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.

BMF has appointed digital planning director Aaron Michie to the BMF Board, the first addition to the Board for five years since executive planning director Jeremy Nicholas and direct creative director Dylan Taylor joined in 2004.
 
Michie joined BMF in 2007 and has been instrumental in the development of digital work at the heart of the BMF business.

Simon McMaster is leaving his role as general manager - Digital at BMF Sydney  - after only 9 months - to join Mark, Sydney as head of digital, joining leaders Simone Blakers and Gavin McLeod and head an expanding team.

"In this newly created role, Simon will lead a team of over 40 in the digital studio," said David Whittle, managing director, Mark. "Aside from the pure digital plays, this is now probably the biggest and most successful integrated digital offering in Australia. Simon is a high profile appointment with sensational banking and retail experience and we are looking forward to him commencing at Mark early January 2010."

The Diamond Award - the best of show - at the 2009 International ECHO Awards was awarded to CumminsNitro Brisbane for Tourism Queensland's 'Best Job in the World'. The gold-winning campaign also won the A. Eicoff Broadcast Innovation Award. Winners were announced at a ceremony held in San Diego this week.

Another special award, the Henry Hoke Award, went to Aim Proximity and Colenso BBDO, Auckland for their gold-winning work 'Yellow Treehouse' for the Yellow Pages. The campaign revolved around a competition requiring a young woman to build a restaurant 40-feet above the ground in a redwood tree.

 

The Greater Building Society today announced that its new marketing campaign starring Jerry Seinfeld has dramatically lifted its brand profile and that, in its area of operations, awareness of its campaign is higher than those of the major banks.

Head of marketing John Dwyer said the Greater had commissioned The Financial Research Company to measure any changes in brand awareness in existing markets, and to gauge people's level of recall of the new campaign.

The inaugural Australian Effie Awards Gala Dinner and Ceremony to celebrate and recognise 'Ideas that Work' is on tonight at the Parkside Ballroom Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour.
A record 131 entries were received this year and 81 made the cut.
BMF Sydney leads the agency pack with eight finalists, followed by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne with seven and Clemenger BBDO Sydney, M&C Saatchi, Sydney and CumminsNitro Brisbane with six apiece. Interestingly, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco has three entries on the shortlist for their Australian client, the Commonwealth Bank.
Julian Lee has a spiel about the awards (and creative awards) in today's SMH and The Age.
The annual Effies replace the previous AFA Effectiveness awards, which were held every second year. The winners will be on the blog later tonight.

Erik Vervroegen, the massively awarded former TBWA/Paris executive creative director, has joined sister Omnicom agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco as a creative director, to work on the Commonwealth Bank of Australia as well as work on new business.
While at TBWA Paris, Vervroegen won around 70 Cannes Lions, including several Grand Prix and TBWA\Paris was Cannes Agency of the Year three times in a row. Originally from Begium, he made his creative rep working under current Y&R worldwide CD Tony Granger, first at TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, Johannesburg and later at Bozell in New York.

The forty-four judges that made up the first round panel for the first-ever Australian EFFIE Awards have determined that 81 entries out of the total of 131 will go through to the finals. Those finalists will now progress to stage two with entries being judged by a panel of 20 judges.

BMF Sydney leads the agency pack with eight finalists, followed by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne with seven and Clemenger BBDO Sydney, M&C Saatchi, Sydney and CumminsNitro Brisbane with six apiece. Interestingly, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco has three entries on the shortlist for their Australian client, the Commonwealth Bank.
 
View the full list of finalists: Effie Finalists.pdf  
 

The Brainwave Foundation held a fund raising night at Crown Casino in Melbourne, attended by current and former ad men including advertising legend Peter Clemenger and his wife Joan; David Blackley, former executive creative director of Clemenger BBDO and his son, Cameron (Droga5, Sydney); Peter Doyle, ex-Clemenger BBDO and current MD of Clemenger BBDO, Peter Biggs.  The evening had an added bonus:  the presentation of a cheque for $10,000 to Brainwave by the Commonwealth Bank with Bernard Tanner, COO Local Business Banking.
 

