DDB takes out Fairfax AdMedia NZ Agency of the Year title; Sandy Moore named CEO of the Year

DDB Group was last night named the 2012 Fairfax AdMedia Supreme Agency of the Year, held (in association with the Communications Agencies Association of New Zealand) at a function in Auckland.

DDB – which also took out the CB Agency of the Year title last month – also won the Advertising Agency of the Year award – for the second time running – and Group CEO Sandy Moore (below left) won the CEO of the Year award – also for the second time. The CEO runner-up was DraftFCB’s Bryan Crawford.

The judges marked DDB Group and runner-up DraftFCB very close, but gave the Supreme award to DDB narrowly on business performance. “This was an exceptional performance,” the judges said. “DDB is the most considered, disciplined, consistent and buttoned-down shop in town.”

Auckland-based justONE was named Specialist Agency of the Year, ahead of joint runners-up Catch!Media and Fuse Network.

justONE is a 1-1 specialist with a consumer focus. The judges said it has a very clear vision, and is single-minded and strategically robust with clever positioning. It was an AoY finalist last year (in Direct & Interactive).

Media Agency of the Year was OMD (runner-up Spark PHD). OMD already was No 1 and, the judges observed, it’s hard to improve from there. Nevertheless, in a hard market they did this exceptionally well. “OMD is incredibly slick, with a great work ethic,” said the judges.

The Rookie of the Year went to Scott Milat of DDB Group, ahead of finalists Vicky Anderson (OMD), Lucy Cole (DraftFCB), and Jenny Zhao (Total Media).

Any of the four would have been a worthy winner, the judges said. They chose Milat because he demonstrated leadership qualities that led the panel to believe he has real potential to be part of an agency senior management team. He showed the right balance between spark and professionalism.

Milat was presented with the iPad prize by Fairfax Media Group Sales & Marketing Manager Sandra King.

The Wildcard Award went to Shine and Special Group. The Wildcard is an award that cannot be entered – the judges make an independent selection based on individuals or agencies who were outstanding achievers during the year.

The two selected agencies had chosen not to enter this year’s awards, partly because of the disappearance of the Independent Agency category.

Special, the judges said, is simply a standout agency that had another phenomenal year – “perhaps the best indie agency in the world?”

“Shine is a very good business that specialises in non-traditional work. ECD Lucien Law and co-owner Simon Curran are multi-skilled operators. Shine would have been right up there among the winners, had it chosen to enter the Specialist Agency category.”

The judges also inducted film director Tony Williams (left)  – Toyota Crumpie, The Great Crunchie Train Robbery, Toyota Bugger and Telecom Spot – into the AdMedia NZ Post Advertising Hall of Fame.