Graduate Trainee at Saatchi & Saatchi, Tim Bullock is making a name for himself as a director at Prodigy Films. He won first prize at Tropfest in 2003, directed Yellow Pages, Virgin Blue commercials and the ‘No Gary, No’ spot for Nicorette, an episode of Bryan Brown’s ‘Two Twisted’ and is developing a series for Andrew Denton.

After a recount at AWARD headquarters, George Patterson Y&R Melbourne now leads at the shortlist stage of the 2006 AWARD Awards, which will be presented on Wednesday November 8 at the Sydney Opera House.
Patts have 20 finalists, followed by Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland with 18, Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore and Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney with 14 apiece, Publicis Mojo Sydney with 13, and Colenso BBDO Auckland and DDB New Zealand with 12 apiece.
Other agencies worthy of a mention include Clemenger BBDO Wellington with 11, M&C Saatchi Sydney with 10, Ogilvy & Mather Singapore with 8, and 7 finalists apiece for Host/The Glue Society, Sydney, Lowe Hunt Sydney and Publicis Mojo Auckland.
Following the intensive judging sessions held last week in Sydney, a total of 308 finalists were selected, up by 15 on last year. Whilst finalists in print and outdoor took a considerable dive, a surge in Radio and Interactive finalists plus a moderate rise in TV has contributed to the shortlist. Entries went up nearly 20%, with agencies across Asia contributing largely to this surge.
Says DDB New Zealand ECD Paul Catmur, Chairman of Judges (pictured): “I’d like to thank those involved in chairing the juries and the organisers of the process led by Lucy Mckee. All decisions were aimed at producing a selection of AWARD finalists that were worthy of that accolade. The juries I saw had a great spirit and worked hard to ignore the politics and produce a book of which we could be proud as an industry. No doubt some will feel their babies have been treated harshly and others will dispute the right of certain ads to be in this exalted company, but it wouldn’t be an advertising award show were this not the case. The integrity of AWARD was our paramount concern. There were some great and worthy winners and I hope the industry will turn out to applaud them, be they Gold or Finalist, in what should be a great night at the Sydney Opera House."
The AWARD Presentation Evening is being held on November 8th 2006 at The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, followed by a VIP Members Only gourmet cocktail evening in Guillaume at Bennelong. The After-Party at The Establishment follows, sponsored by The Sweet Shop. This year's special international guest is Trevor Beattie, creative partner of Beattie McGuinness Bungay, London.
For bookings visit www.awardonline.com. Bookings are coming in thick and fast, limited spots this year so don’t miss out!

For the full list of finalists go to: www.awardonline.com

AWARD 2006 SHORTLIST AGENCY LEAGUE
1. George Patterson Y&R Melbourne (20)
2. Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand (18)
3. Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore (14)
3. Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney (14)
3. Publicis Mojo Sydney (14)
6. Colenso BBDO Auckland (12)
6. DDB New Zealand (12)
9. Clemenger BBDO Wellington (11)
9. M&C Saatchi Sydney (10)
10. Ogilvy & Mather Singapore (8)
11. Host/The Glue Society Sydney (7)
11. Lowe Hunt Sydney (7)
11. Publicis Mojo Auckland (7)
14. Creative Juice/GI Bangkok (6)
15. Smart Melbourne (5)
16. Leo Burnett Sydney (4)
16. Ogilvy Auckland (4)
16. Saatchi & Saatchi Kuala Lumpur (4)
19. BMF Sydney (3)
19. Clemenger BBDO Melbourne (3)
19. JEH United Bangkok (3)
19. Marketforce Perth (3)
19. NetX Sydney (3)
19. The Campaign Palace Melbourne (3)
25. Clemenger Proximity Sydney (2)
25. DDB Sydney (2)
25. JWT Manila (2)
25. Leo Burnett Melbourne (2)
25. McCann Erickson Kuala Lumpur (2)
25. McCann Erickson Mumbai (2)
25. McCann Erickson Singapore (2)
25. M&C Saatchi Melbourne (2)
25. Naga DDB Kuala Lumpur (2)

*Agencies are not credited with Craft finalists, unless agency produced. ie: copywriting, art direction, typography, etc.