Excitement is building for IAB Australia's 2009 Awards with 16 agencies today announced as finalists, including two for CumminsNitro, Brisbane for Tourism Queensland's 'The Best Job in the World' campaign.  ZenithOptimedia is the leading agency, securing four finalist spots for their work across two campaigns, while a further eight agencies also received multiple nominations.  Three finalists were named in most of the twelve new Award categories, while four finalists were announced for their stand-out entries in the hotly contested 'Brand Destination Site' category.
 
The winners will be announced at a cocktail event in Sydney on Thursday 9th July 2009.  Tickets are expected to sell out as in previous years and are still available for purchase from the Awards website
 

The first ever Australian EFFIE Awards look set to pit 131 of the country's finest marketing campaigns head to head in the bid to carry off the market's most prestigious awards for advertising that truly works. When entries closed last Friday, 48 agencies and clients from all over the country had put their most effective work forward for judging.

At the 31st John Caples Awards for Direct Marketing Excellence held in New York on the weekend, AIM Proximity Auckland won the Sackheim Best In Show award for their interactive ‘Get in on the secret’ Valentine’s Day campaign for client The Warehouse. The campaign also won Gold and Silver. The judges also awarded the AIM Proximity 'iPhone Jonny' campaign for Yellow Pages Group the coveted Courageous Client award, for “innovative advertising an insecure client would never authorise”, as well as a Silver. This is the first time in the Caples’ 31 year history that the one agency has won Caples’ two most prestigious awards.
AIM Proximity, together with their sister agency Colenso BBDO also won a Gold award for Vodafone.
Gold went to BMF Sydney for their Wonder Performance Bread 'Not for Ducks' campaign, Gold and Silver for their 'TED 696 Project' , Silver for their BMF 'We've looking for people with heart' self promo, Silver for their Commonwealth Bank 'Free Bee' campaign, Bronze for their Ella Bache 'Ella' campaign and Bronze for their Lion Nathan 'HarvesTED The Trials'. Gold and Silver went to Clemenger BBDO Sydney/Clemenger Proximity Sydney for their Sega 'Offset the Evil' campaign, Clemenger Proximity Melbourne won Gold and Bronze for Mars 'Tongue' plus Silver for Black Dog Institute 'Paint by Numbers', M&C Saatchi, Melbourne won Gold and Silver for their Save the Children 'Lessons in Leadership' campaign and Bronze for their ANZ Bank 'Dress Pattern', Rapp New Zealand won two Gold and one Silver for their Telecom New Zealand 'No one will know you are gone' campaign, Silver went to DraftFCB, Auckland for their 'BMW X6' campaign, Silver went to Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand for their Toyota Hilux 'Motion Sensor' Screensaver, Silver went to Lowe & Rivet NZ for their Genesis Energy 'Tree People' campaign . Bronze went to AIM Proximity Auckland for their 'Xmas Elves' self promo and Academic Excellence 'Dead End Job', Bronze went to Euro RSCG Sydney for their Tangible Financial 'Invisible Brand' campaign as well as their Integral Energy 'Calculator' campaign and Sony 'The crowd's story' campaign, Bronze went to M&C Saatchi/Mark, Sydney for their Chalk Urban Art Festival 'Disappearing Art' campaign and their Sydney Cats & Dogs Home 'Take me home' campaign.

About the Caples Awards
The John Caples International Awards, honoring the best in direct and interactive marketing around the world, was founded in 1978 by Andi Emerson, a direct marketing pioneer, in order to honor well-recognised copywriter John Caples. With international chairs in 53 countries, it is funded by industry agencies, clients and suppliers; is run by industry volunteers and is judged by more than 100 active, senior-level, international creative professionals. Between 200-300 creatives and marketers from around the world attend the annual dinner and presentation.
For more information visit www.caples.org
 

BMF were the big winners at the 2008 B&T Awards, walking away with the Grand Prix, Advertising Agency of the Year and NSW Agency of the Year.
More than 900 people packed into Luna Park's Big Top in Sydney on Friday night.
There were 27 awards handed out in total. Clemenger BBDO took out Victorian Agency of the Year, CumminsNitro won Queensland, Clemenger BBDO Adelaide won SA/WA/ACT, and Colenso BBDO won New Zealand Agency of the Year. Ikon picked up Media Agency of the Year and PR Agency of the Year went to Zing. Marketing Team of the Year went to Commonwealth Bank.
See video of the awards.
See pics from the night.

