December 2009 Archives

After over twenty years at the creative helm of DDI Adworks / Filmworks, Sydney, creative director, Faie Davis has turned it in to launch a series of ground breaking photographic travel books under her new company Epic Publishing.
 
Under the brand LOOKBOOKS, the series features unusual destinations and aims to dispel the possible misconceptions  that surround them through  the use of stunning photography and anecdotal tales.

In a bid to offer high end travelers alternative places to visit, Faie has been photographing in such far flung destinations as  Patagonia and Namibia, and will soon be traveling to Libya and Jordan.

The CB Blog will now wind down (unless there's a breaking story that can't wait) and will come back around the 14th January so have a great Chrissie and a Top '10.

CB gets a sneak peak at AAMI's new tv campaign, via Badjar Ogilvy, Melbourne, which launches on Boxing Day.

"The ad depicts an extreme scenario of drivers who aren't paying attention and cause accidents. It's an exaggerated look at the things that people do while driving that cause accidents," said AAMI Executive Manager Richard Riboni.

The Safe Driver Rewards campaign uses television, radio, outdoor, digital and press ads and also highlights AAMI's sponsorship of the cricket over the summer season.

VIEW THE SPOT

Winners of this year's MADC/The Age Creative Raw competition, Jake Barrow and Jim Curtis, have had their campaign for Mountain Goat Brewery run in The Age last week.

By showing that Mountain Goat is too busy brewing to get its ads done on time, the campaign, complete with deliberately dodgy art direction, dramatises the brand's sheer passion for its beer.
 
Barrow and Curtis cracked the idea for the campaign in a single day of Creative Raw. The work was refined over the ensuing weeks. There are four ads in total. The team were freelancing while working on Raw, but Barrow has since been hired by DDB.
 
Team: Jake Barrow and Jim Curtis
Creative Director: Richard Ralphsmith

And what a big decade it was, with so many great Australian ads to choose from, which helped cement our reputation as a world class centre of advertising excellence. Here are Campaign Brief's favourite 30 spots of the noughties - ads that not only satisfied the award judges, but hopefully also made a favourable impression with the Australian public. (Such was the standard of the decade's best, it was painful leaving out at least another 30 which could have been in here!). This list does not include Public Service and Charity ads, which will be compiled in a separate list over the summer break, as will the top Integrated Campaigns of the Decade.

1. CARLTON DRAUGHT 'THE BIG AD'
2005
Agency: George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne
Executive Creative Director: James McGrath
Copywriter: Ant Keogh
Art Director: Grant Rutherford
Director: Paul Middleditch
Production Company: Plaza Films

Colenso BBDO has been named the Campaign Brief New Zealand Advertising Agency of the Decade, closely followed by Saatchi & Saatchi, with third spot shared by DDB and Mojo.

During the noughties, Colenso BBDO was placed in the top 5 of Campaign Brief's annual Hot + Cold Chart for every year except 2007 - and during the decade won the Campaign Brief NZ Agency of the Year title three times: in 2001, 2002 and 2008. As ECDs of Colenso BBDO, Mike O'Sullivan, followed by Toby Talbot, Richard Maddocks and Nick Worthington all contributed to the points accrued during the decade.

Saatchi & Saatchi was also named NZ Agency of the Year three times - in 2000, 2005 and 2006.

Campaign Brief worked out the top agencies of the noughties by allocating 5 points for Agency of the Year down to 1 point for the #5 place for each year of the decade. The top 5 for 2009 will be published in our January/February 2010 issue.

TOP NEW ZEALAND AGENCIES OF THE DECADE
1.    Colenso BBDO       (36 points)
2.    Saatchi & Saatchi   (33)
=3.  DDB                        (22)
=3.  Mojo                        (22)
5.    Clemenger BBDO   (11)
6.    TBWA\Whybin         (6)
=7.   Meares Taine         (3)
=7.   Generator               (3)

Saatchi & Saatchi Australia has been named the Campaign Brief Australian Advertising Agency of the Decade, with second place going to Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne and third spot shared by BMF Sydney and DDB Sydney.

During the noughties, Saatchi's was placed in the top 5 of Campaign Brief's annual Hot + Cold Chart for every year except 2007 - and during the decade won the Campaign Brief Agency of the Year title three times: in 2003, 2004 and 2005 - during the period David 'Nobby' Nobay was ECD. Nobby's predecessors Mike Newman (left 2001) and Malcolm Poynton (2001 to 2003) and successor Steve Back (2007 to present) contributed to the points accrued during the decade. The four are pictured above.

The noughties of course aren't actually over yet. That will happen at the end of 2010, but given Saatchi's unassailable lead, it won't affect their #1 status.

Campaign Brief worked out the top agencies of the noughties by allocating 5 points for Agency of the Year down to 1 point for the #5 place for each year of the decade. The top 5 for 2009 will be published in our January/February 2010 issue.

