CHE Proximity takes out Idea of the Year for carsales.com.au at MADC Stars Creative Showcase; Charity/PSA Idea of the Year shared by Leo Burnett / Airbag and WhiteGREY

UPDATED – Melbourne’s creative advertising community was brought together tonight for the return of the MADC Stars Creative Showcase.

The reformatted and reimagined award show saw Melbourne’s best examples of local creativity in 2018 celebrated by a 400 strong crowd.

Idea of the Year was awarded to ‘AutoAds‘, for carsales.com.au, by CHE Proximity with Guilty.

Judges noted: “This campaign was unanimously chosen as Idea of the Year. The jury really wanted to celebrate this piece of work for the way it reinvented and reinvigorated one of the oldest mediums in advertising, the 30 second television spot. One of the jurors even commented, ‘I have a car I love, but this makes we want to sell it.’ We loved the demonstration that creativity, when used correctly, can have a huge impact on commerce.

Used cars around Australia got their very own TV commercial through a very innovative campaign. Melbourne-based production company Guilty and creative agency CHE Proximity created a shiny new idea to sell old used cars, through online second-hand car classifieds platform, Carsales.com.au.

While online technology had evolved, the way people sold their cars hadn’t. The MADC Idea of the Year, AutoAds, is a cloud-based platform that used sellers’ car listing data and merged it with over 5000 pre-recorded audio and visual clips to give every seller a one-of-a-kind car ad. And with over 1.2 trillion possibilities, no two ads were ever the same. Without sellers having to lift a finger, they received an email with five unique commercials to choose from: Luxury, Family, Adventure, City and Tough. In the first week, 435,215 unique car ads were generated, with thousands more generated daily – reducing the average ‘time to sell’ by 3.5 days.

Guilty’s Tony Rogers, who directed the campaign, has an award-winning signature style that incorporates comedic realism and high concepts, using brilliant casting and great performance for clients as diverse as Work Cover, Sorbent, Libra, Just Jeans, CBA, Ford, Nissan, Fosters and AAMI. He was the co-creator and director of the ‘Wilfred” series for SBS, which is now a hit series in the US.

Idea of Year (Charity/PSA) was a tie between two winners.

Says Matt Eastwood, Chairman of Judges, “MADC Stars is all about celebrating the best work. And we felt that there were two pieces in the Charity/PSA category that were both brilliant, but for different reasons. After much discussion, we decided that if we were to be true to the mission of celebrating the best work, then we should award both.”

These winners are:

‘For Every Bachelor and Bachelorette‘ for Australian Equality Campaign, by Leo Burnett Melbourne with AIRBAG.

Judges said: “The Marriage Equality work is a brilliant reminder that a well-placed television spot can genuinely influence and impact culture. We loved the authenticity and sincerity of this work and have no doubt that it played a role in influencing the ‘yes’ vote. The film itself is wonderful, but the media placement took it to another level.”

‘Invisible Friends‘ for Missing Persons Advocacy Network, by whiteGREY.

Says the Jury: “Sometimes an idea comes along that is so brilliant, and almost obvious at the same time, that you can’t believe it isn’t already out there in the world. This is one of those ideas that genuinely feels like it will make the world a better place. We hoped that when Facebook discover this idea that they would consider implementing it across their platform on a global scale. It’s a game changer.”

The full showcase of winners can be viewed at madcshowcase.com, where winners can also order trophies.

Contrary to traditional shows, the new MADC Stars Creative showcase dispensed of gold, silver and bronze in favour of a curated collection of Melbourne’s best work. Other notable points of difference include the inclusion of feedback from judges, to convey why the pieces were awarded.

At $50 a ticket, the show was made accessible to all and the response was overwhelming.

Says Adrian Bosich, MADC president: “The decision to bring back the MADC Award Show wasn’t a simple one, coordinating it in 9 weeks even less so – to see it sell out and create a waiting list for tickets is proof to us that it was the right choice. We’re an industry of intensely hard workers, and it’s important to pause, reflect and celebrate what we’ve collectively achieved, even if it is just once a year.”

Eastwood found the standard of work across the board to be nothing short of impressive: ”Community is so important. At a time when our industry is facing unprecedented obstacles, I have been so thrilled to be part of the team that is helping to revive the unique community that is the MADC. When we work and strive together we are stronger. What’s more, some of the best work in Australia, and indeed the world, comes from Melbourne, so it’s important to recognize and celebrate that with the MADC Stars.”

The success of the event was made possible by the generous support of //Thirteen & Co., Bang Bang Studios and Mr Fox, with motion graphics supplied by Jumbla.

Jumbla was also among the winners last night. The studio’s winning piece ‘Lucy’s Story‘ depicted the experience of Lucy – a young person living with mental illness – using a melange of animation styles backed by a custom soundscape for client Headspace. The opportunity to visually portray what was happening inside Lucy’s head, as she told her story, provided many creative opportunities. Jumbla’s honours were awarded in the Film (Charity / PSA) category.

Jumbla executive creative director Callan Woolcock said the piece combined myriad creative approaches to capture the mood sought by Headspace: “We were able to explore a lot of different techniques – 3D, 2D, and frame-by-frame animation. It was such an interesting project to tackle.

“The soundscape really brought the video to life and Sean (composer and engineer) was great at capturing the atmosphere and mood I wanted to get out of this piece.”

AJF Partnership and Sweetshop won two film awards for their ‘Hipsters‘ and ‘Callum Murray‘ films for Dare iced coffee.

In recognising the films the jury described ‘Hipsters’ as a “Brilliant use of humour to create a memorable film from a universal insight, perfect for the brand.” They added that ‘Callum Murray’ was “A fun way to express the brand. Great scripting, with a laugh out loud execution.”

Says Josh Stephens, partner and executive creative director at AJF Partnership: “It was great to have the MADC back supporting our local industry and it was great to see such a high standard of work. We’re very proud to have AJF pick up two of only three film awards given the quality of film creative that comes out of Melbourne.”

Melbourne-based full-service start-up, Hedgehog Agency picked up the prestigious Design Award for its Work Weird campaign for client, Revolver Lane co-working space.

Revolver Lane is a private, shared workspace for digital, creative and technology companies.

Says Kurt Falkenstein, owner, Revolver Lane: “Hedgehog were able to take the vibe of our space and created WORK WEIRD as the anchor point of a comprehensive, cohesive brand, spawning a custom font set, art-driven poster design, website redesign and copy, business cards, keep cups and even an in-house ghost, Randy.”

Hedgehog Agency used the campaign to acknowledge weird as good by using the science behind the benefit of working in unusual spaces, allowing Revolver Lane to own the differences, features and imperfections of the old building (and new additions) and in one simple phrase completely distinguish themselves from every other coworking space.

Says Ali Berg, creative director, Hedgehog Agency: “The art-based design behind WORK WEIRD unifies the brand as both a workspace and work statement – choosing to work at Revolver Lane is to embrace weirdness professionally and leverage it to better creativity, productivity and community.”

The MADC jury said that the crafting of the typography resonated with the judges, as did the personality that had been created for the brand.

A big thank you as well to the MADC supporter agencies who helped reignite the club: AJF Partnership, BWM, By All Means, CHE Proximity, Cummins&Partners, Deloitte, DPR&Co, Fenton Stephens, J. Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett, M&C Saatchi, McCann, Monkeys, Ogilvy, Royals, Saatchi & Saatchi, Taboo and TBWA.

VIEW THE FULL LIST OF WINNERS – MADC Stars_ Creative Showcase Winners.pdf

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