UPDATE - There is only room for a few more delegates at the upcoming Caxton Awards and Seminar weekend, which will be held at the Sea Temple Resort, Port Douglas from 24 -26 October, 2008. Places are filling fast so guarantee your spot at Caxton 2008 by downloading and faxing back a delegate form from the Caxton website.
Droga5 founder David Droga (pictured) will be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Caxton creative seminar in October.
The final lineup includes:
Mark Buckman, Chief Marketing Officer, Commonwealth Bank
Jason Ross, Executive Creative Director, CHE, Melbourne
John Silvester, crime writer, The Age
Scott Nowell, Creative Director, Three Drunk Monkeys
Renee Nowytarger, photojournalist, The Australian
Shaun Branagan, Executive Creative Director, Love Communications
Amanda Johnston, Executive Director Brands & Marketing Communications, Telstra
James Hurman, Planning Director, Colenso BBDO Auckland
"David Droga has created one of the world’s most respected organisations in Droga5. He has rewritten the book for contemporary ideas development and he is possibly the most successful Australian creative export. David often speaks in Cannes and is a real coup for the Caxtons," Caxton chairman Rob Belgiovane said.
"The speakers this year have been selected for breaking new ground in the industry over the last year: Droga...an entirely new model for ad agencies.
Buchman...having the balls to appoint an agency for it’s fit with Comm Bank, DESPITE the fact that it’s located in the US. Amanda Johnston... now appointed to the biggest Marketing role in Australia ....how to get great creative for Australia’s biggest Brand across multiple agencies. Shaun Brannigan...one of the few CD’s that has transcended the shift from trad to digi media. John Silvester... advertising is all about storytelling/narrative and engagement...(underbelly is one of Australia’s most engaging stories) what lessons can we learn? Scott Nowell, 3 Drunk Monkeys, an entirely new model specialising in Content development.
"This year, attending the Caxton’s has the potential to revitalise your career through learning what new thinking is working for brands, individuals and agency’s worldwide. The Caxtons is the only creative seminar in Australia that allows creatives to experience this calibre of talent in an intimate environment and also get to see the country’s best newspaper advertising in what has become a unique event in the industry."
There are 74 finalists in this year’s Caxton Awards for excellence in newspaper advertising and entries were up by 10 per cent on last year.
The 2008 Caxton Weekend Seminar will be held at the Sea Temple Resort, Port Douglas from 24 -26 October, 2008. Places are filling fast so guarantee your spot at Caxton 2008 by downloading and faxing back a delegate form from the Caxton website.

Top Aussie expat planner Mike Daniels is returning to Australia from two years at Goodby Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco to a new gig as planning director/managing partner of Singleton Ogilvy & Mather Sydney, effective November.
At Goodby, the agency which controversially won the Commonwealth Bank account from SOM last year, Daniels was a group strategy director, where he played a lead planning role on the Commonwealth Bank account.
Prior to moving to the US Daniels was a senior planner at Clemenger BBDO Sydney.
SOM is also looking for a new managing director following the decision by Andrew Varasdi to team up with John Singleton and Allan Johnston in starting new agency Banjo.