AWARD 2006 SHORTLIST COUNTRY LEAGUE
1. Australia (162)
2. New Zealand (87)
3. Singapore (29)
4. Malaysia (10)
5. Thailand (9)
6. India (3)
7. China (2)
7. Korea (2)
7. Philippines (2)

AWARD 2006 SHORTLIST CITY LEAGUE
1. Sydney (110)
2. Auckland (76)
3. Melbourne (45)
4. Singapore (29)
5. Wellington (11)
6. Kuala Lumpur (10)
7. Bangkok (9)
8. Mumbai (3)
8. Perth (3)
10. Adelaide (2)
10. Makati City (2)
10. Seoul (2)
10. Shanghai (2)

Health insurer MBF is launching a new fully integrated advertising campaign via BMF Sydney, to position the company in personal lifestyle protection.
BMF created the new campaign titled ‘Journey’ and the first television commercials are scheduled to go to air from Sunday (22 October). The commercials include 60 sec, 30 sec and 15 sec executions. The campaign will also launch with bus, cinema and POS.
The creative idea shows how MBF can help customers navigate the unexpected events of life with its range of dynamic product options.
“It was a great opportunity for us to break category conventions in a competitive market where MBF is determined to achieve differentiation," said Warren Brown, Executive Creative Director, BMF. “The MBF commercial uses surprising ‘in camera’ stunts and effects to depict the unexpected events that can pop up in life."
Sets and props inflate, slide, spring and pop up throughout the commercials to create a fresh and distinctive look for the brand.
“It’s our first major campaign for MBF since we won the account and we’re very excited about taking this positive step with them," said Matthew Melhuish, CEO BMF.

CREDITS:
Executive Creative Director: Warren Brown
Art Directors: Simon Langley and Dale McGuiness
Copywriters: Richard Morgan and Dennis Koutoulogenis
Account Management: Alita McMenamin
Agency Producer: Whitney Hawthorn
Director: Andy Lambert
Production Company: The Sweet Shop
Strategic Planners: Jeremy Nicholas and Christina Aventi
Clients: Wendy Baylis, Jane Calder, Jo Hay
Media Agency: Mitchell & Partners

Mark Mackay has been named Chief Executive Officer of George Patterson Y&R. The former CEO of The Campaign Palace will also assume the role of managing director of the agency's Sydney office.
The move completes a major restructuring of George Patterson Y&R management by Y&R brands CEO Matt McGrath, which included the recent appointments of AFA Chairman Russell Howcroft to run the Melbourne office and Phil McDonald to lead the Brisbane team.
McGrath said the agency now had an outstanding senior management team to
manage and grow its business: "We have three executives with proven track records in Australia, London and Asia. Collectively they have worked for some of the best, and most creatively awarded agencies in the world. This team will provide GPY&R with the creative and business focus to maintain its leadership of the Australian industry.
Mark Mackay has been a key player in The Campaign Palace for the past 15 years after completing stints with Saatchi and Saatchi in Sydney and London. Mackay has worked with leading creatives Gough and Waterhouse, Hunt, Bunton, Mather across acclaimed campaigns for the Commonwealth Bank, Target, Fuji and Meat & Livestock.
"Mark will bring to GPY&R a passion for and understanding of great creative work. We expect he will have a major influence on our approach to our business," says McGrath.
Mackay said that "after 15 fantastic years at The Palace it was time to step up to the challenge of running the country's leading agency.
"I've long admired Patts and their ability to work deeply with some of the country's leading corporates. And I'm particularly looking forward to adding a strong culture of creativity throughout the organization."
Russel Howcroft will lead a revamped line-up at GPY&R Melbourne from next month. To make up for the departure of ECD James McGrath, together with the imminent departures of top creatives Ant Keogh, Grant Rutherford and Josh Stephens, the agency has engaged Sydney based award winning creative teams Mick Hunter and Ian Morton and Tim Hall on a consultancy basis to bolster the agency's five existing teams.
In Brisbane Phil McDonald has rebuilt the agency team since joining in August with the recruitment of new senior management. They include David Evans as strategic director, Stuart Edwards to head Interactive and Tim Green as creative director.