TOP AUSTRALIAN AGENCIES OF THE DECADE
1.    Saatchi & Saatchi Australia        (32 points)
2.    Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne   (19)
=3.  BMF Sydney                              (15)
=3.  DDB Sydney                               (15)
5.    The Glue Society, Sydney          (13)
6.    Host, Sydney                              (12)
7.    M&C Saatchi, Melbourne           (10)
8.    GPY&R, Melbourne                   (8)
9.    Leo Burnett, Sydney                  (7)

The special AWARD 2009 issue of Campaign Brief - which features all the winners of the 2009 AWARD Awards - is out now. So you don't have wait forever for the AWARD Annual.

Thanks to DDB Sydney for designing the front and back cover, which continues this year's hilarious AWARD theme.

Subscribe Now. To get so much more than what's on the blog, make sure you are a subscriber to the print edition of Campaign Brief. If not, subscribe online (where you can view and read the issue right now, as well as past issues going back several years) or download the subscription form.

CB_2009_subscription_form.pdf

AdFreak has releases their list of the oddest, creepiest, quirkiest and downright freakiest spots of the year. Four spots from the region makes their top 30 this year - TAC 'Swap' via Grey, Melbourne; New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation 'Blob' via Colenso BBDO, Auckland; Land Transport New Zealand 'Trapped', via Clemenger BBDO, Wellington and Dentyne Ice "Squid" from McCann Erickson Thailand.

See their top 30 here.

The Furnace decided that there is always one idiot who gets super smashed at the Christmas party. In their card you can finish him off. Check it out here.




















Send your agency cards to Lynchy so we can show them off.

Following his departure from the role of Creative Director at Lavender*, Sydney last month, Simon Lee heads to Buenos Aires next week to direct 'Dream Racer', a documentary that will follow French Australian business consultant Christophe Barriere Varju as he attempts to complete the Dakar Rally - the world's most dangerous motor race.

View the trailer.

Euro RSCG, Sydney will launch today the first phase of the Sydney Comedy Festival's new advertising campaign.  Appearing in print and outdoor to begin with, the campaign introduces a new kind of funny - Painfully Funny!

Rowan Dean - ECD
John Gault - Copywriter
Gavin Maloney - Art Director

This is probably the funniest email of the year, currently doing the rounds, created by Adelaide design director David Thorne. Enjoy, as it may ring a bell with ad folk and designers still recovering from the GFC....

VIEW THE PDF:
Logo__pie_charts.pdf 

The legendary Jeff Goodby gets into a rap battle between experience and youth for their Goodby, Silverstein & Partners holiday video.

View it here.

Melbourne-based BadjarOgilvy and DTDigital had a joint 1920's Christmas party last week at the rooftop Barclay Bar in St Kilda. By all accounts it was a terrific night - lots of roulette, poker, flapper dresses and the odd random lurking Movember moustache!

UPDATE - It's soon time to pick CB Australian Agency of the Year and NZ Agency of the Year -- and also to work out the 2010 CB Creativity/Billings Index (or Hot+Cold Chart).

As far as most agency creative directors (and increasingly, more CEOs) on both sides of the Tasman are concerned, CB Agency of the Year is the most coveted of all trade mag titles to win - and where an agency is placed on our annual chart is critical to many agency's new business performance in the coming year (that's the bit of most interest to CEOs!). AGENCY OF THE YEAR: WHO'S ENTERING WHAT?

UPDATE - For the first time, Campaign Brief, in association with Bannerblog, is compiling a Hot+Cold chart of Australian and New Zealand DIGITAL AGENCIES, including the independents as well as those affiliated or housed within ad agencies.
 
The chart will appear in the February 2010 issue (as well as online via Bannerblog.com.au and the CB Blog) alongside our usual Creativity/ Billings Index of ad agencies (pictured left).
 
You'll be pleased to know it's FREE to enter.

BMF Sydney has hired Andy Smith as technical director to work alongside digital planning director, Aaron Michie and creative director digital, Fred Haas, effective Monday. Smith joins from the BBC where he was one of the principal technologists behind BBC iPlayer - the phenomenally successful online TV catch-up service, with an audience of over a million unique daily viewers.  
 
Previously, Smith spent six years leading MTV's European web development group creating innovative social media applications for over 100 websites in 11 languages.

EXCLUSIVE - Matt Grogan has moved from The White Agency to join Tribal DDB Sydney as creative director.

With over 12 years industry experience, working at EuroRSCG, NetX and as one of the originals and ECD of the White Agency, Grogan has worked with the likes of Volvo, Intel, Dell, Daewoo, Iomega, CBA, Tourism Australia, Lexus, Coca-cola, Mount Franklin, Billabong and Telstra.

GPY&R senior creative team Jim Ingram (left) and Ben Couzens (far left) have been promoted to deputy creative directors of the Melbourne office. The pair have enjoyed a stellar three years at the agency, creating multiple internationally recognized campaigns - most notably VB's 'Symphony' and Schweppes 'Burst', which was recently recognized by the Gunn report as the 2nd most awarded commercial in the world this year.

