Creative Circle results for August 2011

22 Sep 2011

The Creative Circle results for August 2011 are out, judged by an all-women panel that included some of the planet's most awarded creative, all in honour of Women's Month. According to chairperson Catherine Ireland, the results reflect a tough but fair approach from the judges.

Category	August 2011
Print	1. Vodacom/Look 4ME "Stripper/Surfer/Night Club - Draftfcb Johannesburg
	1. Independent Newspapers/Eagle Awards 2011 "Tank/Gun/Grenade" - King James
Ambient/outdoor	1. Primedia/94.7 Breakfast Express "Smile Dammit Blossoms" - BlackRiver FC
	2. Unilever/Skip Liquid Detergent "Evolution of Washing" - The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town
TV/cinema	1. Chicken Licken/Hot Wings "Return of the Craving" - Net#work BBDO
	2 Kalahari.net "1 Millionth Customer" - JWT Cape Town
	3. KFC "So Good" - Ogilvy Johannesburg
Radio	1. PSN/Jointeze "Intruder" - Euro RSCG
Experiential	1. Stop Rhino Poaching "Your Hair & Nails Can Save a Rhino" - Lowe Bull Cape Town
	2. SA Breweries/Black Label "Be the Coach" - Ogilvy Cape Town
	3. Cape Times/Drive Time Supplement "For Sale" - Lowe Bull Cape Town

Catherine Ireland, Grey (chairperson)
Shelley Smoler, TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris
Jenny Glover, Net#work BBDO
Alison Stansfield, Saatchi & Saatchi
Suhana Gordhan, Black River FC
Bridget Johnson, Ogilvy
Sanche Frolich, The Jupiter Drawing Room
Margarita Karvouniars, morrisjones
Heidi Kasselman, Lowe Bull

Category	August 2011 chair comments
General	To celebrate Women's Month, the August jury was an all-women panel and included some of the planet's most awarded creatives. I think the results reflect a tough but fair approach from the judges.
Print	There was a lot of print to judge this month but very few pieces were fresh or memorable. Worryingly, there seemed to be an unusually low standard of copywriting, despite a number of long copy entries. Art direction craft was also generally disappointing. The well-crafted winning entries were clearly head and shoulders above the rest.
Ambient/outdoor	There were very few entries in this category but both winners showed fresh thinking and meticulous craft.
TV/cinema	There were a lot of very well-crafted film entries this month. In fact, the one or two pieces that weren't beautifully produced were glaringly lackluster.
Radio	The Ad of the Month rules mean that at least one winner must be chosen in each category. So, we chose one winner. There were a lot of noisy, shouty executions and few clear, funny or memorable spots. Peculiar for a creative community that so recently dominated the radio category at Cannes.
Experiential	This was a very interesting category to judge. There was some very fresh and compelling work, though a lot of the events showcased were quite small-scale. This may prove a disadvantage when the work is pitted against international work at other shows. Perhaps it's because many marketers are still reluctant to invest in large-scale activations and experiences that are tricky to pre-test and measure. There is a trend to very long-winded entry videos. This results in a worn-out judging panel and will compromise the work's success. If the idea can't be explained in under two minutes, then it's probably not a very good one. The old maxim about the best ideas fitting onto the side of a matchbox holds true.

For more judges' comments, go to www.adlip.co.za.

The Creative Circle Ad of the Month and Ad of the Year are both sponsored by Primedia Unlimited, supporters of the development of creative talent in South Africa. For more, go to www.creativecircle.co.za.