Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne takes out US$10k Grand Prix of the Year Award for Meet Graham at Ad Stars 2017 plus Direct + PR Grand Prix; McCann Melbourne awarded Media Grand Prix
Ad Stars 2017 has just finished up its award ceremony in Busan, Korea and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has dominated the competition winning one of two US$10,000 Grand Prix of the Year awards for Transport Accident Commission’s ‘Meet Graham‘ campaign.
Australia has scored three Grand Prix awards, five Gold, 17 Silver and 26 Bronze.
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s ‘Meet Graham’ campaign via AIRBAG has picked up the Direct Grand Prix Award as well as the PR Grand Prix via Propeller PR. Nichola Patterson, now CEO of Access PR, used to run Propeller PR, the TAC-appointed agency responsible for the PR campaign for ‘Meet Graham’. The campaign also scored a further two Gold awards and a Silver.
The third Grand Prix has been awarded to McCann Melbourne for University of Melbourne’s ‘Made Possible By Melbourne‘ campaign via AIRBAG in the Media category. The campaign has also picked up two Gold awards, nine Silver and five Bronze. McCann Melbourne has also picked up a Silver and seven Bronze awards for YMCA ‘Playnasium‘ and its ‘Made From Memory – Radio’ campaign for Melbourne International 
Film Festival has scored a Silver and two Bronze.
Y&R Melbourne has scored Australia’s fifth Gold statue for Minus 18 ‘You’re Accepted‘. The campaign was also awarded a Silver and two Bronze awards.
The other US$10,000 Grand Prix of the Year award went to Colenso BBDO, Auckland for Pedigree ‘The Child Replacement Program’ in the Integrated category.
Established in 2008, Ad Stars is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year after receiving the highest number of entries in its history – 21,530 entries from 56 countries, up from up from 18,063 entries last year.
“These campaigns stood out for all the right reasons – idea, execution, wit, craft, approach, relevance, and scale,” says Kiran Koshy, Creative Director, Innocean Worldwide USA, commenting on the two Grand Prix of the Year.
James Keng Lim, Creative Director at Hakuhodo Sinagpore, adds: “In the end, the decision to award these two pieces of work the highest accolade was unanimous. Whilst they are different as night and day, what stood out was the brevity of thought, the audacity to think big, and a true desire to make a positive change.”
Explaining Colenso’s win, Helen Pak, President and Chief Creative Officer of Grey Group Canada, says: “The Pedigree Child Replacement Challenge is a fantastic integrated campaign. Often when you see integrated campaigns, some of the individual pieces are stronger than the others. In this case, all of the pieces we saw were individually strong, delightfully crafted with great insight and humour. The campaign’s results and level of engagement also contributed to its selection. It was such an interesting, humorous new way to approach an age-old dilemma of increasing animal adoption rates.”
Wain Choi, Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer at Cheil Worldwide, says: “I’ve been an empty nester for the last four or five years and I replaced my kids with two beagles. I love that this campaign is driven by a human truth. I think you can never go wrong when your campaign is driven by real human insights.”
“It’s incredibly funny,” says Raj Nair, CEO and Chief Creative Officer at Madison BMB in India. “Parents are so emotional about their kids moving out. This turns things around in an irreverent way, and it’s beautifully integrated and executed.”
Explaining Clemenger BBDO’s success, Suthisak Sucharittanonta, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer at BBDO Bangkok, says: “‘Meet Graham’ pushes creativity to another level. The big idea is very stunning and powerful – it’s a familiar message presented in a new and integrated way. To win Grand Prix of the Year, the standard has to be very, very outstanding. It not only takes the brand to another level but also takes our ad industry to new heights.”
“The ‘Meet Graham’ campaign is a true reflection of creativity and technology: a surgeon, engineer and artist combined to create a re-engineered human,” says Hwan-Jin Choi, Co-Chairperson of the AD STARS Executive Committee.
AD STARS is the only international award show to offer a US$10,000 prize to its Grand Prix of the Year winners. It’s also one of the only advertising shows that doesn’t charge entry fees.
“So what have the judges seen that’s new here at AD STARS? What I find refreshing at this show in particular is there’s more of a democracy and an openness – the fact that there is no entry fee, and AD STARS is open to the public – it’s very refreshing. It means as a jury, we were able to see a broader range of work, and also share it with the broader community, which is really wonderful,” says Pak.