Says ECD Ben Coulson: "We've known for a while how good these blokes are with ideas, but they have genuinely surprised with their creative leadership. Jim and Cuz have worked bloody hard and are absolutely up for this challenge. Staff respect them and clients listen to them. They are going to make great CD's. Who knows, they might even start wearing shirts soon".

After nearly 30 years in business, John Bevins, one of Australia's great agencies has decided to call it a day. Today, founder John Bevins (pictured by CB at the Caxtons in October), one of Australia's all-time greatest copywriters, sent out this note to clients and suppliers:

On February 2, 1982 when John Bevins the agency started it was with no clients, no staff (the first employee didn't turn up) and virtually no money.

In recent times we've thought that while there's no more rewarding way to start an advertising agency, you'd never want to end on that way.

So, we've decided to close our doors. While John Bevins Pty Limited has great clients like Toshiba, Perpetual and Anglican Retirement Villages; while it has good reserves of cash; and while it has the greatest team of professionals you could ever hope to work with.

Banjo Advertising and The Gut Foundation launches a bowel cancer community service TVC aimed to increase the profile of one of the biggest killers in Australia.
 
VIEW THE SPOT

The Transport Accident Commission's montage of 20 years of campaigns has attracted more than 150,000 views, just one week after going live on YouTube. The TAC's YouTube channel went live on December 10, the 20 year anniversary since the first TAC campaign went to air. www.youtube.com/TAC showcases TAC advertisements created over the past 20 years, as well as the montage of the most memorable images from the campaigns.

EXCLUSIVE - Andy DiLallo (pictured left with cap) has been appointed sole executive creative director of Leo Burnett, Sydney following the decision by his creative partner Jay Benjamin (far left) to return to New York.

American born DiLallo and Benjamin joined Leo Burnett Sydney as joint executive creative directors in April 2008, lured from the joint ECD roles at JWT Sydney after joining as deputy CDs in December 2006 from Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand. The highly awarded pair were brought out to Australia by Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney in 2003, hired by then ECD David Nobay (now chairman of Droga5 Australia), who was their first boss at Bozell, New York.

MRPPP has announced that senior editing wiz Mark Bennett will join the team based out of Sydney in January 2010. Bennett has established a great reputation and following in Sydney and Brisbane over many years.

Says MRPPP's managing director Andrew Shostak: "We have only heard great things about Mark for a long time. Culturally, he is a great fit for us as he is still only young at 32, and has edited with some great Directors on many big campaigns, his client service skills and can do attitude are exactly the type of people we engage. We think he is the next big thing from an editors perspective".

Says Bennett: "I am really excited to join a company with such a  strong editing and online heritage. The Sydney office has such a relaxing atmosphere you cant help but enjoy being there. They are great  people with great a clientele - I can't wait to get started."

Contact Renee Masters at MRPPP Sydney 02 8217 2000 or renee@mrppp.com.au.

Three of the six contenders for Best of Show at the Caples Awards are from Australasia, with Yellow Pages 'Treehouse', via Colenso BBDO/AIM Proximity, Auckland in there alongside Tourism Queensland 'The Best Job In The World' via CumminsNitro, Brisbane and Carlton Dry 'Bicep Dancer' via Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne. Australian and New Zealand shops bagged a massive haul of 92 finalists out of a world total of 270, proving once again that down under agencies are equal to the best in the DM world.

Bestads Top 6 Commercials of the week in the world is now ready to view, reviewed by Steve Henry (pictured), the legendary London creative director. Steve's favourite spot of the week is the awesome TAC 20th Anniversary compilation spot via Grey, Melbourne.

Two weeks after his departure, Darryn Devlin, ex founder and creative partner of Kastner & Partners in Sydney and previously ECD management partner of BAM SSB, Sydney, is launching 'Lunch Partners', his new venture.

Says Devlin: "I was planning a long board long summer but have been touched by all the support that it seems crazy not to combine pleasure with pleasure."

On the name Lunch Partners, Devlin says: "Its simple. It's fun. It's a philosophy and a business model. I intend to run it in the same way as I did Kastner, almost like a production company where we have a core brand team and a host of specialized partners delivering a best of breed brand partnership.

In regard to his exit from Kastner & Partners, Devlin said: "After leaving BAM I wanted to, as a creative, build something from scratch that attracted blue chip clients and did internationally recognized and awarded work.  And I achieved this whilst wearing many hats - MD, NB and ECD.

AWARD School, the ideas programme for aspiring art directors and copywriters, opens for applications on January 15th, 2010. The application brief will consist of a series of questions to respond to, and will be avaliable to download online from the following links:
www.awardschool.com.au, www.awardschool.co.nz and www.awardschoolasia.com

Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific (DNAP) in Australia, together with long time creative agency Jack Watts Currie, Sydney, developed an ambush website to celebrate the 2009 return of Discovery Channel's Shark Week which kicked off on December 7. 
 