After fifteen successful years running Beamo Studios and Revolution Music, composer Brian Beamish has sold his music and sound recording companies to the Sandcastle Film Group, headed by Chris Cudlipp (pictured).
Beamish will continue to write and arrange music through Beamo, alongside the talented roster of composers Paul Gray, Brendan St Ledger and Vince Pizzinga.
“I’ve been trying to do too much," said Beamish. “I love composing and haven’t been doing it enough recently. Running both Beamo and my ‘Best Ads On TV’ website has kept me out of the studio. With Chris taking over Beamo and our recording and publishing label Revolution Music, I can do more of what I love, composing music".
The Sandcastle Film Group has wanted to invest in a music and post studio for some time but was prepared to wait for the right opportunity. “I believe Beamo has the best roster of composers in the country." said Cudlipp. “Paul, Brendan, Vince and Brian are all exceptionally talented musicians. Their diverse styles mean Beamo can write, arrange and perform music in any genre."
Beamish is happy that someone as experienced as Cudlipp is taking over. “Chris’ background as an award winning copywriter, creative director and director means he completely understands what creatives and producers want from a music and sound studio."
“It’s a great business," said Cudlipp. “We’ll continue to offer agencies a complete music and sound post solution, as well as specialised services in music supervision, music licencing, song searches and voice casting. I know our composers, sound designers, engineers and producers will bring something special to every project."
But Cudlipp is adamant about one thing. “Unlike other studios, there will be no ghost writing at Beamo. I can guarantee that when clients come to Beamo they will be getting a score from the composer they brief, not from some anonymous junior, which is a worrying trend that’s crept into the industry recently."
With five impeccably equipped studios in McMahons Point just off the Harbour Bridge and a studio in LA, Cudlipp is expecting strong growth for Beamo and Revolution Music.

International award winning offline editor Johanna Scott has joined digitalpictures in Melbourne.
Australian born Johanna has been based in London for ten years, and spent the last five cutting full time at Steve Gandolfi's Cut and Run, one of the premier offline editing companies in the world with offices in London, New York and LA.
At the Broadcast B+ 2004 awards Johanna was nominated as Best British Young editor.
Whilst at Cut and Run Johanna cut tvc's, music videos and short films, notably her work was again recognised at this year's BAFTA awards with the nomination of 'Heavy Metal Drummer' for Best Short film.
Her talent and versatility is demonstrated with clients ranging from international production company heavyweights, Hungryman Films and Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ) to corporate giants, Exxon, British Gas, LG through to international music acts such as Faithless and Dirty Pretty Things.
Johanna joins other new talents at DP such as online editor Eugene Richards and online designer Nathan Bayliss.
"Jo Scott is a first class editor who is dearly missed at Cut and Run. In the last 10 years our editors have been voted the top UK editors seven times and are also consistently voted in the top 5 in the world. Jo was nominated Best British Young Editor during her time at Cut and Run and also recieved a nomination for a short film at the BAFTA's - which is a tremendous effort and shows her depth of editing talent. She is a real superstar and I wish her well cutting at digitalpictures," says Steve Gandolfi.

CB hears James McGrath is taking leave of his ECD gig at George Patterson Y&R Melbourne rather earlier than anticipated, so both he and Patts CEO Anthony Heraghty will be having farewell drinks tomorrow night.
The hunt is still on for McGrath's replacement.