Australia landed 20 shortlisted entries in the Cannes Lions Direct competition announced today, coming in second to Germany.
BMF Sydney, Lowe Sydney and M&C Saatchi Sydney led the Australian charge with three shortlisted entries each, followed by M&C Saatchi Sydney (2), M&C Saatchi, Melbourne (2), Leo Burnett Sydney (2), and one entry each by Host, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, Wunderman Melbourne, Make Brisbane and Clemenger Proximity Melbourne.
But perhaps the biggest news is the anti-awards king, Singleton Ogilvy & Mather Sydney, entering and landing a shortlisted entry this year for IBM.
New Zealand came in fourth place overall on the shortlist tally with 13 making it through.
The top five countries with the most shortlisted entries in Direct were Germany (26), Australia (20), UK (18), New Zealand (13) and Spain (17). Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland appeared on the shortlist six times, for clients such as Toyota, TVNZ, WWF, and NZ Army Recruitment.
Australia submitted 101 entries into the Direct competition this year, a big lift from last year's 64 entries. New Zealand agencies submitted 55, compared to 27 last year.
Australia scored seven Direct Lions last year, with Host being the most recent Direct Grand Prix winner in 2004 for the Virgin Mobile Warren campaign.
The Lions Direct winners will be announced on Monday night, Cannes time.

AUSTRALIAN AGENCY SHORTLIST
BMF, Lion Nathan / Tooheys Extra Dry, Harvested - The Trials
BMF, Commonwealth Bank / One-day series cricket, Mullet History in Cricket
BMF, Goodman Fielder Baking, Ducks
Lowe Sydney, MTV Networks Australia, Welcome Snoop (direct response print)
Lowe Sydney, MTV Networks Australia, Welcome Snoop (best integrated)
Lowe Sydney, MTV Networks Australia, Welcome Snoop (traffic building)
M&C Saatchi Sydney, The British Council, Meet your hero (corporate information)
M&C Saatchi Sydney, The British Council, Meet Your Hero (best integrated)
M&C Saatchi Sydney, Audie s3, Not for everyone
M&C Saatchi Melbourne, ANZ term deposits, Shoelace
M&C Saatchi Melbourne, RSPCA Victoria, Tea Towel
Leo Burnett Sydney, Rabobank (rural banking), Glove
Leo Burnett Sydney, McDonald's, Name it burger
Wunderman Melbourne, Origin Green Electricity, Recycled mail pack
Host, Air New Zealand, Home Sweet As
MRM Worldwide Sydney, Johnson & Johnson Vision Care, Wink & Blink
Singleton Ogilvy & Mather Sydney, IBM, Keyboard
Make Brisbane, Make recruitment, Woo
Clemenger Proximity Melbourne, Hyne Timber, Coffin
Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, United Nations Australia, Voices Project

NEW ZEALAND SHORTLIST
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, Toyota Hilux,
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, WWF, Household Recycling (Charities)
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, WWF, Household Recycling (Flat mailing)
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, TVNZ, Movie promotion
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, FBI Recruitment, 'Isight hijack'
Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, NZ Army, 'Arcade Game'
Touch/Cast Next Wellington, WETA Workshops, Rayguns (direct response TV)
Touch/Cast Next Wellington, WETA Workshops, Rayguns (product launches)
Publicis Mojo Auckland, Schweppes, 'Consequence'
Publicis Mojo Auckland, Schweppes, 'Short film festival'
AIM Proximity Auckland, Haunui Farm, 'Stud Connection'
DDB Auckland, SSL, 'Pillowcases', Adult Personal Products
Blackwood Communications Group Auckland, Baking Industry of NZ, 'Ginger Bread Haka'

Feh Tarty and Pat McKay, the Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco team that worked on the controversial Commonwealth Bank campaign, have split for CD gigs at Wieden + Kennedy, London.
Tarty was in Sydney last week judging the Andy Awards (he is pictured here by CB at the Mother Karaoke night at the Hero of Waterloo).

For once, CB agrees with Singo:
In a STORY in the Daily Telegraph, John Singleton has called on the CEO and board of Commonwealth Bank to dump their latest advertising campaign and suggested the person responsible for it would be sacked. Singo has labelled the campaign "obscene" and a "waste of money".
 
Meanwhile, CBA chief Ralph Norris defends the campaign in this STORY  in today's Australian.

The Bank of Queensland, via agency Clemenger Harvie Edge, Brisbane has had a dig at the Commonwealth Bank's new 'Determined to be different' campaign, taking out full page ads in the weekend papers. The Bank of Queensland line has been 'Bank Different' for a number of years.
Although some ad punters would probably agree that the best of the 'Different' propositions of recent years is Apple's 'Think Different' campaign which launch in 1997, created by Goodby's Californian rivals TBWA\Chiat\Day.

The Commonwealth Bank launches its long-awaited branding work from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco on Australia Day with a mockumentary-style campaign based around the bank working with its cast of well-meaning, but culturally clueless American advertising executives and invariably polite, persistent and patient Australian clients.
Launching on Nine during the cricket, Ten during the tennis and Foxtel/Austar tomorrow, there will be a video broadcast on NineMSN with live screening at Martin Place and Hyde Park. Running for a week it will be followed by a spot featuring the Australian cricket team and then a home loans spot. A MICROSITE has been developed which will showcase the ads with backgrounders about the cast members, which includes a copywriter/art director called Luke and Luke.
The Commonwealth’s Bank marketing general manager Mark Buckman says the campaign hasn’t been tested with the general public – the LAUNCH COMMERCIAL was only finished twenty minutes before he flew back from San Francisco last night – but he is confident the general public media is savvy enough to get it. He adds that picking up on the humour is not reliant on the general public knowing the bank used an American agency.
When the first half of the commercial appeared on YouTube this morning, bloggers went into over-drive unsure whether it was a joke or the real offering, a reaction that reflects the scrutiny the bank has been under since appointing the US agency nine months ago.
Says Buckman: “It is intended to break the conventions of banking marketing and give something different that will stand out on Australian television. We saw multiple options before we landed on this campaign, which we think is bold and exciting. It’s quite provocative and is certainly different to what we have done before. We think it is really funny, sort of like Seinfeld meets The Office, but most importantly it gives us a device to communicate the many different ways the Commonwealth Bank is different to our competitors."
Goodby, which was recently named Advertising Age’s and AdWeek’s Agency of the Year, presented about three campaigns to the agency including one Buckman is calling a “safe" approach, which the bank rejected in favour of this more entertaining and edgier idea.
“In this media savvy world….being able to engage with the Australian public on an emotional level and connect with them in a way they will want to connect with us and find out more about the Comm Bank so what we have created is more like a sitcom series than it is conventional advertising," he says, admitting that it was partly inspired by the experience they had working on the campaign.
Goodby’s Steve Simpson, creative director on the campaign, says the agency is fictional and is not Goodby, but plays on Americans being a convenient foil for all the excesses of marketing and taps into the fascination for advertising.
Says Simpson: “Everyone is now a filmmaker as we see on YouTube, we invite the public to make their own commercials, user-generated content is all the rage and everyone I ever meet who finds out I’m in advertising has had an ad idea so there is this interest in what goes on behind-the-scenes so the making of this stuff becomes the subject of the advertising. There are clear stylistic nods to the Office, the way the silence is played, the awkwardness of the client’s reaction."
Print and outdoor ads, web advertising and in-brand materials will put the Bank’s message more simply, offering proof points of the Commonwealth’s new truth.
The Commonwealth Bank’s group executive, human resources and group services, Barbara Chapman says most people had a view of the bank as a traditional, established big bank, part of Australia but lacking in momentum and a bit lacking in energy: “Internally I see an organization that is quite different, it is going through a transformation of change and is focusing very much on the customer and customer service and our vision to excel in customer service is coming to life as we speak in every interaction that we have. It’s an unusual position where the perception of the bank is a little bit behind the reality."
She says 70% of its customers as nine or ten out of ten for their most recent branch interaction, making the biggest marketing challenge that of getting that perception changed among customers and staff
“It’s not just a tagline, ‘determined to be different’ is something we are going to live up to and we are living up to and will live up to that every single day. We are prepared to be judged by that commitment and that determination and it's not determined to be different from where we have been but to be different from every other bank in this market," she says.

AGENCY: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
CREATIVE DIRECTORS: Rich Silverstein, Steve Simpson
COPYWRITERS: Pat McKay, Chris Beresford-Hill, Rick Condos
ART DIRECTORS: Feh Tarty, Will Hammond, Hunter Hindman
PRODUCERS: Barbro Eddy, Jake Grand
DIRECTOR: Eric Lynne
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Partizan Productions, Los Angeles


View the LAUNCH COMMERCIAL