Using a social media strategy, on Friday December 4 people were sent a message warning them about hundreds of sharks spotted at Bondi Beach via satellite by the Australian Coastal Watch. Once at the faux Australian Coastal Watch website, users are then instructed to zoom in on the Google map to view the sharks in closer detail. After several clicks, they are ambushed by a sudden full-screen video of a shark coming towards them, simulating an attack. This viral idea takes advantage of Discovery Channel's curious audience to full effect with a local concept to deliver relevance to the Australian/New Zealand audience.

The Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) will hold the 16th Annual AIMIA awards at the Peninsula in Melbourne on Friday 5 March, 2010. This year AIMIA received an outstanding number of entries across all categories, including new additions Best Sport, Best Online Video and People's Choice.  This strong response comes on the back of a 10 per cent growth in AIMIA membership during the financial year to June 2009, a significant increase given the current financial climate.

As hinted on the CB NZ Blog on Friday, New Zealand-born international advertising executive Nicola Bell has been appointed CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, succeeding outgoing CEO Andrew Stone, who left on Friday.

She joins the agency after 10 years with Ogilvy New York and 8 years at Ogilvy Sydney. In New York Bell was Worldwide Managing Director on the Kodak, Motorola and Avon accounts. She was the youngest member appointed to the Ogilvy NY Management Board, and the only account leader invited to participate in Ogilvy's Global Creative Council.

AdAge has released its 'Book of Tens' - the best of the decade, and three Aussie expats are included. Dave Droga gets on the Best Non-TV Campaigns of the Decade with Droga5 New York's UNICEF 'Tap Project' which won a Titanium Lion at Cannes in 2007; as does Nick Law, ECD of R/GA, New York, creator of the Nike+ campaign that won the 2007 Cannes Cyber Lions Grand Prix. R\GA also took out the #2 spot on the Best Agencies of the Decade list; and Tim Piper from Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, the writer, co-art director and co-director of the Dove 'Evolution' campaign that won both the 2007 Cannes Film Lions and Cyber Lions Grand Prix. (Oh, and the talent in the spot was Piper's Aussie girlfriend at the time).

Best Ideas of the Decade
Best TV Spots of the Decade
Best Non-TV Campaigns of the Decade
Best Agencies of the Decade

Flickerfest 2010 - one of the world's top short film festivals - was launched this week with spots directed by up-and-coming filmmaker Erin White, which revisits the 70s with a nostalgic and comic ode to Saturday Night Fever. The only Australian Academy accredited short film competition, Flickerfest kicks off the summer cinema season outdoors under the stars at Bondi Beach, from 8th to 17th of January, 2010.

VIEW THE FESTIVAL SPOT
VIEW THE TOUR SPOT

Sun safety is set to change forever with the introduction of the Sun Sound - an initiative created by Three Drunk Monkeys in conjunction with Cancer Council NSW. Tasked with the challenge of persuading Australians, in particular care-free teenagers, to be aware of the dangers of sun exposure and remember to cover up, the Monkeys responded with the creation of a five-second musical sound trialled yesterday for the first time at Cronulla and Gosford beaches.

An executive search has begun for the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the newly created marketing communications organisation, The Communications Council. The Council has been formed by the coming together of the Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA), The Australasian Writers and Art Directors organisation (AWARD) and the Account Planning Group (APG).

"A search has been initiated by the Board of the Council because we believe the decision on the new leadership should be made by all three organisations - it's just good governance," said the Council's chairman, Anthony Freedman (pictured).

Clemenger Proximity Melbourne has announced the appointment of Peter Bidenko as the agency's new creative director.

Bidenko joins the agency after returning from Dubai, where he was ECD of Impact Proximity and CD of Impact BBDO. In Australia he has worked with Tequila, Lowe Hunt, iLeo (which he helped take to 2nd best in the world as measured by the Won Report) as well as Wunderman and Ogilvy.  

Bidenko was the integrated CD on Lynxjet and writer and CD of the highly successful Virgin Credit Card launch using Richard Branson. Both campaigns won the WON Report's most awarded worldwide direct campaign - Virgin in 2004 and Lynxjet in 2006).

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne will not participate in the forthcoming creative agency review for the Chrysler Australia business, following the recent parting of the ways between BBDO Worldwide and Chrysler in the US.

Peter Biggs (pictured), managing director of Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, says this is one of the perils of working on a globally-aligned account: "We have had a great working relationship with Chrysler Australia for a number of years, and we are really proud of the work we have done for them - particularly in the last 12 months. The car market has been through some of its darkest days recently but Clemenger BBDO Melbourne's distinctive work has contributed significantly to Chrysler Australia's strong 2009 results, despite the current economic environment. We wish them all the best in their new phase - both internationally and locally," Biggs said.