Leo Burnett creative team Kate Burt (copywriter) and Peter Majarich (art director) have won the 2006 AFA Youngbloods Creative Competition.
The brief asked young creatives to develop a banner ad to raise awareness of services provided by Reach Out!
The competition aimed to offer support for students suffering from exam time stress.
Youngbloods chairman Jim Aetopoulos said the level of entries was very competitive, and that Burt's and Majarich's work was brilliantly simple in its ability to get the message across to students who may be stressing out during exam time. That help and advice is available to them through reachout.com.au.
He added that the winners were lucky enough to receive a meat tray for their efforts, but most importantly they receive a lot of publicity and gain creative credibility from winning the competition.
The banner will go live in a couple of weeks.
Reach Out! is a web-based service that helps young people aged 16 - 25 by offering support and information on issues such as eating disorders, depression, managing anxiety and particularly the extra stress associated with exams.

Melbourne based creative duo Paul Taylor (right) and Tony Banks (left) have formed a consultancy called Day & Age, which will work with agencies (including Sydney based Host) and marketing companies on a wide range of projects from advertising to product development to television shows. The company will be set up on the similar lines as The Glue Society and Droga5.
Banks quit M&C Saatchi, Melbourne, where he was head of art, a few months back while Taylor has been CD at M&C Saatchi based in LA for the last two years. Before that Taylor was CD at M&C Saatchi, Melbourne, where the pair oversaw an award-winning period for the likes of ANZ, Berri and TXU. M&C Saatchi, Melbourne was CB Agency of the Year in 2001.

bestads has just launched a new monthly online awards event. Each month the featured TV & print work will be judged by a small online panel of highly respected creative minds from around the world. From a shortlist of the month’s featured TV spots and print / outdoor campaigns the jury will award the global gold, silver & bronze awards.

The Judges for September 2006:

Danny Brooke-Taylor
Joint Creative Director, TBWA\London

Kevin Roddy
Executive Creative Director, BBH New York

Jan Jacobs and Leo Premutico
Executive Creative Directors, Saatchi & Saatchi New York

Nick Worthington (pictured)
Executive Creative Director, Publicis Mojo New Zealand

Mike Barnwell
Executive Creative Director, Grey Worldwide SA

Claudia Southgate & Verity Fenner
Senior Creative Team, BBH London

Sylvain Thirache
Executive Creative Director, DDB Paris

Matt Eastwood
National Creative Director/Vice Chairman DDB, Sydney

Jeremy Craigen
Creative Director, DDB London

A new page on the site records winners (& judges).

http://www.bestadsontv.com/awards.php

The 2006 Perth Advertising & Design Club Awards will be held on Saturday, October 28.
To give the awards the cache they deserve, the Awards show will be in Winthrop Hall at the University of WA, starting with a pre-event cocktail soiree at 6:30 pm. The After Party, with a sense of flair befitting the PADC, is a short walk across University grounds to the University Club.
THE ESSENTIAL DETAILS
Like last year you can come to the Award Presentation and stay on for the After Party or just choose to do one or the other.

Cocktail Party and Award Presentation:
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Winthrop Hall
University of Western Australia

After Party:
9:30 pm - 01:00 am
The University Club
University of Western Australia

COST OF TICKETS (INC. GST)

Cocktail Party & Award Presentation only:
• PADC Members @ $65:00 p/person
• PADC student members @ $30:00 p/person
• Non-Members @ $75:00 p/person
• Student non-members @ $40:00 p/person

After Party only - includes substantial food and responsible service of beverage:
• PADC Members @ $80:00 p/person
• PADC student members @ $50.00 p/person
• Non-Members @ $95.00 p/person
• Student non-members @ $60.00 p/person

Combination ticket (Award Presentation & After Party):
• PADC Members @ $120:00 p/person
• PADC student members @ $65.00 p/person
• Non-Members @ $150.00 p/person
• Student non-members @ $75.00 p/person

Tickets are to be booked via email only - admin@padc.com.au .

