Robert Morgan, Executive Chairman of the Clemenger Group today announced the appointment of Adam Good (left) to take on the role of Executive Director of Digital Innovation, Clemenger Group. The role is focussed at Clemenger BBDO / Proximity / CHE for Australia, in addition to his leadership role with Clemenger / Colenso BBDO / Proximity in New Zealand.
"Digital is the future, so it's vital that we put someone in charge of driving our expertise and creativity in the space. We have been growing our digital expertise across our mainstream and direct agencies in Australia and New Zealand and Adam's appointment will accelerate our digital growth so that we are the leading digital Agencies in Australia and New Zealand," says Morgan
"Adam's role will encompass evangelising, educating and leading our Agency people and clients in Australia as he has done and will continue to do in New Zealand,"
Good has over twenty years experience with the interactive, online, television, film and advertising industries.  He joined Clemenger in late 2007 and spent 2008 growing the Interactive offering for an array of communication agencies in the group. This resulted in Clemenger Group receiving more digital and innovative awards at local and international awards than any other agency in the region. A highlight was Colenso BBDO winning Best in Show Platinum award at the Digital Media Awards in Shanghai and the B&T Interactive agency of the year title for Australasia in Sydney in December 2008.
"People in Australia and New Zealand are truly embodying digital technology, giving it structure in their lives and becoming co-dependent on it. The manner in which people interact, learn, share, and further customize information is forever changing. As a result digital is becoming disciplined and by that I mean it has stopped being owned by any particular agency and is absorbed into and applied for brand building, relationship management, reputation management and so on," says Good.
"Our agencies in the Clemenger Group don't see digital as a channel or silo operation but rather focus digital to their discipline. My role is to provide leadership in digital and continue our growth in Australia and New Zealand. We will use both online and real world as an interactive marketing platform for our clients.  We want to deliver to client's rigour in benchmarking interactive, while also working closely with creative and planning teams to develop strategic, innovative and creative engagement programs that are both participatory and personal." Adam added
Paul Cross (left), who has been splitting his time between Clemenger BBDO, Clemenger Group and eservices group, will now work full time at eservices group as Executive Chairman.
Eservices group is Clemenger Group's main interactive marketing services specialist and a leader in email marketing services, web development, interactive performance marketing and the new digital technologies. Staff have grown to 80 in Melbourne and Sydney and Paul will now be able to fully concentrate on developing this business, which he co-founded, to its next level with his key team of Simon O'Day and Anthony Cross.
"These changes put the best people in the right spots to lead our charge to digital leadership across the Tasman," says Morgan.

SunRice, Australia’s largest packaged food exporter and market leading rice brand has appointed Sydney start-up Disciple, founded by ex-Saatchi & Saatchi multi-award winning senior creative partners Peter Buckley and Tim Brown to handle the advertising and marketing of the popular rice brand effective immediately.
“We were aware of Disciple’s creative credentials but their strategy, enthusiasm and level of detail in their presentation really set them apart. Disciple’s ability to handle a complex project that includes our sponsorship of swimmer Stephanie Rice was phenomenal. Since winning the business they have  delivered with a strategy and creative to ensure the long term success of the SunRice brand” says Craig Young SunRice Marketing and NPD Manager.
“It’s an incredible start for us to work with such an iconic Australian brand and vindication of our belief that the time is right for fast and nimble strategically driven creative outfits. In these times of economic uncertainty we are finding clients are happy dealing with senior people without paying unnecessary overheads." says Peter Buckley (pictured), partner Disciple.
Disciple, who position themselves as Brand Activists, have been quietly building their business since launching in July 2008.
SunRice joins Disciple’s foundation client Chic Management, Australia's largest modeling agency.
Disciple can be contacted on 02 8585 6508. Mobile: 0410 663 434
pete@disciple.net.au

Host, Sydney was named AdNews Agency of the Year last night, at a packed out event held at Star City in Pyrmont.
Host also won NSW Agency of the Year (Host managing partner Anthony Freedman is pictured) while Clemenger BBDO Melbourne won Victorian Agency of the Year.
Creative Network of the Year was awarded to DDB, CumminsNitro Brisbane won State Agency of the Year, BMF Sydney won Direct Agency of the Year, CRC Sydney took out Emerging Agency of the Year, Amnesia Razorfish won Interactive Agency of the Year and Ikon was awarded Media Agency of the Year.
BMF's 'TED 696 Project' won Campaign of the Year.

The BBDO network has scooped the trans Tasman double, with Clemenger BBDO Melbourne chosen as Campaign Brief's Australian Agency of the Year and sister shop Colenso BBDO, Auckland taking out the NZ title.
"Putting all these pieces into place has taken some time but over the past 12 months, we have really started to see our efforts come to fruition," said James McGrath, executive creative director of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne.
"We are beyond the integration cringe and we're now really confident in playing with ideas. Once we've got the idea, and if we don't know how to actually make it happen, we know we're really on to something.
"CB Agency of the year is the award for the Creative class because of both its skilful analysis of business problems we face but more uniquely an understanding of the more mercurial nature of what makes an idea and their development special."
Says Colenso BBDO, Auckland managing director, Brent Smart: "This is the one important award that has eluded Colenso in my four years here.  Since we last won in 2002 it seems like we've been the constant runner up, despite aspiring to be the best creative agency in New Zealand, which this win confirms we are. It's a huge deal for an agency that's all about the work.  And it says a lot about the massive impact that Nick has had in his first year here."


Says Colenso BBDO executive CD, Nick Worthington: "From a creative point of view there is no other title that comes close."
BMF Sydney came a close second for Australian Agency of the Year and were a worthy recipient of the NSW Agency of the Year title.
Said BMF creative chairman, Warren Brown: "It's terrific to win the Campaign Brief NSW Agency of the Year title, and one we've always coveted, and about bloody time! Hopefully next year we'll get the national AOY."
To read all about it and to check out the 2009 CB Agency Creativity/Billings Index 2009, check out Campaign Brief Online. For subscription enquiries contact Ginny at CB in Sydney: +612 9247 4933.

FBI Recruitment has teamed up with ADFEST by sponsoring their 2009 Young Lotus program, which, for the first time, is open to all teams in Australia under the age of 30.
The ADFEST Young Lotus program has been running for 6 years, a program that this year will be participated by 16 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers 2 young creatives (1 team per country) a chance to attend a 2 day workshop session in Pattaya, Thailand just prior to ADFEST and then to stay on as guests of ADFEST for the duration of the festival. And what a year to attend: This year's Film Jury president is the legendary Sir John Hegarty, chairman and worldwide creative director of BBH. The Press + Poster Jury president is Mark Tutssel, worldwide creative director of Leo Burnett.



All participants in this competition are required to submit their portfolios on DVD or CD (with work as PDF or mpeg files).

Courier or by hand to:
Young Lotus Competition
FBI Recruitment,
Level 1, 24 Hickson Road,
Walsh Bay NSW 2000

If posting:
Young Lotus Competition
FBI Recruitment,
Locked Bag 2
MILLERS POINT  NSW  2000

Portfolios must be received no later than 5pm (AEST), Friday February 27th.
Guest Creative Directors along with the FBI Recruitment team will judge the portfolios submitted; they will be looking for the best thinking across a variety of mediums and all work must have been published or broadcast. The winning team will be announced on Monday March 2nd via the Campaign Brief blog.

PRIZE: The winning team will receive return economy airfares to Bangkok (as per the below dates), transfers to and from Pattaya, plus meals and accommodation for the duration of their stay.

TRAVEL DATES:
- 16 March: Flight to Bangkok, transfer to Pattaya.
- 17-18 March: 2 day workshop sessions (brief given)
- 19 March: Submission of work (morning). Award session same evening.
- 19-21 March. Join ADFEST.
- 22 March.  Depart Pattaya.

For more information about ADFEST and the Young Lotus program, visit www.adfest.com

The Campaign Brief Australian Agency of the Year will be announced later today, along with NZ Agency of the Year and NSW Agency of the Year. And of course, the annual CB Agency Creativity/Billings Index 2009 (or Hot+Cold Chart). For the first time, the online edition of the magazine will be released prior to the printed edition (around 2pm today), so to see who's Who's Hot and Who's Not, visit Campaign Brief Online

Glen Condie and Rob Martin Murphy are riding over 1200kms to Melbourne in March to raise money for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.
You're invited to help support the cause by coming along to their Wine Auction at the Gazebo Wine Bar in Kings Cross TONIGHT (Wednesday Feb 25th) from 6.30pm.
More details on the
Wine Auction Invitation.pdf attached.
Your host for the evening will be Chris Taylor from The Chaser.
There will also be a bar tab (in case you need any more motivation to make it along). Look forward to seeing you all there.

Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, President of the Global Humanitarian Forum and David Jones, Global CEO of Havas Worldwide, CEO of Euro RSCG Worldwide and co-founder of One Young World, hold a crisis debate hosted by Hervé de Clerck (pictured left), Dream Leader, ACT Responsible & Founder of AdForum, at the 56th Cannes International Advertising Festival on the human face of climate change and the role that only the creative community can play in changing Climate Change to Climate Justice.
In June 2008, ACT Responsible started working for Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum and together with David Jones (pictured right), created a dedicated communications team working for Kofi Annan to raise awareness of human consequences of climate change all over the world. Annan, working in close co-operation with all the major non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the framework of the Global Campaign for Climate Action will call on the Cannes Lions worldwide audience to support this work.
"We hope to involve millions of people in a global movement for a fair resolution to the climate crisis" said de Clerck.
"This is vital because political leaders will stand up and act only if they feel there is strong public support" said Annan.
"The fundamental word is actually 'movement' rather than a 'campaign'. Because a campaign is something that you watch, whereas a movement is something that you join and are a part of" said Jones.

The legendary Jeff Goodby, co-chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, provides the CB Blog with the final day of exclusive diary installments from Final Judging of The ANDY Awards in Mexico.
Campaign Brief, Campaign Brief Asia and Bestads are international media partners of the ANDY Awards, which undoubtedly has the world's hottest jury, chaired by Mark Waites, creative partner of Mother.