Tongue has been working with TDA Tech on a new web tablet project called "lilipad", which is due to launch in early 2010 with the tagline "lilipad. Jump On".  TDA Tech designs, develops and manufactures smart wireless products for customers around the globe. lilipad allows the user unprecedented wireless digital freedom.

Tongue's executive ideas director, Jonathan Pease (pictured) said: "It was a real thrill to co-develop a product like this.  From the initial concept brainstorm all the way through to production, Tongue and TDA Tech have worked side by side".

Review With Myles Barlow, created, written and directed by Jungleboys director Trent O'Donnell (pictured), won Best Comedy at the AFIs last night. Review's Phil Lloyd also picked up the AFI for Best Comedy Performance. Together with Trent's Best Director nomination (won by East West 101 Director Peter Andrikidis), Best Script Nomination (won by Underbelly)  and his Australian Writer's Guild Award for Best Narrative/ Situational Comedy, it's been a good lead up to Series 2.  It should also help it's chances of further format sales overseas - it has already been picked up in the US, the UK and The Netherlands.

An ad by Whybin/TBWA for Palme Publishing has been announced as the October/November winner of the Could Be a Caxton competition, established by the Caxton Committee and supported by The Newspaper Works to recognise and showcase great creativity on a bi-monthly basis.

Client:  Palme Publishing: Parnell McGuinness
Agency: Whybin/TBWA Sydney
ECD:  Garry Horner
Creative Director: Matt Kemsley
Art Director:  Janelle Shearer
Copywriter:  Steve Dodds

Tim Hall, creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi Wellington and the judge of the October/November competition, said: "A lot of topical entries this month. Or rather, semi-topical: topics that can be predicted. So the Melbourne Cup and Movember ads tended to cancel each other out.

Grey Melbourne uses the 20th anniversary of the TAC campaign to warn people to drive safely in the Christmas period.

VIEW THE SPOT

Wunderman Sydney capped off the year with a bang last night at Sydney's old School of the Arts. Given the agency's growth (doubling in size from Jan 09 to Jun 09), their Christmas party theme invited guests to come as whatever they wanted to be when they grew up. Here's some pics...

The Communications Council today unveiled the new industry body's brand identity, including a striking new logo that presents the Council as the new "voice" for the communications industry.


 

EXCLUSIVE - 303 Sydney ECD Julian Watt has been named executive creative director of George Patterson Y&R, Sydney following the transfer of James Procter to the ECD post at Y&R's Singapore office.

Y&R global chief creative officer Tony Granger said that Watt is one of the world's great young CD talents: "Indeed, we have had our eye on him for some time.  We are looking forward to seeing the impact he will create for our Australian clients and the George Patterson Y&R business."

Campaign Brief's annual Christmas Legendary Lunch was held yesterday at Rocco's in Ponsonby, attended by the who's who of the Auckland creative community - and half of dozen of the top CEOs. Thanks to our generous sponsors Tamara O'Neill at Liquid Studios and James Moore at Flying Fish, who ensured the lunch was long and truly legendary.

EXCLUSIVE - James Procter, ECD at GPY&R's Sydney office will become ECD of Y&R Singapore, which is one of Y&R's top offices globally and functions as a hub for Asia. He will work alongside group CEO network hub, Tanuj Philip and Marcus Rebeschini, chief creative officer of Asia. Procter's departure comes just over a year after joining Patts from CumminsNitro, Melbourne.

Tony Granger, global chief creative officer of Y&R, said Procter's appointment to a senior creative role in the network reflected Y&R's commitment to building a strong creative profile in the region: "Singapore represents our hub in Asia and it's an extremely important market for Y&R. It's important to honour the tradition and heritage of Y&R, while bringing in fresh energy and creative leadership. To that end, we are pleased that one of our own network stars will take up the role.

Colman Rasic Carrasco, Sydney has used the media for the 2010 AWARD School call-for-entries campaign to announce the first-ever Honorary Graduates of AWARD School, including Erno Rubik, creator of the Rubik's Cube.

Bestads Top 6 Commercials of the week in the world is now ready to view, reviewed by Derek Green (pictured), chief creative officer of Saaatchi & Saatchi, Switzerland.

BWM Australia chairman Rob Belgiovane was on the Sunday Today Show with his pick of the Best and Worst ads of 2009. Here's the video.

Each Tuesday, Gary Hayes at Personalize Media compiles a chart of the Aussie media and marketing blogs on the influential AdAge's Power 150 Global Top 1000 Media and Marketing blogs. This week the Campaign Brief Blog is ranked #68 in the world, one of only 7 Aussie blogs to make the cut of the Power 150. And of the Australian blogs on the AdAge list, the CB Blog is currently ranked #5 - and has been in the top 6 since mid September. Below is this week's TopOzBlogs:

In a unique cross-cultural collaboration, independent creative collective The Glue Society, Sydney has conceived and directed the latest music video for Lithuania's slaughterhouse music act, Metal On Metal.