At that time a tax invoice will be issued and once payment is received tickets will be dispatched.

RSVP not later than Wednesday 25 October
E: admin@padc.com.au
M: 0419 723 801

Sydney digital agency NetX has once again delved into the ‘offline’ advertising world and appointed two creatives as the agency continues to strengthen its creative depth, following the appointment of Executive Creative Director Shaun Branagan earlier this year.
Ben Pearce joins NetX as Art Director and Patrick Tonkin joins as Copywriter after completing this year’s
AWARD school.
Their appointment follows that of Lead Creative Josh Rowe, who joined NetX last month.
Prior to AWARD school Pearce spent time at the Launchpad at DDB working on campaigns for McDonald’s, Continental and Energizer. Prior to DDB he was Art Director at Red Pepper Design, the design arm of Macquarie University’s in"house creative company, working with university departments and a number of external clients.
He started his career as a designer at McCorkell & Associates and has also worked at humidity and The Twelfth Man and has freelanced at a number of agencies.
Tonkin was previously with Lincinc Productions as a Designer / Writer where he worked on Telstra and BigPond. He has written and directed several short films, produced soundtracks for various directors , short films and websites and had short stories published in Idiom 23.
“Ben and Pat have diverse backgrounds and are a natural fit for NetX as it becomes an ideas company. We are increasingly being asked by clients to lead the creative strategy on various campaigns and it is important to have depth not just in digital creative talent but also big brand ideas. Ben and Pat will help lead us in that direction," Shaun Branagan said.
“The creative resource we are building at NetX will not be able to be matched by any other digital agency and gives us a distinct competitive advantage."

CB hears that the George Patterson Y&R Melbourne suit on Fosters, group account director Paul McMillan, has resigned. Speculation is that he will eventually team up with 'Big Ad' boys Ant Keogh and Grant Rutherford (and possibly 'Boony' Josh Stephens), all of whom resigned a couple of weeks back, to form a new agency.
All four are still at the agency - at least for the next four weeks, but no one, of course, is returning calls...

A new era for AWARD launches on Wednesday November 8th at the Sydney Opera House with its biggest membership ever celebrating the best creative work of the year.
After a pre-presentation cocktails in the northern foyers The AWARD Presentation will be held in the Opera House Concert Hall, which will be open to everyone in the industry. A VIP AWARD Members and Sponsors equisite gourmet cocktail party follows in Guillaume at Bennelong, with the after-party at The Establishment sponsored by The Sweet Shop.
Among a host of local and overseas luminaries Trevor Beattie, of Beattie McGuinness Bungay, London (pictured with Nelson Mandela) will be AWARD’s special guest on the night. Beattie, while at TBWA London, has been responsible for a string of extremely visible, award winning, talked about advertising campaigns such as FCUK, Sony PlayStation and Wonderbra.
AWARD Entries are at record levels, with works from Asia contributing to a particular surge in print. ‘None of the Above’ has risen by 50% which should provide some interesting cases for the new judging panel formulated specifically for this category. AWARD Finalists will be released Monday 16th October 2006.

AWARD 2006 Presentation Evening
Wednesday 8th November, at 6.30pm
The Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall
Dress: Black Tie

AWARD VIP Member Ticket A$250 + GST
Includes Pre-presentation Cocktail Party at The Opera House, VIP seats at the AWARD Awards Presentation at The Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, VIP Members Only equisite gourmet Cocktail Party with gourmet food in Guillaume at Bennelong, plus entry to the exclusive After-party at The Establishment, sponsored by The Sweet Shop.

NB: Limited tickets, first in best dressed. Some ‘life-partner’ tickets available upon request.

Non-Member Tickets $80 + GST
Includes Pre-presentation Cocktail Party at The Opera House and AWARD Awards Presentation.