Sucharittanonta agrees: “It’s a great show which is open to everyone who wants to attend and see diverse ideas from around the world including my region – Asia. It’s different from other awards shows, it’s more relaxed and casual in a beautiful city.”
Eui-Ja Lee, Co-Chairperson of the AD STARS Executive Committee, would like to encourage even more people to enter next year’s Awards: “AD STARS first launched in 2008 with the vision of being a truly democratic festival. That’s why anyone with an interest in advertising can enter or attend for free – even non-professionals. This model has proven to be a huge success. We encourage more agencies and production companies to enter AD STARS 2018.”
Australian Winners:
Grand Prix of the Year (Public Service Advertising):
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, TAC, Meet Graham via AIRBAG in Public Service Advertising
Grand Prix (Direct):
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, TAC, Meet Graham via AIRBAG
Grand Prix (PR):
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, TAC, Meet Graham via Propeller PR.
Grand Prix (Media):
McCann Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Made Possible By Melbourne via AIRBAG
Gold Winners:
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, TAC, Meet Graham via AIRBAG (x2)
McCann Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Made Possible By Melbourne via AIRBAG (x2)
Y&R Melbourne, Minus 18, You’re Accepted
Silver Winners:
Alt.vfx, Suntory Holdings Limited, Pepsi Strong – Momotaro Episode 4
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, TAC, Meet Graham via AIRBAG
J. Walter Thompson Sydney, Parkinson’s NSW, The Hold
McCann Melbourne, YMCA, Playnasium
McCann Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Made Possible By Melbourne via AIRBAG (x9)
McCann Melbourne, MIFF, Made From Memory – Radio
Ogilvy Melbourne, Suncorp Australia, AAMI SmartPlates (x2)
Y&R Melbourne, Minus 18, You’re Accepted
Bronze Winners:
AIRBAG & SDWM, LaTrobe University, Li
ving Landscapes
Alt.vfx, FDA, Straw City (x2)
Alt.vfx, Suntory Holdings Limited, Pepsi Strong – Momotaro Episode 4
BWM Dentsu, BabyLove, Premmie Proud
BWM Dentsu, ARU, Mermaids on Ice
Goodoil Films, Australian Defence Force, What Is Up
McCann Melbourne, YMCA, Playnasium (x7)
McCann Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Made Possible By Melbourne via AIRBAG (x5)
McCann Melbourne, MIFF, Made From Memory – Radio (x2)
Ogilvy Melbourne, Suncorp Australia, AAMI SmartPlates (x3)
Y&R Sydney, NRMA Motoring Services, Like Father, Like Daughter (x2)
VIEW THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS – Adstars Winner List 2017.xlsx
4 Comments
Congratulations Nichola Patterson from Propeller PR for a fantastic Grand Prix win!
Interesting to note from Graham, the creatives Clems have lost:
– Ant Keogh
– George McQueen
– Tom McQueen
– Jess Ramsey
From Hungerithmn:
– Jackson Harper
– Shannon Crowe
There’s also been in the past year:
– Elle Bullen
– James Orr
– Jake Turnbull
– Joe Sibley
That’s a lot of creative loss in one year, just to name a few, in the creative department alone, with talk of more to come.
Is this the successfully executed transformation strategy?
Graham and Hungerithmn were already in the bank when new management joined – it will be interesting to see Cannes 2018 which will be the test of what this management is actually able to deliver.
It’s simple – treat people well, recognise and reward them, give them a workload that allows them to have somewhat rounded lives, and they’ll stay and make you creative gold.
The culture of disrespecting and undermining creatives is just not healthy.
“give them a workload that allows them to have somewhat rounded lives, and they’ll stay and make you creative gold.”
Lol, ask the McQueen twins how “rounded” their lives are at Droga NY. As an agency that tout a “free-stocked kitchen where staff can bring their family in for dinner!” I bet they’re lucky to see the sun.
Interesting point to home in on.
Droga has its own set of issues, and the twins will work out if the big briefs and excitement of NY is worth it.
Anyway, that’s NY. The fact remains that Clems had the creative cream of Melbourne for years, and management has lost them.
Morale is terrible internally, and people have tried to speak about issues internally, which has failed as evidenced by people now taking to this blog.
Management has an issue, resulting in many people leaving across many departments.
But overall it’s probably good for the industry for the creative talent to spread, and for there to be more options.
More news coming!