You hear that the ANDYs are special because they're the first major show to be judged every year. People say the results here will "set the tone" and somehow affect what's picked in all the other shows.
I don't think this is the case. I've been on those other juries, and we never cared a whit about what won earlier.
If anything, the later juries tried to avoid following the lead of the other shows.
There are indeed a couple things that make this show special, however.
First and by far the most important difference is the quality of the judges here. Looking the list over, a friend of mine in New York said, "If a bomb ever hit the judges' room, advertising would be fucked for years to come." While that might be a bit of an overstatement (Droga, who's not here, would simply declare a benevolent dictatorship and carry on), the talent in this place is truly ridiculous.
I learn a lot about the work from my own company when I hear it discussed -- and sometimes cruelly dismissed -- by this group. I said so to our chairman, Mark Waites from Mother, who said, "Yeah, it's strange to see a bunch of people who are used to getting their own way every day of their lives suddenly have to defer to other people's opinions."
Besides the judges, the other thing that makes the ANDYs special is the fact that this terrific group of judges is asked to adjudicate every single category in the show. At other shows, there are multiple juries, so you find the big names heading up juries of less seasoned characters.
Here, an all-star jury looks at all the work. It's a tougher crowd, for sure.
So where did it all come out?
Well you know I can't tell you. But I can mention my favorite things in the show: that Surfrider Foundaton campaign with the beach trash being sold in supermarket foam trays ("It's like the ocean is throwing our trash back in our faces," Prasoon Joshi said); a campaign that introduced a new Oasis album by having street musicians in New York play their songs even before the album came out; a moving TV spot from the Discovery Channel that celebrates, well, being on Earth ("Boombayatta Boombayatta"); Droga 5's cell phone incentive program in New York schools; a Mentos "Kiss Cam" on line.
They'll all do okay.
I can also mention some things that I thought were perhaps a bit overrated: Sarah Silverman's "Great Schlep" web film for Barack Obama; a singing dog for Volkswagen; a "Stop the cycle of violence" banner ad that you'll probably see more of in the shows this year.
They'll all do okay too.
In the larger sense, shows like the ANDYs are at a bit of a crossroads these days, I think.
They are strapped with an avalanche of work that doesn't really fit into the categories they've created (and thus certain work ends up winning in multiple categories and seeming better than it really is). Long form things don't really get the scrutiny they deserve - because they're just too, well, long. Good entry films can make okay work seem great, and bad entry films can waste a great campaign. And while there are fewer things that are
out-and-out fakes, there are entries that push the boundaries of what "real work" means. An FM radio station campaign, for instance, featured ten very beautiful executions in expensive color illustration. You had to wonder how they'd ever have the money to run such things, though.
Beyond that, there was a wider discussion about the ultimate purposes of the work and whether what is essentially charity work (like "Million") should be compared to Burger King web experiences. Advertising
people are always a tiny bit ashamed about whether we're really doing God's work, making us all a bit quick to glom onto campaigns that seem to have a higher calling. How do you keep everything on a level playing field? It will be a big question in years to come.
All in all, though, I think you'll like the show and hopefully find it inspiring, outrageous, and controversial.
And remember, as I tell my own people: If you could see the judging process, you'd be less elated about winning, and less deflated about losing.
Thanks for following this, if you did.

The judges 'Class of 09' photo in Mexico

Campaign Brief has just launched a new creative website for the Asian region.
The website will be a place for all things creative in Asia, providing a creative meeting place for creatives working in Asia. The site will carry creative news and award show news, plus Seen+Noted and creative views, opinions and discussions.
We are certain it will become a daily visit for everyone working in agencies in Asia.
Submit your news via email to kim@campaignbrief.com  (please remember the site only covers creative news).

Sydney and LA based production company Luscious International has been rocked by the arrival of Viscious. Responding to the state of the economy and the need for original branded content and understanding of new
media, Luscious has established this new director collaborative. Directors Sam Bryant, Ant McPhail and Sebastien Guy head up the first directors to join Viscious. All are up and coming, fresh, innovative directors who are working on collaborative projects within the Luscious group.
Viscious has been set up to work on jobs with challenging budgets and emerging media. Depending on the requirements, these directors can also be supported by other Luscious International directors.
Director Sam Bryant’s effervescent visual style and intuitive approach to directing has lead to Australian advertising media labelling him as a “wunderkid”.
Director Ant McPhail has an ability to capture a striking and arresting image, both still and in motion. He has shot with Luscious in Australia, New Zealand, North America and South America.
Director Sebastian Guy’s background is as varied as his directing style. Following a successful career as an actor, both in LA and Sydney he moved behind the camera to become a strong performance director.
For more information or to request a copy of the Viscious reel contact Alex Hay at Luscious International on talk2us@luscious.com.au or call (+61) 2 9326 3400. 

The 11 Australians on this year's Cannes juries have been announced, with Saatchi & Saatchi Australia executive creative director Steve Back (pictured) leading the way, snaring the prestigious Film Lions jury.

Says News Limited group director of marketing: advertising and integration, Garth Agius: “This year we will have the biggest representation by Australian judges at Cannes. This directly reflects Australia’s consist and outstanding performance across every category at Cannes in recent years."
Australia will be represented on ten of the eleven jury panels, with two representatives in the Direct Lions category.

Press Lions: Jay Benjamin, co-executive creative director, Leo Burnett, Sydney

Outdoor Lions: Matt Eastwood, DDB chairman and national creative director

Cyber Lions: Mark Ashley-Wilson, head of interactive, Three Drunk Monkeys, Sydney

Direct Lions: Gavin McLeod, direct creative director of M&C Saatchi, Sydney

Direct Lions: Grant Rutherford, creative director of DDB Melbourne.

Radio Lions: Paul Reardon, senior writer, Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne

Promo Lions: Shane Bradnick, art director, BMF Sydney

Design Lions: Vince Frost, CEO and creative director, Frost Design

Media Lions: Henry Tajer, CEO, Universal McCann

PR Lions: Naomi Parry, director, Black Communications.

On top of all that, the prestigious Titanium Lions jury will be chaired by Aussie expat David Droga (pictured left), chairman of Droga 5, New York.

Sydney agency Brave has launched Josh Pyke’s new single ‘The Summer’. The track is the second single release off Josh Pyke’s latest album ‘Chimney's Afire’.  The lighthearted and slightly melancholic VIDEO CLIP features a man reflecting on his summer memories and is seen hemorrhaging sand. It takes us on a journey through his bleak world where his ‘sand ailment’ adds to his despair, but he eventually finds solace on a pristine beach.  The film clip was a collaborative between Brave and Photoplay Films and was directed by Yanni Pounartzis (CD at Brave) and Scott Otto Anderson (director at Independent Films.  Yanni Pounartzis said: “It great to see your ideas come alive in other arenas. This is exactly where I want Brave to be, not necessarily in the music world, but in other spaces where we can make bigger creative contributions. Co-directing with Scott was also really rewarding. We’ve produced quite a few commercials together with Oliver Lawrance. Collaborating on something outside of advertising felt like a natural progression”.  Scott Otto Anderson said: This is the kind of project Oliver and I wanted to put out with our side project Photoplay – creative filmmaking from the ground up. With this we're interested in collaborating with people from other disciplines to output from concept to script and final production. Working with friends is also an important element, and an idea like this probably wouldn't get executed without that trust between the artist, record co., production team and especially Tyson Barnaby-Koh a friend of ours who plays the lost leading man.
Josh Pyke said: “After my last film clip ‘Make you Happy’, which included a giant guitar boat, I wanted to go for a clip with a more understated and ‘arty’ look, that was also fairly abstract when it came to the narrative of the song.  The guys had this idea of a man who had sand pouring from his very being, and was thus a social outcast, and though an abstract concept, it married up well with the sense of yearning in the song. For me it turned out more like a short film, rather than a conventional clip”.
‘The Summer’ will appear on Rage, Video Hits, MTV and online networks.

Agency: Brave, Sydney
Production Company: Photoplay Films
Recording Artist: Josh Pyke
Music Track: ‘The Summer’
Writers/Directors: Yanni Pounartzis & Scott Otto Anderson
Producer: Oliver Lawrance
Client: Ivy League Record

The legendary Jeff Goodby, co-chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, provides the CB Blog with day 3 of exclusive diary installments from Final Judging of The ANDY Awards in Mexico.
Campaign Brief, Campaign Brief Asia and Bestads are international media partners of the ANDY Awards, which undoubtedly has the world's hottest jury, chaired by Mark Waites, creative partner of Mother.





There are remarkable things that probably won’t win big at
the ANDYS, and I’m not necessarily talking about your
entry.
High on that list would have to be a GPS-based, mobile
device tour of the graffiti of Lisbon.  With it, you are
enabled to walk the streets of certain neighborhoods and
read explications of significant taggings, with information
about the artists and how their artworks were created.
There is also an entry from a San Francisco artist who
creates “reverse graffiti” by sandblasting through
stencils placed against walls that carry years of grime.
He decorated the inside of the Broadway tunnel (which
runs underneath Russian Hill) using a forest motif that
was quite striking.
I’m sure such things would still be in the show if someone
had thought to have them  sponsored by, say, a laundry
detergent.  But they didn’t, and thus the efforts will
probably be lost down the drain of dead ANDYs work.
Enough.
We think we’re so smart.  We think we invented all this
stuff yesterday.  Consider this:
If there was a Crispin Porter in 1880, it was Glasgow
grocer Thomas J. Lipton.  To advertise the satisfying
nature of his food, he hired skinny men through the
streets, all walking toward his store and carrying signs
that read, “Going to Lipton’s.”  Simultaneously, he had
fat men walking away from the store, carrying signs that
said, “Coming back from Lipton’s.”
He also had convex and concave mirrors inside the store
that showed you skinny on the way in and fat on the way
out.  This is no shit.  1880.
Back to Mexico:
*THAT AGAIN?  The recent “Halo” success taught us
something that only occurred to me this afternoon:  Treat
digitized games as emotional content and put heavy music
on them.  It’s the trick de jour.  Xbox does that this
year and the result does something I think modern media
does at its best – it suggests the moving parts of a
familiar form.  In this case, it’s a movie trailer,
capturing the tragedy of soldiers in the face of war.  You
can’t help but be moved.
Oh, wait.  I forgot to mention, you should also put it in
slow motion.
The effect is stunning.  If Xbox doesn’t win this thing,
it deserves a lot of study.  I will encourage it among
everyone I work with.
*LOOK! A CASTLE!  LOOK! A CASTLE!  ETC.  There is a
campaign encouraging support for the study of Alzheimer’s
that shows a crew of guys tricking older people by deftly
changing their circumstances – swapping a parked car out
on a poor old blue-haired woman, for instance, and
watching what happens.
“They should have used real Alzheimer’s patients,” one of
the judges pointed out. “Yeah,” someone else said, “but
then they might not have noticed the car was any
different.  They wouldn't have had a spot because the lady
might’ve just gotten in the car like it was no big deal and
driven away.”
*EMBARRASSING ROMANIANS VS. VAPORIZING VALUED
ACQUAINTANCES.  After many watchings, you realize that the
Burger King “Whopper Virgins” idea is very much inferior
to the thing that asks you to dump ten friends to get a
Whopper.  The former had a great build-up, but never
materialized.  The latter actually took advantage of a
truth about the Internet:  You desperately want to get rid
of some of those pesky Facebook friends, and you know
you’re looking for the first lame excuse to do so.
*QUICK, COVER YOUR EYES!  I don’t want to like that Nike
spot with Ladanian  Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu growing up
only to smash into each other, but dammit, I love it every
time.  The music is magnificent.
*HINT:  IT’S NOT JUST ME.  Is it just me, or is the
Microsoft campaign a little too obviously WAY too worried
about Apple?  Three judges have reflected similarly.  It
fails on account of this fear.
*COME ON, COULD THEY REALLY DO THAT?  If the youth of the
world had as much time as these entries claim they have to
participate in transparent wild goose chases, to vote
between inane flavors of Dew, and to turn out for
trumped-up parades about corn chip spicings, then we’re
fucked as a society in very deep ways.
On that note, I’d like to plug a second book.  I am not
being paid.
My ex-agency president, Colin Probert, who was the
smartest guy in advertising for twenty-something years and
no one knew it, has advised me to read Winston Fletcher’s
Powers of Persuasion, a history of British advertising.
Naturally, it WAY overestimates the importance of its
topic vis-à-vis the American kind, but that’s just me.
Read it anyway.   It’s provocative.
And it tells the following interesting story:
After World War II, commercial radio was illegal in
Britain. (You Commonwealthians may know this story.)  In
the early sixties, however, a guy named Ronan O’Rahilly
revived Radio Luxembourg, a company that hadn’t broadcast
since the war.  He did this by beaming from a ship that
was positioned just into international waters off the
coast of Essex.  His programming appealed to a teen market
and had a great name:  Radio Caroline.
Poetically, he announced every day that the station was
being broadcast “from a pirate ship.”  And he paid no
royalties to the musicians whose work he played.
Sadly, he was put out of business by the British
government in 1966.  But he was way ahead of his time, I
say.
In fact, I’m taking a jet ski off the coast of San
Francisco to scope out locations next week.  Stay tuned.

