303’S ‘MUTANT BARGAINS’ SPOT FOR IKEA WINS ROUND 4 OF SIREN AWARDS

A radio commercial for Ikea called ‘Mutant Bargains’ has won the overall and single categories for round four of the 2009 Siren Awards. Written by Richard Berney and Mark Fretten from agency 303 Perth (pictured top), the spot uses humour to highlight bargains available at Ikea.

Judge and previous round winners, Jason Ross and Richard Apps from JWT Sydney said about the winning spot: “They tackled a very familiar retail brief in a fresh and humorous way.”

303 Perth writers Richard Berney and Mark Fretten said having fun was the most important thing when creating an effective radio commercial: “If you enjoy making the ad, chances are other people will enjoy listening to it.”

Another ad for Ikea, ‘Return of the Mutant Bargains’, written by the same team, was the only highly commended in the single category.

Winner of the campaign category was a series for book publisher, Hachette called ‘Short Stories’ promoting Stephen King’s book. The commercials were written by Josh Moore, David Roberts, Nigel Clark and Danny Wehbe (pictured middle) from agency, US Sydney.

There were two highly commended entries in the campaign category: Ikea ‘Mutant Bargains’ via 303 Perth, and a series for British Paints, called ‘Pub’, ‘Cricket’ and ‘Strip Club’, written by Eamonn Dixon from agency, Leo Burnett in Melbourne.

Winner of the craft category was ‘The Wrong Beer’ for Sip n Save, with sound engineers, Pete Best and Scott Illingworth (pictured bottom) from production studio, Best FX in Adelaide.

Judge and previous round winner, Ross Batten from production studio, The Cutting Edge said the ad was great: “All of the elements integrate nicely, it is well constructed.”

There was also one highly commended in the craft category. It was ‘Thirsty’ for Sip n Save, produced by the same team from Best FX.

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