The band, who are signed with legendary Skint Records in the UK, originate from Vilnius, Lithuania and since 2005 have been winning awards for their provocative and energetic DJ performances. For their latest single 'Bastard', they challenged The Glue Society to write and direct a high end clip, which lived up to the provocative title.

Clemenger Group has confirmed the CB blog report on November 30 that Nick Garrett will be joining as managing director of Colenso BBDO beginning March 1st, 2010. 
 
Garrett joins the agency from BMF Sydney, one of the most creatively driven and awarded agencies in Australia, and the country's largest Indy agency with more than 200 staff.  He is a senior member of management at BMF running major business including the award winning work for Tooheys Extra Dry from Lion Nathan.

Every year another few toddlers or young children drown in Western Australia . For the child it might be over in a matter of seconds. The parents however, aren't so lucky. The brief for 303 Perth was to remind parents to keep watch around water, and in doing so, avoid a lifetime of pain.

VIEW THE SPOT

Sydney-based writer Annik Skelton has joined the expanding team at start-up ideas agency, Tongue. Skelton will put her creative skills to use and will work on all types of marketing communications across a variety of campaigns for key clients.
 
Says Jonathan Pease, executive ideas director for Tongue: "We're extremely excited to have Annik on board. She brings a unique voice to Tongue's creative team, and we're confident our clients will benefit from her fresh perspective."
 

Energy Australia, via Leo Burnett, Sydney, this week launches the second phase of its 'Wastes Energy, Saves Energy' campaign with new work for Cinema, TV, Outdoor, Print and online. The campaign takes a lighthearted look at the many silly ways people waste their energy, time and money and juxtaposes it against the many smart ways Energy Australia can help them with its helpful efficiency tips.

VIEW THE COACH SPOT
VIEW THE PARROT SPOT

1500 people in Country Victoria mightn't have got their 15seconds of fame if Toni Higginbotham and her staff hadn't cast them in VB's extravaganza - The Regulars. It was, of course, no easy feat. But that's why @radical.media and Gary Freedman entrusted the job to Toni Higginbotham Casting because they knew she would get the job done.

One of the top agency parties on Thursdsay night was the DDB 'Dead Famous' bash in Darlinghurst. Here's some pics...

On the back of strong growth in online video, Ricky Sutton today joins the team at Fairfax Digital in the newly-created position as head of video. Sutton will be responsible for integrating, developing and streamlining online video to connect advertisers with consumers through work, home and mobile devices.
 
Sutton comes from a strong background in media having worked with News Limited, PBL and the News of the World network in the UK. Previously he has worked at the Daily Telegraph as its managing Director (Online) and more recently with Ninemsn where he launched The Fix, before leaving to operate his own media consultancy business.

Fallon Minneapollis has won the prized Chrysler business out of long-term incumbent BBDO Detroit, the first win for Fallon since the arrival of Australian Darren Spiller to the national ECD job in June. (Spiller has since been joined by his fellow Publicis Mojo team mates Christy Peacock to head of art in August and Leon Wilson to creative group head in November).

Spiller told CB: "We've very excited about this win. Not bad for the first five months."

Fallon has been without a car account since the departure of BMW in 2005, a decade long relationship that culminated in the breakthrough BMW Films branded entertainment campaign which won the the 2002 Cannes Cyber Lions Grand Prix.

The loss of Chrysler means that BBDO Detroit closes its doors at the end of January.

Daniel Pollock, creative director Lifelounge, Melbourne has announced he will be departing the agency at the end of the year. As creative director, a role he took on in 2004, Pollock has been pivotal in establishing the agency as one of the hottest in the country. This year Lifelounge was recognized as one of the top ten Australian agencies according to 'The Work 09'. 
 
During his time at the agency, Pollock collected a host of local and international awards for his work on adidas, WorkSafe Victoria, STA Travel, and the Department of Human Services 'Ice. It's a dirty drug' campaign. Other significant achievements include the rebranding Chiko and creation of the website The Vine, and most recently, the 'Solo Man Bib' for Schweppes.

Droga5 Australia has taken out the B&T Australian Agency of the Year at a packed awards ceremony held at Randwick Racecourse last night. The agency also won Ad of the Year for their VB 'The Regulars' spot.

Colenso BBDO, Auckland won New Zealand Agency of the Year, as well as Ad Campaign of the Year and Digital Campaign of the Year for Yellow 'Treehouse'. Treehouse beat more highly fancied contenders 'Best Job in the World' and WWF 'Vote Earth'.

303 Sydney creative director Julian Watt (far left) is departing the agency for a new, as yet unknown, venture, resulting in the restructure of 303's creative department with Perth-based Lindsay Medalia taking on the national creative director role and recently appointed Tony Williams (above right), ex BBH and Apple CD, taking on creative responsibilities in Sydney.

Former top Singapore creative Rob Kleman has teamed with Daniel Shapiro to completed a project called care4less.org

Care4less.org is an organization committed to the outreach to those who are unable to give gifts this holiday period. Mainly ad people who have been laid off. Well, not really. It's all a bit of fun.

The site launched last night and over 10 million dollars in donations to some questionable charities have been made and over 2000 hits. View the idea here.

International Australian photographer Simon Harsent has joined The Otto Empire for commercial representation. With a career spanning the globe, and having been recognized at Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, The Clios, ACMP and London International, as well as most recently collecting 2 Silver and 3 Bronze Pencils at AWARD last month for his work with Leo Burnett and WWF 'Ghosts' (pictured), Harsent has a distinctive style, which will translate stunningly to commercial direction.

Harsent is based between Sydney and New York and continues to be repped by Pool and Monaco for Photographic work. Contact EP Jo de Fina with any queries: www.hellootto.com.au
www.simonharsent.com

It's hard not to be happy when you've got MySKY, according to this commercial via DDB New Zealand.

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GPY&R Sydney has snared Todd Martin, former international client partner at Amnesia
Razorfish, to lead the agency's digital team. Martin joins following an eight-year stretch at Amnesia Razorfish, widely regarded one of the world's most innovative and creatively awarded digital shops. At Patts he will take on the role of digital strategy director working closely with national head of digital, Rob Hudson.

Martin has worked across a stellar client list including Disney, Microsoft, General Motors, Cisco, Qantas, Volkswagen, HSBC, BT Australia, Goodman Fielder, Konica and Visa. Prior to joining Amnesia he worked with Rhythm Media specializing in e-commerce and digital campaign integration.

Aussie expat creative Mat Keon, who is currently a creative director at Fallon, London has teamed with Fallon group account director Jonathan Trimble and one other, yet unnamed partner to form 18 Feet & Rising (a reference to the combined height of the three partners).

The multi-awarded Keon joined Fallon in 2005 from BMF Sydney. His most recent work is the applauded Natural Confectionery company 'Trumpets' campaign.

A month after the rumours first surfaced, it has been confirmed that ECD Mike O'Sullivan and CEO Andrew 'Rocky' Stone are leaving Saatchi & Saatchi next week. However, the pair are not saying anything about where there are going. But there is much speculation on the duos next move.

So far they all they have said is that they are in "discussions" with worldwide CEO Kevin Roberts. That would lead CB to believe that they may be involved with another Publicis company either in the region or overseas.

Three Drunk Monkeys has continued to strengthen its ranks with the appointment of Fabio Buresti as director of planning, who is joining from Droga5 Australia - effective January.

Buresti has worked on a range of clients including Toyota, Procter & Gamble, Lion Nathan and Foster's and was part of the team behind the recent VB campaign. Previously Buresti was a senior planner at BMF and Saatchi & Saatchi.

"We are delighted to have Fabs on the team. We have had a terrific year and have started to assemble a first-class management team. Fabs will be an integral part of the business going forward," said Mark Green, managing director, Three Drunk Monkeys.

After Victoria's devastating Black Saturday Fires earlier this year, it was found that many lives were lost due to inadequate preparation. The aim of these spots via WDM, Adelaide was to provoke South Australian families to question their everyday situations in order to prepare for the possibilities they may encounter. It was important that parents also realised that even their youngest children needed to be made aware and included in the planning rather than sheltered from the topics.

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The 2009 APG Planning Idol winner was announced last night, and the judges were unanimous in nominating Anna Barnwell (left) from BMF Sydney for the top honour. Eleven finalists vied for the title of APG Planning Idol with final presentations made yesterday to a panel of judges including Captain Paul Moulds of Oasis.

Anna has won a return trip including accommodation, to the AAAA Planning Conference in Miami in July 2010 and the opportunity to work with Oasis to implement her strategy. A Highly Commended award was presented to Meredith Simpson (below left) of The Brand Agency, Perth. Together with fellow Idol finalist Chris Baker from 303, represented a growing contingent of Perth members working in planning.

Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and Starcom have brought Telecom and C4 together to deliver a New Zealand first - an interactive online only concert. This Sunday 6th December a collection of New Zealand's biggest and newest bands will get together to perform a mammoth 12-hour gig - streamed live, and non-stop, on the internet.

The AME Awards for Advertising & Marketing Effectiveness has selected John Zeigler (far left), chairman and CEO of DDB Asia Pacific, Japan & India, as AME Grand Jury President for the Asia Pacific region. In addition, Guy Munro (left), strategy director for Autumn:01, Sydney was selected as Grand Jury member. Their stellar reputations and contributions as jury members will engage the advertising and marketing community while generating prominence for the 2010 AME Awards.

The Guardian in the UK has compiled a list of their favourite British ads of the noughties, most of them true classics that stand up to almost any decade prior. CB will publish our Top 10 Aussie ads/campaigns of the noughties next week, so if you have suggestions, let us know.

The 57th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the world's most coveted awards and largest celebration of creativity in communications, has announced three top industry leaders who will chair three of the awards categories at next year's global event.