RSVP: 20th October, 2006
Contact AWARD on +61 2 8297 3877 or email award@awardonline.com http;//www.awardonline.com

NOTE: OVERSEAS AND INTERSTATE DELEGATES. If you are coming to AWARD, why not come one day earlier and attend Campaign Brief's YoungGuns/AWARD Melbourne Cup Lunch in Sydney on Tuesday 7th November. Special guests Trevor Beattie and Chuck McBride, ECD of TBWA\Chiat\Day North America plus a host of other YoungGuns judges from around the world. There are limited invites available. Contact Lynchy at michael@campaignbrief.com

Just got these figures in from the girls at D&AD, and even though the Poms still control the numbers at their own D&AD Global Awards, it's some consolation for Australia - and testament to our stature in world advertising today - that we are ranked third in terms of number of judges for 2007.....

UNITED KINGDOM 132 judges
UNITED STATES 32
AUSTRALIA 10
GERMANY 7
SINGAPORE 7
FRANCE 6
JAPAN 5
NEW ZEALAND 5
SWEDEN 5
NETHERLANDS 4
SPAIN 4
CANADA 3
ITALY 3
ARGENTINA 2
BRAZIL 2
CHINA 2
SOUTH AFRICA 2
THAILAND 2
AUSTRIA 1
BELGIUM 1
INDIA 1
MALAYSIA 1
MEXICO 1
SWITZERLAND 1

Philip Thomas has been appointed CEO of the Cannes Lions awards, filling the spot vacated after Penny Reid's July resignation. Thomas was most recently managing director of EMAP Media. Longstanding festival organizer Carolyn Lowery, most recently operations director, is taking over as festival director.
“I am pleased to welcome Phil to this important role, which will see him working alongside me in developing Cannes, Eurobest and our recently announced award event in Dubai, the Dubai Lynx," commented Australia's Terry Savage, Executive Chairman of the Festival.

The opportunity for the world’s outstanding creative talent to shine has arrived with the launch of the D&AD Global Awards 2007 Call for Entries. Widely considered the world’s toughest and most coveted award to win, the Yellow Pencil is the global symbol of creative excellence.
In their 45th year, the awards span all areas of commercial creativity, from the traditional advertising and design disciplines, to ambient, interactive, gaming, music videos and emerging online categories.
“This year’s line-up of foremen is both formidable and inspiring. From David Nobay in Radio Advertising to past D&AD Presidents John Hegarty, Michael Johnson, Martin Lambie-Nairn, and Michael Wolff," said D&AD Chief Executive Michael Hockney. “Anyone with a passion for their work and a desire to showcase their talent on a global stage will enter the D&AD Global Awards."
Eligibility: Work must have been broadcast, published or launched between 1 January and 31 December 2006.
Further information: www.dandad.org/awards07

AWARD is expecting a full house for their a VIP Cocktail Evening to welcome the 2006 AWARD judges, including Leo Burnett worldwide CD, Mark Tutssel (pictured) this Wednesday 11th October from 6.30pm at The Water Bar Blue Hotel in Sydney (formerly the W Hotel on Woolloomoloo Wharf).
Other judges from the region include Jureeporn Thaidumrong from JEH United, Bangkok, currently the most awarded woman CD in the world, Prasoon Joshi from McCann Erickson India, Thirasek Tanapatanakul from Creative Juice/GI, Bangkok, Ted Lim from Naga DDB, KL and Hirofumi Nakajima from TBWA Tokyo, plus a host of top names from Australia and New Zealand.
The event is sponsored by @radical.media and supported by Campaign Brief.
All members must book tickets even though they are FREE ($50 + GST for non members), but there are very limited tickets available.
Contact Pauline on (02) 82973877, fax: (02) 82973801 or email angelika@awardonline.com

After last year's opening of the jury system to the world and the subsequent success of Australia at D&AD this year (four Yellow Pencils), at this stage there are a record ten Australians picked for D&AD Global Awards jury duty next year. As reported earlier, David Nobay, ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney has