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.