Radio President - Paul Lavoie, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, TAXI
Media President - Laura Desmond, Global Chief Executive Officer, Starcom MediaVest Group
Outdoor President - Tay Guan Hin, Regional Executive Creative Director, JWT Asia

To launch the Christmas range of Instant Scratch-Its lottery tickets Publicis Mojo, Brisbane created this seasonal spot. Where do instant scratch cards really come from? Probably nowhere like this. But Mojo had music clip director extraordinaire, Grant Marshall, to help them find out.

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Bestads Top 6 Commercials of the week in the world is now ready to view, reviewed by David Angelo (pictured), chairman and chief creative officer of David&Goliath, Los Angeles.

Ogilvy Sydney was tasked with celebrating summer with Coca-Cola and open up some happiness. The agency opted to go back to the good old days... big dumb fun, in the spirit of the McCann-Erickson, Sydney spots of the late 70s and this one from 1983.

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Too many people are drowning in rips. Yet survival is simple. Banjo Sydney, on helf of Surf Life Saving Australia, wanted to drum this message into the busy heads of young guys. The team loved working with Jack Wung and Nick Simkins at Window Sydney and were grateful for their passion to create this commercial, despite the very modest budget. Hopefully they'll help save some lives.

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This year Baldrick, the junior at Droga5, Sydney, needs your help to make the Droga5 Christmas card. "Be tough on me," says Baldrick. "It's the only way I'll ever learn."

Whybin\TBWA, Melbourne copywriter Rob Hibbert and Visual Identity, Melbourne copywriter Sean Condon's comedy drama I Can't Believe It's Not Better, directed by Erin White, will premiere on the Comedy Channel at 9pm this Thursday December 3.

I Can't Believe It's Not Better is an edgy behind-the-scenes look at a TV sketch comedy show that follows the writers, producers, network executives and actors involved in the difficult business of being funny.

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According to a report in today's SMH, which originated in the Financial Times, Lachlan Murdoch is close to making a joint bid for Nielsen Business Media, which owns US trade magazines including Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen also owns Adweek and the Clio Awards, one of the top 4 international advertising shows.

Paul Prince, the New Zealand based CEO/managing partner of The Sweet Shop - and a former AWARD chairman - has been invited on the TV & Cinema Crafts jury for the D&AD Awards 2010.

"It's well deserved recognition for Princey", says George Mackenzie, managing director of The Sweet Shop Australasia, "as well as a tip of the hat, from a very British institution, to the antipodean contribution to global advertising."

Prince joins other Australasians (announced earlier) on the D&AD 2010 jury: Craig Davis, CCO of Publicis Mojo Australia/NZ, who is on the Integrated jury; Simon Langley, creative director of BMF Sydney is on the Outdoor jury; Steve Back, ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney is on the TV & Cinema Crafts jury. Philip 'Duster' Andrew, CEO and ECD of Clemenger BBDO, Welllington is on the Integrated jury.

Each Tuesday, Gary Hayes at Personalize Media compiles a chart of the Aussie media and marketing blogs on the influential AdAge's Power 150 Global Top 1000 Media and Marketing blogs. This week the Campaign Brief Blog is ranked #74 in the world, one of only 8 Aussie blogs to make the cut of the Power 150. And of the Australian blogs on the AdAge list, the CB Blog is currently ranked #5 - and has been in the top 6 since mid September. Below is this week's TopOzBlogs:

Steve Ayson has joined The Sweet Shop for global representation and management. Ayson, sought after for his contemporary film style, is considered as one of the top commercials directors in the world. He's recently completed heralded work for, Fosters Pure Blonde "Dove Love" for Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and R+V Insurance "Ballet Dancer" for Jung Von Matt Berlin. And his much-anticipated second project with Weiden+Kennedy Portland, this time for Coca Cola Olympics, airs right after the New Year.

If you thought that domain names and web hosting only got computer nerds hot under the collar, you haven't seen Pamela Anderson in the sizzling new television commercial for Crazy Domains, via The Brand Agency, Perth, which will will go to air nationally from December 6.

The Baywatch goddess and arguably the most famous blonde on the planet, Pamela Anderson ditches her famous red bikini and puts on a gold one to star in a new TV commercial to promote Crazy Domains, Australia's largest, internet domain name and web hosting giant, located in Perth and Sydney.

VIEW THE COMMERCIAL HERE:
crazydomains_sml.mov

Washington Olivetto is famous in Brazil for creating some of the country's most popular and memorable advertising campaigns, and he's traveling to Asia next year as Grand Jury President at ADFEST 2010. In this interview, Olivetto tells us what he thinks of advertising in Asia:
 
Why did you agree to be Grand Jury President at ADFEST 2010?
Washington Olivetto: Accepting this invitation allows me to analyze and review Asian advertising. Many of the really new and inspiring things in global advertising have sprung up in Asia in the last few years. It is advertising that always surprises us - and very favorably.