2008 Creative Circle Ad of Year results

Members of the South African Creative Circle judged the Ad of the Year from the winners of the Creative Circle Monthly Awards, last night at The Venue, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg. A total of 12 months' work was judged, ie January 2008 - December 2008.

Nineteen judges participated in choosing the winner for the six media categories. The awards were presented the same evening to the winning agencies by Creative Circle chairman Rob McLennan.

The winners

King James was only agency to win more than one award. The agency's Cape Town “Beautiful” television ad for Allan Gray - also a winner of a Silver Lion at Cannes and the 2008 Loerie Grand Prix - was awarded first place in Film and its Johannesburg office won the top prize in the Newspaper category for its Cape Union Mart Store Card campaign, also a Cannes and a Loeries Silver winner.

“We're thrilled that both our offices won this year,” commented Alistair King, group executive creative director, King James. “We raised the creative bar throughout the group last year and this is a very welcome result.”

The controversy

“There is nothing as rewarding as recognition from one's peers and Gareth and his team thoroughly deserve this accolade,” commented DDB SA CEO Glen Lomas in reference to Energizer campaign, “Never Let Their Toys Die”, which was crowned Magazine Ad of the Year.

The campaign has previously won a Clio Gold and a Cannes Grand Prix yet was "controversially banned from the Loeries for ‘not being original enough'", according to DDB SA.

Continued Lomas, “The decision to exclude the Energizer campaign from the Loeries still irritates us today, but this award goes a long way to rectifying that. Hopefully the Loeries officials that made the ‘inHuman' decision now feel a sense of foolhardiness and regret.

“DDB SA are extremely proud to be a part of the South African advertising industry - it is one of this country's greatest ‘world class assets' - and the more we work together as an industry to better our people and our product, and divorce ourselves from the politics that riddle other industries, the greater the future of this industry will be.”

When asked for comment by Bizcommunity.com, Andrew Human, MD of The Loerie Awards, responded as follows:

While I'm very happy for DDB's recent successes, I would like to comment on Mr Lomas' statements:

The Energizer campaign was never ‘banned' by the Loeries, it was however not awarded a statue. The Jury Chairman of the Advertising Panel (whose appointment was approved by the Creative Circle) who made this decision was Brett Morris, unarguably one of the country's leading creative directors, and a Cannes Grand Prix winner (Brett has recently been appointed Group Executive Creative Director, DraftFCB).

I cannot comment on the judging criteria for the Creative Circle Ad of the Year, or any other award, however the judging criteria for the Loeries are very clear. The following is an excerpt from the instructions provided to all Loeries judges:

All entries, in all categories, are to be judged according to 5 criteria:

1. An innovative concept, bringing new and fresh thinking
   
2. Excellent execution
   
3. Relevance to the brand
   
4. Relevance to the target audience
   
5. Relevance to the chosen medium
   

As a judge, you are to consider all of the above when evaluating each entry. As The Loerie Awards represents Creative Excellence, it is crucial that criterion number one is met, i.e. the work is fresh and innovative. If an entry meets all the other criteria, but is conceptually not new and innovative, then it should not be considered for a Loerie award.

Work that excels in the above criteria - work that is judged to be effective communication by the jury - represents Creative Excellence, and will be rewarded with the highest accolade - a Loerie Award.

The Energizer campaign was not awarded simply because it just wasn't innovative - and had been done before. Attached are examples of the energizer [sic] campaign as well as previous campaigns for Nickelodeon and Play-doh. The similarities of the campaigns are clear, not only in creative concept but also in execution ([see] images all taken from the Coloribus website that highlights the similarities in the campaigns). The similarities between the campaigns were in fact pointed out to the Jury Chairman by members of the judging panel.

Energizer campaign. Images from Coloribus

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Nicklelodeon campaign. Images from Coloribus

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Play-doh campaign. Images from Coloribus

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The Loerie Awards has on several occasions in the past not awarded entries due to the same issue and the decision taken on the Energizer campaign was not new or controversial - except for the fact that Mr Lomas feels we should automatically cow down and follow the decisions made at an award such as Cannes because they somehow know better. However, the Loeries judges are also given a specific guideline in this regard; “Your decisions should not be made based on achievements at international awards such as Cannes or D&AD - you should consider the Loeries as a regional award and view work in this context.”

I can only conclude that the standard of the Loeries judges remains exceptionally high and support completely the decisions made by the Jury Chairman. There is no desire for the Loeries to simply copy the decisions made by other bodies and we will maintain the independence and standard of the Loeries judging. I never take any pleasure in not awarding work entered and find Mr Lomas' remarks surprising considering his desire to eliminate politics, rather than accepting the decisions made by his peers when they aren't in his favour.