The legendary Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, is providing the CB Blog with exclusive diary installments from Final Judging of The ANDY Awards in Mexico over the next few days.
Campaign Brief, Campaign Brief Asia and Bestads are international media partners of the ANDY Awards, which undoubtedly has the world's hottest jury, chaired by Mark Waites, creative partner of Mother.




People think judging shows like this must elicit petty
competition on the part of the judges, but in my
experience that's hardly ever the case.
Yeah, you get a judge now and then who gets close to a
gold for himself or her agency and perhaps speaks
inappropriately, but that's very rare.  Instead, what I've
seen - honestly - is a widespread belief that judging is
more like curating a series of snapshots of what we're
proud of as an industry at this point in time.
It's almost like who did the work is less important than
showing the right stuff.
This group seems to be operating very much in that spirit.
This is partly, I think, because our chairman Mark Waites
comes from an agency so integrally associated with doing
the right thing in beautiful, unexpected ways.
It's also because we don't want all of you ragging on us
later on about what wins.
We saw the cutdown print, TV, and Internet categories
today and there is some very admirable stuff.  I don't
like to point up a charity piece as my favorite thing this
early, but I'm afraid that's what's happening.  There's a
terrific campaign for the Surfrider Foundation that
gathers together actual trash from famous beaches, then
packages it in foam trays and shrink wraps it like grocery
store display food.  They sell this "catch of the day" as
a fundraiser in places where real food is sold.  They also
display it in print ads, posters, and on the web, where
they auction the stuff off like eBay.  The effect is
startling - and moving.

Other thoughts today:
*DOES IT REALLY HAVE TO DO THAT?  There are a lot of
campaigns with interesting surfaces that turn out to have
nothing to do with the advertiser or their product.
 Honda, for instance, is represented by a stunt in which
those warning bumps on the highway are made to play music
- but it's not Honda music or even anything remotely
connected to Honda.  An HSBC spot shows an Indian cop
charmingly directing traffic and helping people in time to
an aria from "The Marriage of Figaro," but again, it has
little or nothing to do with the advertiser.
I guess this has always happened, when you think about it.
Why am I surprised?
*IT WOULDN'T MAKE MY MOM BUY CREST, HOWEVER.  The Crest
campaign that illustrates that you can say almost anything
with a great smile (bulldozer guy wrecks the kids'
playground to put up a power plant, guy tells his
girlfriend they both have head lice, etc.) is hilarious,
if a bit lengthy.  One wonders how long it actually ran.
*THE KIND OF BUSINESS IDEA THAT OCCURS TO YOU HERE.  I
think I will create a bank of ready-made video cards,
to be used for a small fee when making entry films.  They
will say things like:  "Our site crashed twice in the
first day" and "The response was tremendous" and "We had
over a million unique visitors."  You can't imagine how
many of those there are.
*INGENIOUS IF YOU DO IT, WRONG IF OTHERS DO.  People are
entering commercials that happen to feature athletes in a
category entitled "Best Use of Celebrity."  Shit, my own
agency did it, with the split screen campaign we did for
the NBA.  Lots of Nike spots entered this way.  Does this
sound right to you?  Not sure.
*THE CHAIRMAN ON THE TIVO.  Mark Waites opined that this
is curiously the only media business that has had a box
invented explicitly to thwart its noxious existence.

Finally, beach reading (which I am now doing little of)
has uncovered Lewis Hyde's amazing book, The Gift, a
study of how creativity is absolutely dependent upon a
spirit of graciousness and generosity, and is suppressed
by anxious jealousy and ownership issues.
This was a stance beautifully championed by the elegant
Saatchi man, Paul Arden, who wrote:
"Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to
you.  Ideas are open knowledge. Don't claim ownership.
They're not your ideas anyway, they're someone else's.
They are out there floating on the ether.  You just have
to put yourself in a frame of mind to pick them up."
Or as Bob Dylan once said:  "I didn't write those songs.
I just wrote them down."

Australia's 11 Cannes jurors for 2009 will be announced on Monday in the Australian's Media section, but CB hears two are sure to get the nod: Matt Eastwood (pictured far left) ECD of DDB Australia will be on the Outdoor Lions jury and Mark Ashley-Wilson (pictured left), head of digital at Three Drunk Monkeys, Sydney will get the Cyber Lions jury gig.
Australia's standing in the world ad industry has enabled us to get a record 11 jurors this year, all of whom will be heading to the Cannes International Adverising Festival in June.

The legendary Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, is providing the CB Blog with exclusive diary installments from Final Judging of The ANDY Awards in Mexico over the next few days.
Campaign Brief, Campaign Brief Asia and Bestads are international media partners of the ANDY Awards, which undoubtedly has the world's hottest jury, chaired by Mark Waites, creative partner of Mother.

East of San Francisco, there is a garbage dump so big you can see it from the moon.  It is rivaled tonight, however, by the first round of ANDYS work.

“It’s like they just passed everything through,” one of the judges says.  “Wasn’t there a cut down?”

It is a platitude to say that the entry films all sound the same.  First, make a tired, banal idea seem brilliant and new.  Then claim unheard-of results (“over 12,000 quality visits!”).  Worked up, Gerry Graf suggests that we do an entry video parody that makes “the TV commercial” sound like new ground. 

“After much research,” he imagined the VO saying, “we located an amazing box that actually records moving pictures.  Then we had people MAKE BELIEVE THEY WERE A FAMILY AND INTERACT WITH THE PRODUCT!  Millions tuned in to watch the result…” 

As if on cue, the next entry we watched was a film that made recycling sound like it had just been brilliantly invented last week. 

Some other thoughts:

 *Make sure your entry video is engaging to the judges in the first 15 seconds or else. 

 *Droga 5’s “Million” video is the best entry film ever produced.  If you haven’t seen it, it’s a seminar on entries in the modern award show age. It includes animation, interviews with city officials, even Esquire editor David Granger calling the idea “genius.” 

*There are too many interactive entries that involve wild goose chases to find obscure things on the basis of dubious hints.  One cannot imagine cityloads of people having this much time. 

*Arnold’s Pete Favat is wearing a T-shirt from the Massachusetts State Police’s Underwater Rescue Unit.  It seems somehow fitting.

*There is a “Non-Internet Interactive” category.  This is no shit.

*Things that were a hit, I think:  a Discovery Channel spot about the diversity and allure of the world, Adidas’s ubiquitous Beijing Olympic print which so beautifully captures China’s unique collective attitude toward their athletes, Coke’s parade balloons, maybe some ESPN.  I’ll know more when I see what makes it through this first round.

At the cocktail party last night, Mark Tutssel and I agree that we both love Australia, Sydney and Warren Brown’s boat, not necessarily in that order.  

See you tomorrow.  

Commercial Radio Australia is starting a series of free digital radio creative workshops in Sydney and Melbourne next month, aiming to demonstrate to clients and advertising agencies the benefits of the digital radio platform.
Developed by Commercial Radio Australia and implemented by creative director of Eardrum Australia, Ralph van Dijk, architect of the recent “Radio Advertising Economically Sound” radio brand campaign, the workshops are part of a continuing series developed by Commercial Radio Australia to help improve the education and training for those involved in radio and ultimately deliver better radio ads.
Chief executive officer, Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner said the free digital workshops supported by the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) would outline the relevance of digital radio in meeting branding and advertising needs and demonstrate how to put effective and innovative digital radio advertising together.
“DAB+ digital radio represents a breakthrough multi-media experience which will facilitate additional advertising information on demand.  We want advertisers, sales managers, creative directors and media agencies to understand how the new technology can take radio advertisements to a new level using images and text,” said Ms Warner.
The spectrum efficiency of the digital technology DAB+ Australia is adopting, means broadcasters can add additional radio channels or provide on a small screen, scrolling news, sport and weather text or transmit photographs of a radio host, band or advertiser’s logo.
Draft innovative technical and advertising production specifications released last year by Commercial Radio Australia, for the synchronisation of the “visual” and audio components of digital radio, will be used during the workshops to illustrate how easy and reliable the digital radio production process can be.
 “Australia is recognised as a producing great radio ads worldwide, now we want to be pioneers in the creation of innovative DAB+ digital radio advertisements and hope these digital radio workshops will inspire new ideas from advertisers and agencies,” said Ralph van Dijk.
Carol Morris Media Federation Australia executive officer said: “The MFA collectively represents 72% of all media billings placed by Media Agencies in Australia and we see these digital radio workshops as a great opportunity for our members to learn more about the opportunities digital radio offers.”
The half day workshops, open to advertising agencies and radio advertising clients, will initially be held in Sydney on 12 March and 19 May and in Melbourne on the 19 March with other states to follow.   Commercial Radio Australia is accepting expressions of interest now and further information can be found on their website www.commercialradio.com.au. 
Free-to-air digital radio services will be switched on in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth in May 2009.
 

Campaign Brief believes that Singleton Ogilvy & Mather Sydney has retrenched up to 20 staff from across the group. This includes Simon Bloomfield (pictured), creative director of OgilvyOne and senior OgilvyOne copywriters Ron Anderson and Henry Hall.
It is believed several junior creative teams from the interactive department and two designers have been made redundant along with account service staff on the American Express account. Others retrenched were in despatch, IT, finance, and reception.
Singleton Ogilvy & Mather executive creative director Bruce Matchett was not available at the time of posting.
Bloomfield joined OgilvyOne has creative director in August 2006 from Clemenger Proximity and prior to that worked at Euro RSCG.
In the past two years Bloomfield has guided OgilvyOne Sydney back onto the awards dais, locally and internationally. The agency was awarded at John Caples for Kodak’s ‘Black Print’ – Earth Hour Consumer Collateral as well as winning Bronze for American Express’s ‘Behavioural Targeting’ at the 2008 DMA Echo Awards and two Leader Awards for American Express’s ‘Mickey Mouse’ and ‘Centurion Innovations’.  
Furthermore, Bloomfield has been both a judge and chairman of Judges for the Australian Direct Marketing Awards, judged the Caples Awards in New York, and was instrumental in the development of the Direct Marketing Creative School, a program designed to nurture young creative talent in the Australian DM industry.

Lion Nathan reveals the first TVC developed for the James Boag’s trademark, a new campaign promoting Boag’s Draught. The TVC, developed in partnership with Publicis Mojo, launched in Victoria this week, and will air nationally from this Sunday 22 February.
The TVCs tell the imaginative story of how the pure waters of Tasmania are special, and have the power to make things better. Throughout the 60, 30 and 15 second executions we’re guided through the story of this magical land by an old narrator. The local community gathers to dunk a wide range of objects into the water and receive improved and somewhat surprising versions in return.
Micah Walker, Creative Director, Publicis Mojo Sydney said, “ “We just wanted to take the truth about what makes Boag’s Draught such a great beer and make it into a unique story. Kind of an obvious thing to say, but that’s what I really like about this campaign…it’s simple, and yet feels like it comes with a character and history of its own.”
“We have big plans for Boag’s Draught and we are looking forward to this campaign inviting more and more Australians to discover one of Tasmania’s best kept secrets,” said Arno Lenior, Premium Category Director, Lion Nathan.
A consumer website, www.boagsdraught.com.au, is currently being developed by Holler Sydney.

VIEW THE COMMERCIAL

Agency: Publicis Mojo Sydney
Creative Director: Micah Walker
Senior Art Director: Steve Wakelam
 Senior Copywriter: Grant McAloon
Agency Producer: Jasmin Ferguson
Account Service Team: Simon Ludowyke, Tara Seymour
Head of Strategy: Nicole Milward

Production House: Revolver Films
Director: Steve Rogers
Producer: Michael Ritchie
DOP: Geoffrey Simpson
Production Designer: Steven Jones- Evans
Editor: Alexandre De Franceschi for Guillotine
Visual Effects: Fin Design & Effects
VFX Supervisor: Justin Bromley for Fin Design & Effects
Grade: Ben Eagleton for Bean Colour
Sound Design: Simon Lister for Nylon Studios
Composer: Elliott Wheeler

The topical Veet ‘Goodbye Bush’ newspaper ad, created by John Gault and Patryjca Lukjanow (pictured below) via Euro RSCG, Sydney has taken out the December/January 'Could Be a Caxton' competition 'Could be a Caxton' was established by the Caxton Committee and supported by The Newspaper Works to recognise and showcase great creativity on a bi-monthly basis.
 
Client: Reckitt Benckiser
Agency: Euro RSCG Australia
ECD: Rowan Dean
Copywriter: John Gault
Art Director: Patryjca Lukjanow

Judge of the December/January competition and Creative Director of The Campaign Palace, Cameron Hoelter, said: “I have to make it perfectly clear up front I don’t really like puns. In fact when I see one, I usually make that ‘wincey face’ more associated with watching someone fall over on concrete.
“So this month’s ‘Could be a Caxton’ throws up an interesting creative dilemma. Because the strongest ad this round is Veet ‘Goodbye Bush’. Sitting directly under a large photo and article about Obama’s inauguration, it’s a nice example of topical advertising.
“Now this is the bit where I sound like a hypocrite. The ad made me smile. I remember thinking how strange it was to see an ad in a newspaper that made me actually feel something. I also remember my second reaction, ‘shit, a pun’, and a familiar one at that,” he said.
“So when the bundle of ‘Could be a Caxton’ finalists arrived on my desk to judge, I prayed there would be a better ad than Veet, thus neatly avoiding this creative conundrum. And there were a couple of other nice efforts - the Artline ad was also a worthy example of topical advertising - but nothing resonated nearly as much.
“In fact I was talking to my mum the other day and she mentioned she’d seen the Veet ad, ‘the one with the Bush slogan’. And even after disappointing her that it wasn’t one of mine, she still thought it was very clever. So there you have it. Veet it is.”
 
The Artline ad creative credits are:
Client: Pelikan Artline
Agency: BCM
Creative Director: Nick Ikonomou
Copywriter: Nick Ikonomou
Art Director: Andy Iles
 
The February/March competition is now open for entries.  It’s free to enter and anyone can submit nominations.  For more information on how to enter the Could Be a Caxton competition and the Caxtons in general, visit www.thecaxtonawards.com.au

A radio commercial for Ikea called ‘Mutant Bargains’ has won the overall and single categories for round four of the 2009 Siren Awards. Written by Richard Berney and Mark Fretten from agency 303 Perth (pictured top), the spot uses humour to highlight bargains available at Ikea.
Judge and previous round winners, Jason Ross and Richard Apps from JWT Sydney said about the winning spot: “They tackled a very familiar retail brief in a fresh and humorous way.”
303 Perth writers Richard Berney and Mark Fretten said having fun was the most important thing when creating an effective radio commercial: “If you enjoy making the ad, chances are other people will enjoy listening to it.”
Another ad for Ikea, ‘Return of the Mutant Bargains’, written by the same team, was the only highly commended in the single category.
Winner of the campaign category was a series for book publisher, Hachette called ‘Short Stories’ promoting Stephen King’s book. The commercials were written by Josh Moore, David Roberts, Nigel Clark and Danny Wehbe (pictured middle) from agency, US Sydney.
There were two highly commended entries in the campaign category: Ikea ‘Mutant Bargains’ via 303 Perth, and a series for British Paints, called ‘Pub’, ‘Cricket’ and ‘Strip Club’, written by Eamonn Dixon from agency, Leo Burnett in Melbourne.
Winner of the craft category was ‘The Wrong Beer’ for Sip n Save, with sound engineers, Pete Best and Scott Illingworth (pictured bottom) from production studio, Best FX in Adelaide.
Judge and previous round winner, Ross Batten from production studio, The Cutting Edge said the ad was great: “All of the elements integrate nicely, it is well constructed.”
There was also one highly commended in the craft category. It was ‘Thirsty’ for Sip n Save, produced by the same team from Best FX.

PLAY THE COMMERCIALS

Ten new members have been elected to two-year terms on the board of directors for The One Club, the New York based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting excellence in advertising and design. New board members include two Aussie based in US: David Droga, (pictured) founder and creative chairman of Droga5 and Nick Law, ECD of R/GA, New York.
In addition to David Baldwin (Chairman), re-elected board members are Arthur Bijur; Kara Goodrich, BBDO; José Mollá, la comunidad; Kevin Roddy, Bartle Bogle Hegarty and Steve Sandstrom, Sandstrom Partners.
The ten new members of The One Club’s board of directors are:
Andy Azula: The Martin Agency, Richmond
Roger Camp: Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco
Glenn Cole: 72and Sunny, El Segundo
David Droga: Droga5, New York
Linus Karlsson: Mother, New York
Nick Law: R/GA, New York
David Lubars: BBDO, New York
Ari Merkin: Toy, New York
Steve Mykolyn: Taxi, Toronto
Nancy Vonk: Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto
“We are delighted to announce the ten new members of The One Club’s board of directors who are some of the advertising industry’s most accomplished and respected leaders,” said Mary Warlick, CEO of The One Club.  “Their guidance is especially important given our organization’s expanding roster of activities, special events, competitions, conferences and educational programs worldwide.”
The One Show, which honors advertising’s best work in print, radio and television will take place May 6 at Jazz at Lincoln Center. One Show Design will take place on May 4th  at the IAC building in downtown New York and One Show Interactive will conclude the festival week on May 8th at Terminal 5.
Last year, The One Club’s new projects included the completion of a live-action feature documentary titled “Art & Copy” directed by Doug Pray that recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival; its first Los Angeles-based “One Show Entertainment Awards”  recognizing outstanding creative achievements by brands in the realm of entertainment including judges Matthew Weiner (“Mad Men”) and Brett Ratner (director of “X-Men: The Last Stand”); and an ambitious journey to Shanghai in which prominent international advertising professionals conducted workshops with university students from throughout China.

After 12 months in the role as Associate CD at Clemenger BBDO Sydney, Guy Rooke has been appointed as the agency’s Creative Director, reporting to  ECD Richard Maddocks. Rooke joined Clemenger in January ‘08 after a three year stint at Crispin Porter & Bogusky. Before that he had been a part of Colenso BBDO’s award winning creative department.
"Rookie’s been brilliant. With his CPB experience he’s brought a perspective that’s totally fresh to the agency and our clients. He’s made a huge impact here both in helping shape and direct the work, as well as the culture," says Maddocks.
Rooke’s work here, in the US and NZ has won awards around the world. Late last year he and his team completed the Samedi project, channelling the voodoo spirit of Baron Samedi to help create ads for Frucor’s new energy drink that’s named after him.
"It’s rare to find people of his calibre in the market – who get both the business side of things as well as have an undying passion for the work. Rich and Guy make a formidable team leading our creative product as we move forward," says Clemenger BBDO Sydney MD Andy Pontin.
Rooke says last year was great and is looking to big things in ’09. “It’s all about momentum and staying focused on the positives. Last year was a good year for us on many fronts. Now it’s time to keep building on that. To keep pushing to do things differently. I’m delighted to continue working alongside Rich and play a part in leading that change.”

MRPPP Melbourne has announced the arrival of Ziggy Zigouras as part of their VFX Supervision and compositing team in Flame.
Ziggy’s recent work on ‘Ford Fiesta’ with Fiction Films and JWT, and on ‘ANZ Bloodhound’ with The Guild of Commercial Filmmakers and M&C Saatchi confirms he will be a much sort after member of the MRPPP team.
Ziggy has relocated to Melbourne after eight years at the Moving Picture Company London as their Senior Flame Artist and VFX Supervisor working with high-end TVC's and promos with well known international directors.
Says MRPPP’s Managing Director Andrew Shostak: “We are delighted to have secured somebody with Ziggy’s experience and talent. Ziggy brings a unique style in compositing, online grading, visual effects and creative design experience to the company, as well as having impeccable client skills."

In order to ensure that all agencies have the opportunity to submit their work in the 50th Anniversary CLIO Awards, the organisers have extended the deadline for all eligible entries until Monday, March 2nd. See the Clio website for more details.
This year's Clio Festival has moved from Miami to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Five separate award shows will be held over the three day festival from May 12-14. Jury chairman include Rob Reilly (Crispin Porter + Bogusky), Mark Tutssel (Leo Burnett) and Marcello Serpa (Almap BBDO).

A $17 million Creative Industries Innovation Centre will provide free hands-on assistance
to small and medium businesses in the creative sector to boost their productivity and
realise their potential for wealth and job creation.
The national centre, hosted by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), was launched
today by Innovation Minister, Senator Kim Carr, and Arts Minister, Peter Garrett.
The centre is one of six Innovation Centres funded under the Government's $271 million
Enterprise Connect initiative. Other centres focus on sectors such as clean-energy, mining
and remote enterprises.
"Australia's creative enterprises are among the world's best, but to remain competitive they
must continue to innovate and improve their processes," Senator Carr said.
"Small and medium enterprises in this sector face similar issues to those in other sectors –
they are strong in their creative focus, but sometimes lack the skills required to
successfully run and grow their business. 
"Most cannot afford to pay for external advice to help improve how their business
operates, particularly in these tough financial times. 
"This is where the Creative Industries Innovation Centre comes in. It will give eligible firms
access to a free business review, followed up with matching funding of up to $20,000 to
implement changes identified." 
Mr Garrett said the centre was focused on working in partnership with the creative sector
and businesses could draw on the centre's expertise well after the initial review process.
"This centre will bring together cultural entrepreneurs, practitioners and researchers to
maximise the contribution of Australia’s creative industries to our economy and cultural life. 
Ongoing support will be provided through mentoring, networking opportunities and help
with linking into local and global supply chains," Mr Garrett said.
"This initiative delivers on the Government's election commitments in Fresh Ideas for the
Arts and New Directions for the Arts to establish a centre and to facilitate the development
of creative industries in Australia."
Professor Ross Milbourne, UTS Vice-Chancellor, said the university is delighted to host
the centre.
"Investing in our infrastructure and our creative industries research and academic profiles
has been a priority," Professor Milbourne said.
"We are proud of our achievements and our track record for leading sustained, effective
collaboration with industry, business and the professions."
While the centre is based at UTS' Sydney city campus, it will have a national focus on
industries including design, publishing, writing, architecture, visual arts, television, radio,
advertising, performing arts, music and interactive entertainment. 
Services are provided Australia-wide through UTS' consortium partners, a national
business adviser network and other Enterprise Connect centres.
Each year the centre will provide up to 300 business reviews, 50 incubation services, and
assist 2000 businesses through workshops, seminars and networking opportunities.
Enterprise Connect is a national network of manufacturing and innovation centres offering
practical assistance to help firms become stronger by focusing on innovation, creativity
and excellence. 
To see how your business can benefit from Enterprise Connect, visit
www.enterpriseconnect.gov.au or call the Enterprise Connect hotline on 131 791. 

BWM Sydney has welcomed one of Australia's top direct marketing minds to its already stacked creative team with the appointment of Rob Morrison as Creative Director, Direct Communications. 
He joins BWM's line-up of Executive Creative Director Rob Belgiovane and Associate CD Rocky Ranallo. 
Belgiovane said the appointment would enhance the integration of traditional and digital DM work, with an emphasis on developing strategically sound campaigns: "Rob is the type of guy that creative agencies like BWM dream of attracting. His work has been heavily awarded and he's passionate about bridging the planning/creative divide, which fits perfectly with BWM's Hub model," says Belgiovane. 
In the newly-created role, Morrison will oversee all direct work for BWM clients including GIO, nib, Telstra Business, Next G and BigPond.
Says Morrison: "I'm really excited to be at BWM because their vision of creating truly integrated communications campaigns with a focus on getting results for clients is exactly what a good agency should aspire to do. I know that the true testament to a campaign is its effectiveness in changing people and their behaviour."
Most recently at George Patterson Y&R in Sydney, Morrison has also led DM creative departments for GPY&R Melbourne, Wunderman and The Campaign Palace. 
Morrison was the Australian juryor on the 2005 Cannes Advertising Festival's Direct Lions jury, and has judged the ADMA Awards three times including acting as Chairman of the Creative Jury in 2002. 
He holds a degree in marketing and was one of the creative directors behind the establishment of ADMA's DM Creative School.  

Six Australian companies have won 10 awards in the 2008 Mobius Awards competition in Hollywood, including five First Places.
    Plaza Films, Sydney, won four Mobius Golden Statuettes for 'Birthday Girl' for Thrifty Car Rentals; 'Nod' for Diet Pepsi Max; 'Skydiver' for Malplus; and 'Skytroop' for Carlton Draught. Plaza also won a Second Place Certificate for Outstanding Creativity for 'Skytroop'. All were in Television.
    JWT Sydney captured a First Place Mobius Award in Print for its 'Olympus Binoculars' Campaign. .
    Winning a Second Place Certificate for Outstanding Creativity were Cutting Edge, Brisbane, for 'Holden Ute-Evolution' in Television; Marmalade, Melbourne for 'Snellen Chart Stationery' for Elaine Wong in Logo/Trademark/Corporate Identity; Taxi Film Production, Brisbane, in Television for RAC Insurance 'Building', 'Contents', 'Motor' Campaign; and, TribalDDB Melbourne for 'BFGoodrich LTT Tire' in Online Advertising, the Asian-Pacific launch of the new Long Trail T/A Tour tire.
    Mobius Awards, an international competition, is in its 38th year. It drew entrants from 33 countries and winners represented 20 countries. The competition awarded 105 First Place Mobius Statuettes, 114 Second Place Certificates and four Student Certificates.   
    More information is available at www.mobiusawards.com

If you'd like to access Hollywood's top stars for an ad campaign but aren't sure who to call, a new event called Entertainment Exchange (EEx) could help you make the right contacts.
Entertainment Exchange is a two-day forum that will link film studios and record labels to agencies, marketers, planners, TV producers and brand managers. It takes place at the ivy, Sydney, on 11-12 March 2009.
The event is designed to keep agencies, brand managers and planners informed of upcoming marketing opportunities related to film releases, concert tours, celebrity endorsements and album launches.
More than 18 speakers will present over two days, including;
Eleven A Music Company (Silverchair, The Dissociatives, Missy Higgins, Paul Mac, Little Birdy)
ARIA
Roadshow Pictures
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Paramount Pictures
Walt Disney Studios
Warner Music
In a culture that's celebrity-obsessed, many advertisers enjoy developing integrated campaigns that involve actors, pop stars and musicians. Entertainment Exchange is a networking forum that will introduce agencies to key figures in the Australian entertainment industry and keep them abreast of upcoming opportunities in 2009 and 2010.
"The two day format will provide agencies with the chance to view entertainment partnership opportunities and network with senior entertainment industry professionals," says Mandi Balbi, Marketing Director at EEx.
In 2008, two of the biggest film releases included Baz Luhrman's Australia, which attracted $6 million in sponsorship dollars from brands such as RM Williams and Australian Tourism, and Sex & The City, which was supported by brands such as Diet Coke and LG.
For tickets visit: www.eex.com.au

Three Drunk Monkeys has created a new campaign to promote Unwired’s “No Contract” wireless broadband service.
The campaign springboards off the main benefit of Unwired broadband– that with no contracts or phone lines you can ‘move when you need to’. The campaign is aimed at the youth rental market and uses Outdoor formats, Print, Radio, POS and Digital - including a Facebook group.

UNW052_Adshels.pdf

Client: Unwired
General Manager of Marketing: Geoff Isaac
Brand and Campaign Manager: Linda Mak

Agency: Three Drunk Monkeys
Executive Creative Directors: Justin Drape, Scott Nowell
Creative Director: Noah Regan
Copywriter: Damian Fitzgerald
Art Director: Matt Heck
Print Production: Tom Harrison, Dian McLeod
Group Content Director: Jenny Lipson
Content Manager: Daniel Deutsch

Photographer: Simon Harsent

Former Fallon London creative Tim Haynes has moved down under and joined Sydney creative independent Happy Soldiers.
“Tim has been in a good environment for the last few years, that rubs off on a person," said Happy Soldiers' John Kane.
"He can direct, design, write and think differently, that’s what we're looking for, interesting people who want to do interesting things.”
“Happy Soldiers appealed to me because of their work, their independence, and the fact they're a good bunch of people,” said Haynes.
This is the first hire Happy Soldiers have made this year and they expect to be making more. “We’ve decided not to take part in this recession thing.
We can easily adapt and as a result are getting busier," says Kane.

If a politician has broken your heart with their broken promises, Valentine's Day is the perfect time to let them know how you feel.
Thanks to Bastardwatch, you can create an Unhappy Valentine’s Day eCard and email it anonymously to the backflipping pollie.
Don't take it any more. Let them know the honeymoon is over.   
www.bastardwatch.com.au/unhappy_valentine

Agency: Euro, Sydney
ECD: Rowan Dean
Writer: Genevieve Hoey
Art Director: Janine Poon
Flash Developer: Robert Muller
Account Management: Sharman Walker 

Love Communications, Sydney has collaborated with Film Construction director, Maia Horniak on its latest campaign for Animal Liberation.
The campaign, a parody of traditional category advertising, cleverly combines sugary sweet images with confronting audio. The resulting commercials are examples of powerful communication that leave viewers questioning their beliefs and ultimately their choices.
The concept creator, Andrew Cox of Love explains; “Supermarkets and modern packaged food tend to insulate consumers from the reality of factory farming. These commercials attempt to connect the consumer at the point of purchase and point of consumption with the real life consequences of using cage eggs.”
Director, Maia Horniak explains the process, “Love came up with a very smart and subversive campaign and I was thrilled to work with them. We didn’t want to shock audiences like with past campaigns, instead we wanted to lure them in with familiarity. To realise the agencies ideas I had to walk the fine line between sincerity, parody and irony with the performances, overall style and tone.”
To view the commercials, click here or here

CREDITS:
Agency: Love Communications, Sydney
ECD: Shaun Branagan
CD: Scot Waterhouse
Copywriter: Andrew Cox
Art Director: Dane Robilliard
Agency Producer: David Steindl
Director: Maia Horniak
Producer: Sally Power
Executive Producer: Roy De Giorgio
Production Company: Film Construction

The Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) is hosting a national TVC forum to highlight the major challenges and opportunities affecting the sector. Aimed at creatives, content producers & directors, as well as agency producers, the national forum will be held in Sydney on February 24, and will feature national industry leaders.
Moderated by Campaign Brief associate editor Heather Jacobs, the session titled “Heads of TV Top 3” will be a unique opportunity to hear four Heads of TV from leading agencies talk candidly about the biggest issues facing agencies today and what they want from production companies. Speakers are Corey Esse (Regional Head of TV, Publicis Mojo), Romanca Jasinski (Head of TV Production, George Patterson Y&R Melbourne), Denise McKeon (Senior TV Producer, Clemenger BBDO) and Adrian Shapiro (Executive Producer, Leo Burnett Australia).  The second session will focus on the trend towards branded entertainment and how to succeed in this growing market. Television network and agency pioneers will discuss success stories, the future of the model as well as give insights for agency producers.
"SPAA is undergoing a period of growth and re-engerisation of the TVC sector. It is reaching out to develop a stronger dialogue across the broader industry and the forum is part of this.” stated Carolyn Starkey, SPAA TVC Council Member. “In addition to providing guidelines for crew and talent, OH&S support and a significantly reduced insurance package, SPAA, through its lobbying, gives the TVC sector a voice at the state and federal government levels and with major stakeholders in the advertising sector.”

Time:  4pm – 6pm followed by drinks from 6pm – 7pm
Date:  Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Venue:  Events NSW, Level 5, 80 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney
Cost:  $66 SPAA members, $154 non-members
Bookings:  www.spaa.org.au  
Further info: jo@spaa.org.au  
Ph: 02 9360 8988

AWARD School, Australasia’s foremost creative course, has now released its accepted applicants across Australia online at www.awardschoolonline.com.
Top creatives from leading agencies across Australia came together last week to judge over 690 applications submitted for the 2009 intake of News Limited AWARD School Australia. Although there were an increased number of applications, News Limited AWARD School has only accepted 180 students across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart.
"Thank you again to the judges who gave their time to pick this year's News Limited AWARD School intake. The standard of entries was impressive and with a reduced number of places now available in the course, the competition was very close, so congratulations to all the successful applicants. We are looking forward to another very exciting year," says Paul Bruce and Rebecca Carrasco, News Limited AWARD School Heads 2009.
Led by AWARD Committee Executives, and supported by major sponsor News Limited, AWARD School offers an amazing opportunity for budding advertising art directors and copywriters learning from the industry’s finest.
 
Diary dates
•    AWARD School Sydney start and finish dates:
Thursday, 12th March - Thursday 2nd July 2009
•    Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Adelaide start and finish dates:
Thursday 6th April – Thursday, 23rd July 2009

News Limited is the major sponsor of AWARD School and recognises that creativity today is essential to the communication process. Sponsorship of the AWARD School is built upon a commitment to nurture courage and foresight in creativity, by challenging the thinking of tomorrow’s creatives.
To register your interest and for further information please visit www.awardschoolonline.com or contact Hannah Morden at AWARD on +61 2 9699 2999. Or email hannah@awardonline.com
 

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SBS, via agency US, Sydney has launched a new trade press campaign targeting marketers. ‘Avoid the Clutter’ illustrates how clutter is burning advertisers’ marketing budgets and reinforces awareness that SBS has the shortest advertising breaks on television.
The first of two executions, ‘Pleasure Max’, will launch this week.  The copy reads:  “Avoid the clutter. Don’t let your brand get mixed up with all the others.  Our commercial breaks are shorter than any other network’s, so you get 83% better recall and an audience that’s 45% more engaged.  Advertise with SBS and let your brand stand out from the rest.”
Over the next few weeks, an additional, equally entertaining execution will be revealed that communicates the advantages of SBS’s powerful, low clutter advertising environment.
SBS Director of Commercial Affairs, Richard Finlayson, said: “To reinforce the fact that SBS is the best place for advertisers tell their stories, we need to tell our own story in a manner really cuts through.  
“I congratulate the SBS sales communications team and our creative agency, US, for this humorous and impactful campaign.”
SBS launched its Really Short Breaks brand in September 2008, with creative executions that employed optical illusions to communicate the concept that ‘things look bigger in a small space’. 
The campaign launched in advertising trade media and was extended for use in SBS sales presentations, sales reels, events and communications during the campaign period.  A new Really Short breaks logo was also developed, in both print and electronic formats.
‘Avoid the Clutter’ will have similar extensions, as well as collateral based on the images.
 
Agency: US, Sydney
Art Director: Adrian Ely
Copywriter: Nigel Clark

Sydney post production company FSM has scored a remarkable tally in the 2009 Tropfest short film awards, with credits on four of the 16 finalist films.
FSM’s in-house editor, Duane Fogwell, has written, produced and directed one of the finalist entries, NYE.  
Fogwell won Tropfest Best Editor in 2007 and has been short listed in the final 16 twice within the last three years.
In addition to NYE, FSM worked on post production for three other finalists: The News, Being Carl Williams and Beyond Words.
FSM Managing Director, Rick Schweikert said it was always exciting to work with leading-edge short film makers in the world’s largest short film awards: “We are particularly proud of Duane – this is an ambitious film as it was directed, produced and edited in only 10 days with a budget of $20. The results are amazing and are a credit to Duane and his team,” said Schweikert.

A prize with a twist is up for grabs for the creative team producing the best outdoor advertising campaign in Australia - $10,000 instant scratchie lotto tickets and a golden pigeon. Entries are now open - and free - for the inaugural Outdoor Awards which will showcase the best outdoor creative that has run between 1 January 2008 and 30 April 2009 (when entries close).

Seven of the world’s leading creative talents will make the final call across 11 categories, in addition to choosing the ultimate prize winner.  Jonathan Kneebone (The Glue Society and non-voting chairman, Sydney), John Merrifield (TBWA, Asia Pacific), Carlos Baya (Madre, Buenos), Kitti Chaiyaporn (Publicis, Thailand), Ewan Paterson (CHI&Partners, London), Leo Premutico (Johannes Leon-ardo, New York) and Joe Staples (Wieden+Kennedy, Portland) will seek out three finalists per category, and a best of show. These will be announced in late May/early June, just prior to Cannes.
Michael Simons, now ECD at DraftFCB’s New York office, provided early input into the planning of the Australian Outdoor Awards. 
The Outdoor Media Association’s Helen Willoughby said the aim of the Awards was to showcase the impact of good creative: “We thought it best to start with our own campaign by revealing the $10,000 prize on a 12 metre by 6 metre billboard on Parramatta Road in Sydney, guarded 24 hours a day by security, and passed by 100,000 cars a day.
“It will take the winning team up to 20 days of scratching – working on one ticket per minute over an 8-hour day – to see if they have won significantly more than the prize’s value. That’s the catch.” 
Prior to the billboard, a mobile truck was driven 10,000km across Australia’s most beautiful, and often most barren territory to spread the word that the Outdoor Awards were coming. 
Now they are here, creatives can find all the entry details at: www.outdoorawards.com.au

UPDATE: The Works are donating $1000 to the Red Cross to help the victims of Australia’s worst bushfires.
They have set up an account - details below.
The aim: to raise $100,000.
Please donate today to Victoria Bushfire Victims appeal.
Bank: Westpac
Acct Name: Victoria Bushfire Victims appeal
BSB: 032191 Acct No: 314622

Call Rebecca Day on 02 94594500 at The Works for more information.

CB EXCLUSIVE - Dave Joubert and Piet Human have been tapped as joint creative directors of GPY&R Brisbane, replacing Tim Green who is returning to Sydney for personal reasons.
“In the last 2.5 years we have successfully merged two agencies, almost doubled revenue and strengthened all our major client relationships. Tim has been an integral part of our success, in fact it would have been very hard to do it without him”, says GPY&R managing director, Phil McDonald.
“In Piet and Dave we have found two very worthy successors. They are both well awarded and have big brand experience, and they are incredibly hungry to do more. Both these guys have already had a very positive impact on the agency and the work for our clients. They have been charged with making a major step change in the quality of our creative and I’m very confident they will do just that, and quickly."
Joubert joined the agency five months ago from group head at TBWA/Hunt Lascaris in South Africa. Human recently transferred from Leo Burnett Singapore where he was head of copy and creative director.
“Regardless of what’s happening in the marketplace, solid ideas still inspire the kind of work that win clients and sell products. And that’s where we’ll focus our efforts. We look forward to adding our bits to GPY&R’s already strong digital and strategic offering. And who knows, perhaps having a little fun along the way, ” says Human.
“We’re also looking at making another senior creative hire in the next month or so and are speaking to people now."

CB EXCLUSIVE - Adam Hunt has been appointed creative director of The Foundry, Sydney, effective March 2, following the departure of founding creative partner Ian Brown last week.
Brown told CB the agency was not going in the direction he had in mind, and is currently taking a break before announcing his next move. Brown made his creative rep in New Zealand at Ogilvy and Colenso, before joining Ogilvy in Sydney (just prior to becoming SO&M). He briefly worked at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland before venturing into the world of retail, co founding The Foundry in March 2006.
Says The Foundry Managing Director Simon Burrett: “We’ve been steadily improving our Sydney offer with great new premises and some fantastic new people, and Adam is really a very exciting part of these plan. Adam’s a Cannes Gold Lion winner with extensive global experience - a highly respected industry maverick. He’ll team up with GM and Strategist Jeanan Yasseen to create a formidable force in the Sydney market.  We’re very excited about where this can go.”
Hunt’s impressive list of career awards includes two Cannes Gold Lions, A Grand Prix at Eurobest, Gold at London International, Silver Pencil Nomination at D&AD, and work in the Permanent Collection of MOMA in New York.
Hunt has worked with the world’s biggest brands including Nike, British Airways, Guinness, Proctor & Gamble, Hewlett Packard, Samsung, MTV, and he was a Creative Director on the team that delivered the acclaimed BigPond ‘Rabbits’ ad at BWM. 
Hunt’s career has traversed London, New York and Amsterdam, but this role sees him back in Sydney for the long term.  Says Hunt: “I’ve seen scary stuff happen when multinationals catch colds,” said Adam, “which is why I really love an independent agency. At The Foundry we can observe, listen and respond immediately to the immense challenges surrounding us. 
"I’m very happy with Simon’s straight-up manner, and Jeanan’s immaculate brand and agency pedigree. She has great strategic insight and I see enormous potential in the clients we have.”
Hunt’s passion for media-neutral communication has seen him write, design, photograph and illustrate a book published by Random House – as well as create highly successful ambient and viral ads for Amnesty International, Kevin 07 and his online T-Shirt company Goatboy.
“I love ideas that make people smile, because the more they like you, the more they’re going to buy from you”, says Hunt, “which makes me terribly serious about making people laugh”. 
His appointment comes on top of several strategic hires in the last quarter of 2008, and grows The Foundry’s Sydney team to 20.
 
 

Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA), via Whybin\TBWA, Sydney today launched a confronting national advertising campaign aimed at highlighting the devastating long-term impacts of child abuse on well over 2 million adult survivors and a further 8 million plus Australian community members.
It is the first national television, print and radio campaign to address the topic of adults surviving child abuse.  Intentionally provocative, the emotionally-charged advertisements include a wedding speech in which the Father of the Bride jokes about sexually abusing his daughter, a birthday party where a daughter reminisces about her 80 year old mother’s emotional abuse, and an award night acceptance speech at which a Rugby player refers to his father as “the basher”.  In one of four print ads (see below) , a young man wears a t-shirt which reads: “My uncle raped me when I was 8 and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.”  Whilst the scenes convey a satirical theme of jocularity, the tagline at the end of advertisements conveys the sober message: “If only it was this easy to get over child abuse.”
Garry Horner, Executive Creative Director, Whybin TBWA Tequila said: ''What happens to victims of child abuse once they have grown up? For them, the problem has never gone away, but for some reason, society seems to think that as an adult, those survivors should be able to cope. This campaign recognises that whist we can't change their past, ASCA can help change their future. It uses humour to disarm the viewer at the same time delivering an extraordinarily strong and confronting message. Hopefully it will result in a greater understanding of the problems that those survivors face and more importantly what we can all do to help them.''

VIEW THE 'WEDDING' SPOT

Agency: Whybin\TBWA, Sydney
ECD: Garry Horner
CD: Matt Kemsley
Copywriter: Steve Dodds
Art Director: Dave Lidster
Agency Producer: Sean Ascroft
Director: Tony Sherwood
Producer: Pip Shuttleworth
Production Company: tonysherwood.com

Photographer: Derek Henderson
Illustrator: Ben Godfrey

Last chance to enter the 2009 New York Festivals International Advertising Awards.
Click to request an extension.
Over 250 Grand Jury members from 5 continents.

Leo Burnett Sydney will soon be launching a new campaign to promote Earth Hour 2009. While the campaign has not officially launched, it appeared on the cover of the Sydney Morning Herald this morning, after finding it’s way online yesterday.
The campaign will hold the world’s first global election, between the candidates of Earth, and global warming. In the lead up to Earth Hour, people of the world will be urged to ‘VOTE EARTH’, by using their light switch as their vote. Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, while leaving them on is a vote for global warming, transforming Earth Hour into a worldwide election night.
Last year in 2008, 50 million people took part in Earth Hour by switching off their lights. With 2009 being the third year of Earth Hour, Leo Burnett wanted to re-invigorate the brand, and generate a level of involvement far exceeding previous years.
“Their task was huge, to reinvent an already famous idea. To say I am proud of what they did would be an understatement. ‘VOTE EARTH’ is a powerful idea that can really make a difference leading to the Copenhagen Summit. It’s amazing to think this will be the world’s first global vote.” says Todd Sampson, CEO, Leo Burnett.
The target set by WWF and Leo Burnett this year is to get 1 billion people around the world to switch off their lights. The enormity of this target needs an equally big idea. Says creative team behind ‘VOTE EARTH’, Michael Canning and Kieran Antil: “1 billion people is a lot of people. To reach this target we need an idea that really changes people’s perception of energy conservation. By turning the issue of climate change into an election between Earth and global warming, it makes the problem very direct for the individual, in the sense that we all have a vote, and every vote counts”.
To achieve the level of global scale which this election deserves, Leo Burnett decided that Shepard Fairey, the artist who created the iconic ‘Hope’, ‘Change’ and ‘Progress’ posters of Barack Obama in the recent US Presidential election, was the only choice to create the artwork for the ‘VOTE EARTH’ campaign. Working with Curious Films, the artwork will be featured in a global integrated campaign, including a TVC going to air in over 74 countries.  
Says Pete Grasse, executive producer of Curious Films: “When the guys first approached Curious with the opportunity of producing this year’s Earth Hour campaign it was a chance we had to jump at. Being environmentally responsible is a core value for us as a company so it was an easy decision. The first challenge we faced was getting Shepard Fairey involved. The guys were adamant he create the artwork. Being no small feat on the heels of Shepard’s Obama election poster, I was thrilled when I was able to deliver. This project has grown considerably since that time and I am really proud of the work still to come.”
WWF are taking the results of the ‘VOTE EARTH’ campaign to the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen 2009, which will be submitted as a united statement by the people of the world against global warming. This meeting will urge governments around the world to adopt official policies to take action against global warming, and will supersede the Kyoto Protocol.
Says Andy DiLallo, co ECD of Leo Burnett, Sydney: “To give the Earth Hour brand enough momentum to get 1 billion people involved this year, we needed to build the brand and give it a new dimension. ‘Vote Earth’ will be extremely powerful in getting the world to take action against global warming, not just for Earth Hour but at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and also as an ongoing mantra for people in their everyday energy consumption.”
 
Adds co ECD Jay Benjamin: “This is the first time in history that any person of any nationality, race, gender or age will get the chance to come together and tell the leaders of the world just how they feel. ‘VOTE EARTH’ is a campaign of the people with the power to unite the world and take Earth Hour to the next level. Action. Human action against the world’s biggest problem.”

Luscious International’s Sam Bryant is the only Australian director selected for ADFEST’s 2009 Fabulous Four. Sam’s film 'GPS' was picked from a multitude of entries from around the Asia-Pacific region. He now has three weeks to make his film, which will premiere at ADFEST at Pattaya Beach, Thailand on 19-21 March.
After screening his film to the region’s top creatives, Sam will go on to compete at the Young Directors Award in Europe.
For more information or to request a copy of his reel contact Alex Hay at Luscious International on talk2us@luscious.com.au or call (+61) 2 9326 3400.

Melbourne digital agency Citrus is set to ramp up its creative expertise following the appointment of Melissa Peters to the newly created position of Associate Creative Director.
Peters has 10 years experience at leading Melbourne and international advertising agencies and is a specialist through-the-line creative. She joins Citrus from Clemenger Harvie Edge where she was senior copywriter for three years.
While at CHE she developed CPA’s recent think+create campaign which included extensive TVC, outdoor, print and digital executions.  Think+create has become the Association’s business philosophy and is currently being rolled out globally.  Peters also created the ‘Language of Style’ campaign for the launch of the new look Mazda 3, which featured an Australian first takeover of street media magazine, Stu, designed to speak directly to young female influencers.
Prior to CHE, Peters was a creative consultant at ThruTheLine where she was responsible for the Moosehead Hair campaign. She has also been a copywriter at George Patterson, Y&R, DDB Melbourne and Mojo/Publicis Dialog, executing creative campaigns for brands including Nestle Peters, Kraft Vegemite, NAB, HP and Shell Mastercard. Peters has also had international experience, working as a creative consultant for Bates Vietnam, where she launched the country’s first pre-paid mobile card for telco MobiFone.
Peters was a finalist at Cannes and the Caples last year for the Mazda3 campaign, and has previously won MADC and ADMA awards for her integrated campaigns.
Peters will work across all of Citrus’ flagship clients including Sportsgirl, Borders, Crown, Victoria Racing Club and Transurban.
Says Peter Noble, CEO of Citrus: “Melissa’s pedigree is formidable and she brings a whole new creative dimension that will add value to every aspect of our business. Her ability to think creatively across all mediums means we can offer clients a strategic branding capability that enhances our experience model even further. We’re looking to build a creative team around her to deliver powerful creative thinking across all of our digital campaigns."
Adds Peters: “Digital is where the industry is going, and as a leading digital marketing agency I’m thrilled to be on board with Citrus. I want to be on the cutting edge creatively and Citrus is definitely the best fit for that.”

Inspired by the current erratic Connex train issues facing Melbournians, McCallum Advertising has created a topical press ad highlighting the need to start riding a bike to work.  Bike Hub, by Pacific Brands, ran the ad in Melbourne's MX magazine capturing the train commuter market.

Campaign: Ride a bike
Client: Pacific Brands
Agency: McCallum, Melbourne
Copywriter: David Gullotti
Art Director: David Gullotti
Integrated Communications Director: Marettee Tuck

The entry deadline for the 2009 One Show has been extended. You have an extra week to submit your work.
Entries must be received by: February 13th, 2009
http://www.enteroneshow.org

Entries entered into the online system after February 6th will be subject to a $10 per entry late fee.
Entries must reach the One Club no later than February 13th. 

Freedom has today confirmed that M&C Saatchi has been appointed to handle the digital marketing and advertising for the Freedom brand from August this year, replacing The Foundry, which has held the business for the last three years.  
Freedom narrowed the selection down to three contending agencies; BMF, DDB and M&C Saatchi. After a two month pitch process the much anticipated final decision was announced. M&C Saatchi’s work with Freedom will officially commence 2 March, 2009.
“Freedom is very much looking forward to the excitement of a fresh start and new beginning working with our new partners at M&C Saatchi. The decision was a difficult one and all of the finalists were strong and creative agencies.
We are confident that our detailed review process has brought us to the ideal candidate to handle our advertising and we are looking forward to a partnership with M&C that will be successful and productive," said Simon Sproule, Head of Marketing for Freedom in Australia and NZ.
Srouple said the main qualities for selecting a new agency were excellent strategic insights and thinking, a strong cultural fit with the Freedom team, thought-provoking ideas balanced with a retail perspective.
After nearly three years with incumbent agency, The Foundry, the decision to go in another direction was not an easy one: “We have had an excellent relationship with The Foundry over the past three years and they have made a significant contribution to the brand during that period,” said Sproule.
 

An ad campaign promoting the need to trade through the economic crisis and advertise on radio, will begin next week, as part of the commercial radio industry’s ongoing multi-million dollar brand campaign.
The three-part campaign, called “Radio Advertising, Economically Sound” features comedian, Mark Mitchell, and uses humour to highlight why radio advertising is economically sound in tough economic times.
Chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner says the industry is aware that ad budgets are often cut when overall budgets are tight, so the ads have been developed to counteract that way of thinking: “The ads highlight that people are still buying things, eating out and going to the movies -  and that radio is a cost-effective advertising medium that can be highly targeted with a strong call to action, and so is a good choice in tough economic times,” Ms Warner said.
“Research also shows some good reasons and strategic advantages to continue to advertise in tough economic times:  there is less clutter in traditional markets, and success breeds success, so continuing with brand advertising will make a product stand out.”
The ads, on-air nationally from next Monday (Monday February 9), were written by the award winning radio specialist agency, Eardrum. The first stage includes advertiser endorsements – and allows individual stations to feature regular advertisers. The ads also promote a free guide to Economically Sound Advertising, research and support material about advertising on radio, available to download from the Commercial Radio Australia website.
Eardrum Creative Director, Ralph van Dijk, said that the next stages of the campaign will include consumers and industry commentators talking about the economic climate and its effects.
"Our central idea is to use the other advertisers in the break as an endorsement for radio. We introduce or back announce the adjacent ad and highlight the fact that these advertisers are doing the right thing. We then take Mark (That radio Bloke) out on the street to gauge the economic climate for himself. Naturally the campaign focuses on radio, but it promotes advertising through a downturn, in general".
The ads are the latest for the radio industry in its ongoing multi-million dollar radio brand campaign, which was first launched in June 2003. Previous ads have included the world’s funniest man, John Cleese, as well as spots highlighting the effectiveness of combining radio advertising with television as well as targeting niche markets. The most recent campaign highlighted radio’s ability to work with online with research showing that over 80 per cent of people who hear a radio commercial have visited that website as a result.


PLAY THE ENDORSEMENT SPOT
PLAY THE APOLOGY SPOT

The BBC's Stephen Sackur interrogates the CEO of WPP, Sir Martin Sorrell.....
View the video

With The Gruen Transfer gearing up to return to our screens, producers of the show are calling for agencies to take part in The Pitch, the segment of the show in which competing agencies undertake an impossible brief.
“The Pitch became one of the most popular parts of last year’s show,” says Andrew Denton (pictured with AWARD chairman Richard Maddocks and his producer Jon Casimir last year), whose Zapruder’s Other Films company has started work on the second series for ABC-TV.
“The quality of work from the agencies happily exceeded our expectations from the very first episode. Even more importantly, most of the ads fulfilled the promise of the segment, taking the challenge of persuading us seriously.”
Denton says The Pitch is a chance for brilliant minds to shine: “We want to show the problem-solving nature of advertising. We want the television audience to realise that a good ad can change minds, even on an apparently unmovable idea.”
Agencies compete in each episode for the coveted Gruen trophy.
“Gruen scientists have calculated its relative value,” Denton says. “One Gruen trophy is worth 1.83 Cannes Lions, 2.6 Clios and 900 Logies.”
The Gruen team has already locked in more than half of the agencies for the second series, but there are still some opportunities for creatives who think they have what it takes.. If you’d like to nominate your agency for the challenge, contact Pitch producer Polly Connolly on 02 9217 2226 or pconnolly@zapruder.com.au

Locking the economic downturn by the horns, Australia’s newest production company, Cream opens its doors this week.
“It’s a fabulous opportunity to be fresh and invigorate an economic slump with something new. What have we got to lose?” says Cream EP, Adam Wells: “We’re offering something up that might just help top creative agencies to produce great work for some potentially very nervous clients.”
Concentrating on a lean and focused boutique production service, Cream represents some of Australia and North America’s finest directors including Cannes Lion winning Richard D’Alessio, Marcus Hamill, Philip Kates, Luke Eve, motion design marvel Marcelle Lunam, Dena Ashbolt and feature film director and feature comedy director Darren Ashton.
With international affiliates and offices in Sydney and Melbourne, Wells says Cream is offering, agencies and clients alike, a realistic opportunity to spring from gloomy forecasts into creative action: "We’re also confident of a couple of big announcements in the weeks to come. We’re a director based production company, without the baggage of expensive camera gear, editing equipment and software.  We have ridiculously experienced people which will allow us to work more effectively for our clients across all new media. Maybe we’re facing an economic Goliath... but I’m bloody good with a sling-shot,” said Wells.
Check them out at: www.creamfilm.tv

BMF Sydney has hired Simon McMaster as General Manager Digital, to work alongside Digital Creative Director, Chris James and Digital Planning Director, Aaron Michie, as the specialist leaders for Digital within BMF’s converged agency model.
McMaster, previously at Tequila in London for eight years as Director of Digital, set up their Digital department in 2000 and grew this to a significant offering within the agency and Tequila network.
BMF’s Digital specialist team now numbers 30, and the agency was recently runner up and highly commended in the 2008 B&T Interactive Agency of The Year Awards.
Comments Warren Brown: “We have a simple philosophy at BMF – you need to get it right at strategy, creative idea, and delivery.  Simon’s background and skills will ensure we have the highest standards of delivery in the digital area, and with the three leaders we have now, we have a formidable digital team.”
Photo – left to right: Aaron Michie, Chris James, Simon McMaster

On behalf of Queensland Health, 303 Group, Perth revs up the fourth phase of the award winning ‘Go for 2&5®’ nutrition campaign (eat two fruit and five vegetables daily) and has tapped Australian icon Rolf Harris to star as the leading vegie character, based on the theme ‘Top up to 2&5®.’
Following in the footsteps of Barrie Humphries’ Dame Edna, Rolf’s vegie character features sprouty hair, capsicum glasses, cauliflower beard and grapefruit ears. Ever the artist, his palette is a pumpkin, the colours tomato, asparagus and onion, and the ‘brush’ is celery. Rolf’s paintings feature a cornucopia of fruit and veg as he encourages all Queenslanders to add just a few more fruit and vegies to their diet every day.
303’s Managing Director Alan Taylor, who has been responsible for the campaign strategy since its inception, says that this is a very important evolution of the campaign in QLD: “We’ve seen significant gains in fruit and vegetable consumption over the last 3 years, but extra reinforcement if required. People need to understand that, while they have done well, they need to eat the full two serves of fruit and five serves of vegies every day in order to reap the full health benefits.”
Amanda Lee, Nutrition and Physical Activity Manager, Queensland Health, enthusiastically supports the campaign. “It’s been demonstrated that more fruit and vegetables eaten daily can help reduce diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers, plus they can help maintain a healthy weight. It’s important to add that extra serve and top up to 2&5.  We are looking forward to the public’s reaction to the new ‘Vegie Rolf’ commercials.”
Also for Queensland Health, the agency created a new and unique campaign targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander audiences.
303 tapped Australian Opals basketball star and Beijing Olympic Silver medallist Rohanee Cox to spearhead the campaign. The campaign was widely researched amongst the target audiences, with Rohanee resonating strongly as a credible spokesperson.
The campaign aims to raise awareness amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the need to eat more fruit and vegetables, whether fresh, tinned or frozen, and further educate as to the health benefits of a diet high in fruit and veg.


VIEW THE ROLF HARRIS SPOT
Creative Director: Lindsay Medalia
Writer: Dav Tabeshfar
Strategy: Alan Taylor
Agency Producers: Phoebe Dunn and Belinda Hawkins
Animator: Neil Goodridge – BOING
Audio Director: Ralph van Dijk - Eardrum
Sound sweetening: Brad Habib - Soundbyte
Voice over: Rolf Harris
Client: Amanda Lee, Angela Simons – Queensland Health

THE ROHANEE SPOT
Creative Director: Lindsay Medalia
Art Director: Ray Van Kempen
Writer: Dave Wilson
Producer: Phoebe Dunn
Photographer: Adrian Brown (Look Production)
TVC Writer and Director (Imparja Television): Carl Richardson
Audio Production: Brad Habib (Soundbyte)
Voice Over: Rohanee Cox

A massive billboard on Parramatta Road, Sydney featuring 10,000 $1 scratchies has just been unveiled by The Outdoor Awards – the winner taking all as first prize for the Best Outdoor advertisement or campaign of the year.
The 12 metre by 3 metre billboard has had to be especially built and took 4 days to attach the 10,000 instant scratchies. Each day almost 100,000 cars will pass the billboard, which will be guarded 24 hours a day to protect the prize. 
The prize could be worth significantly more than the $10,000 to the winner, with each scratchie potentially a $20,000 winner. The winner is set for a time consuming task and some serious RSI - to scratch the 10,000 scratchies would take 20 days if they scratched one a minute for 8 hours per day!
Helen Willoughby, of the Outdoor Media Association says: “Outdoor advertising at its best is truly an event which draws an audience. We wanted our first prize to create a similar buzz.”
The massive billboard – featuring the Outdoor Awards’ golden pigeon logo made from the scratchies - directs people to the Outdoor Awards website which provides entry information across a number of categories – as well as imagery of the billboard itself.
The ultimate deadline for entries will be the end of April – but the prize has been announced now to allow creative teams the chance to have their latest work appear and become eligible.
In addition to the financial first prize, winners will receive a Golden Pigeon statue. The awards are free to enter – and cover categories from financial to travel.
Helen Willoughby continues: “To launch the Outdoor Awards without creating an exciting and original outdoor campaign of our own would be a missed opportunity.  We started by driving a billboard truck around Australia – and now we have unveiled our first prize.
“We have also taken the opportunity to assemble a hugely inspiring international jury to judge the first prize – so that there is real objectivity in selecting the year’s best ad.” 

Campaign Brief has launched an interactive online version of the magazine that allows super fast access to current and archive issues. You can search throughout the archives for the name of a person or company and you can print any page. Clicking on any of the ads in the magazine will link to the web address of the advertiser, and you can view any of the commercials featured in the Creative Circle (and some other sections) in each issue by clicking on the images on the page. Eventually, the archive will grow to include all issues from the last few years, and we will be adding CB Asia soon as well as all The Work annuals. An amazing resource included with your subscription to CB.
Whether you are a subscriber or not, please register your details to access Campaign Brief Online and to receive your password.  Even if you are not a subscriber, once registered you can still use the site straight away and will be billed the annual subscription.
KEY FEATURES:
TURN PAGES by clicking the arrows at the side of the page, or by using the toolbar.
ZOOM IN by clicking anywhere on the page.
READ by dragging the page around when zoomed in.
ZOOM OUT by clicking anywhere on the page when zoomed in.
VISIT web sites or send emails by clicking on hyperlinks.
EMAIL any page to a friend or PRINT pages.
VIEW COMMERCIALS by clicking on images in the Australian and NZ Creative Circle sections.

Veet’s ‘Goodbye Bush’, created by Euro RSCG in Sydney, is the New Zealand NAB’s January Newspaper Ad of the Month winner. The same ad is currently best of the Top 6 of the Week on www.bestadsontv.com.
"A funny and relevant newspaper ad that had everyone laughing," agreed Auckland judges Bridget Taylor, CD of DDB, Dave King, CD of AIM Proximity and Daniel Barnes, partner at Barnes, Catmur & Friends.
 
Agency: EURO RSCG Sydney
ECD: Rowan Dean
Art Director: Patrycja Lukjanow
Copywriter: John Gault
 
Runners up were two more great topical ads - Burger King created by Y&R and Guthrie Bowron created by M&C Saatchi.  There was no December winner.  
The winning creative team will receive $250 cash. The ad will also appear in the “What’s New” section of February AdMedia.  
There are just four more opportunities to win Ad of the Month and gain automatic entry into the Newspaper Ad of Year 08/09 and the chance to win its $10,000 cash prize.
To view all the finalists at www.nabs.co.nz (Inspiration/Ad of Month).

The legendary Jeff Goodby, Co-Chairman, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, will be providing the CB Blog with exclusive diary installments from Final Judging of The ANDY Awards in Mexico the week of Feb 16th.
Goodby will be providing for us two diaries -- one mid-week and one at the conclusion of judging. The first will appear here on Thursday Feb 19th and the second on Sunday Feb 22nd. (In the event he feels there are comments/observations he wants to record with more frequency, it’s possible we might get an additional installment along the way).
Campaign Brief, Campaign Brief Asia and Bestads are international media partners of the ANDY Awards, which undoubtedly has the world's hottest jury, chaired by Mark Waites, creative partner of Mother.

Got nothing much on this morning? Here are all the Superbowl commercials, courtesy of AdAge.... and a similar list at Adweek.

CB EXCLUSIVE - Bram Williams, head of strategy at Saatchi & Saatchi Australia, is leaving the agency at the end of February, heading for a career in the music business, as head of content at XYZ Networks, the home of Channel V, Max and The Country Music Channel.
His impending departure comes hot on the heels of the departure of Simone Bartley last week. A worldwide search for his replacement is currently under way.
Williams was head of strategy on Toyota for 18 months prior to being promoted in October 2007, replacing Sudeep Gohil, following the latter's decision to join former Saatchi ECD David Nobay at Droga 5.
Prior to Saatchi's, Williams was strategic planning director at Euro RSCG, Sydney. He started his career close to the music business, at Triple J as a writer and part time presenter.

CB EXCLUSIVE - Cameron Hoelter has been named creative director of The Campaign Palace Sydney, filling the void left by the departure late last year of joint CDs Georgia Arnott and Jon Burden to start-up shop, Banjo.
Hoelter joins from Clemenger Melbourne where he has spent the past four years as a CD. His 15 years in the business also includes stints at agencies in Sydney and Hobart.
During his career Hoelter has worked across a portfolio of Australia’s most famous brands, including Pure Blonde, Sorbent, Libra, Twisties, Nicorette, Mercedes-Benz, Just Jeans, and Hahn Premium Light.
He has been a jury member of various award local and international award shows, including Adfest Asia and Chairman of the film and television jury at AWARD, and has won various national and international awards including
Cannes Lions, D&AD, Adfest Asia, New York Festivals and AWARD.
The Campaign Palace national CEO Jacques Burger said that Hoelter would bring a re-energised focus to the Sydney creative department: “Cameron is a perfect fit for the Palace – he has great creative and strategic skills and will enhance our delivery of award winning channel neutral creative thinking."

CB EXCLUSIVE - Awarded art director Michael O'Rourke, a long time creative at DDB Sydney, has moved across the Tasman to join Aim Proximity, Auckland as art director, working with creative director, Dave King.
O'Rourke spent a decade at DDB Sydney before being departing in February 2007. Later that year he landed at McCanns Sydney, teaming with Jonny Browne. After that, O'Rourke had a brief stint at Jack Watts Currie, Sydney as creative director.
O'Rourke's gong collection includes three acceptances at D&AD, two Silver and three Bronze Pencils at AWARD, two Caxtons and one ATV Award.

Entrant companies can now submit work to compete at the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in all categories - Film, Press, Outdoor, Direct, Media, Cyber, Radio, Promo, Design, Titanium, Integrated and the new PR Lions category.
Entry forms can be completed online at www.canneslions.com
Deadlines:
o    Film Lions Entries: 6 March 2009
o    Press Lions Entries: 6 March 2009
o    Outdoor Lions Entries: 6 March 2009
o    Design Lions Entries: 13 March 2009
o    Direct Lions Entries: 13 March 2009
o    Media Lions Entries: 13 March 2009
o    PR Lions Entries: 13 March 2009
o    Promo Lions Entries: 13 March 2009
o    Radio Lions Entries: 13 March 2009
o    Cyber Lions Entries: 20 March 2009
o    Titanium and Integrated Lions Entries: 20 March 2009

NEW IN 2009
New category: PR Lions
As previously announced, PR Lions launches this year honouring the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organisations and their publics. Categories will broadly include Sectors & Services and Technique. Entries will be rewarded for Strategy, Creativity & Originality, Execution and Results. The winners of the first ever PR Lions will be honoured in Cannes on Monday, 22nd June 2009 alongside the Direct and Promo Lions winners.
Changes to Integrated Lions Trophies
As a result of the high increase in the number of Integrated entries competing at Cannes, Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies will be awarded from this year instead of the single Integrated Lion awarded since its launch in 2005.
Titanium Lions remain unchanged with only single Titanium Lion trophies and a possible Titanium Grand Prix being awarded.
Changes to Media Lions
As previously announced, a number of changes will be introduced to the Media Lions section for 2009. These include a revision of the categories, changes to the entry written submission, restructuring the way Media Lions will be judged to reflect the three crucial elements of a piece of media work placing more emphasis on the outcome of each media case, and the credits will acknowledge the Media agency as well as the entrant company.
Changes to Direct and Promo Lions
After further analysis with industry leaders, amendments have been made to the entry submissions and voting criteria of these categories to place more emphasis on the results of the entry.
More ways to enter Digital work
There are new digitally focused categories introduced into Outdoor, Design, Direct, Media and Promo Lions.
For further information about the entry changes and to register to attend the Festival, go to www.canneslions.com