Have a piece of CCA 2006 (early bird)

Have a piece of Steve Dunn

Creative Circle Awards 1982 - Gold Award

Headline:

Is your company image worth more than the paper it’s written on?


Copy:

Millions of dollars are spent each year by companies around the world on advertising to build a good corporate image – an asset vital to the well-being of a company. One of the least expensive ways of creating a good company image is in the right choice of business stationery.

Conqueror has for almost 100 years been helping companies in major countries around the world to convey a favourble image. It is truly a unique paper. It has a high rag content which gives the paper an unmistakable crispness and substance. Thus imparting a distinctive feel.

And there’s the Conqueror watermark precisely in the centre of every A4 sheet, a recognized hallmark of distinction. The perfect textured finish, either laid or wove, gives it a feeling of confidence and quiet superiority.

A full range of colours and weights are available for your letterheadings and matching envelopes, business cards, report covers, brochures and other company communication.

It gives a discreet impression of professionalism and authority. The result is a paper which sets your company apart from the rest. Above all, Conqueror will give your company image the extra lift which makes all the difference in business today.

Conqueror Prestige business stationery from Wiggins Teape. Since 1888.

Creative Circle Awards 1982 - Gold Award

Headline:

We cooked an egg on our steam iron to prove that our non-stick, non-scorch coating really works.


Copy:

In these days when delicate fabrics are in vogue, imagine what damage careless ironing can do to your clothes ……

That’s why National’s steam irons features a coated soleplate which lets the iron glide over all types of fabrics without sticking or scorching. In fact, it’s so non-sticking you could even cook an egg on it!

Which just means that you don’t end up with ‘iron shine’ or scorch marks on your rustling taffeta and slinky rayons.

But why a steam iron, you may ask?

With conventional ironing, you often need to pre-dampen or sprinkle water on your clothes to soften stubborn wrinkles or iron in pleats. It’s a two-handed job. Quite a hassle!

The National steam iron has changed all that. Just depress a button to release water droplets into the steam chamber. Upon contact with the sheathed heating element, steam is formed. So you get the right amount of heat to press your clothes neatly, from the most delicate chiffon to the toughest denim. There are so many other deluxe features:

A water-level gauge to make sure you don’t run out of water – and patience. A wide heel rest to prevent your iron from tipping over. Inter-changeable right- or left-hand cord facility to eliminate cord interference. Handy button slits to put an end to those persistent wrinkles around buttons.

And for really professional pressing, the NI-6100 boasts of 2 additional features: power spray and booster steam facility to give you the added moisture and deep penetrating steam for razor-sharp pleats and that permanent press.

What more could you ask for? See your National dealer today.

National
Creates better living

Feelings

It's that time of the year again.

It's the phone call again.

Deadline extended.

Phone Call

It's that time of the year again.

Judging - Advertising

Food Tasting Round 1

Today was probably the strangest judging day of all. It was menu selection and table setting day at the Ritz Carlton. It was an all local jury this time around. What do foreign judges know about food anyway. Given the round table, we decided to have open voting with discussion. I must confess, it was a very good experience. Finally, this chairman job of mine is starting to pay some dividends. Anyway, just to let you know, the beef* was top notch today. Tender and sweet. Just the way I like it. I’d choose it over any dusty old chicken anytime.

*Must remind my vegitarian consuming friends to order their meals ahead of time.

Judging REALLY in Action

More of The People...

A vs. X

Hopefully, by now you’ve received the shortlist.

This shortlist is a result of two and sometimes three rounds of voting. First round was in or out. Second round was voting booth ‘hands’ voting with discussion.

Just to be clear, every judge had a chance to walk up and examine each piece of work any time during the voting.

As I mentioned before, discussion was encouraged. During this little caucus, the judges would come out of their booths and re-examine the work. They would make their cases, then we would vote again.

Sometimes the revote would raise the work up a notch or two, and other times it would slap it down.

I decided to let each judge bring back any work that they felt was left behind. You know, in case the jury might have missed something. I thought this was fair. Especially in cases that involved more understanding of localized situations.

Like that cool McDs ad which took place in front of the ERP gate that had a passenger in the taxi trying to save some dough by waiting for the time to change “Ooooooorrrrrrrrrccccchaaaaaaarrrrrrrddddddd Road please uncle.”

I also gave every abstaining judge a chance to discuss his own work as well. I didn’t see the harm in doing this because no matter who pushed what, each judge still had the final word with their vote.

While looking at some of the pictures and videos, you’ll sometimes see people making an odd ‘A’ shape with their hands. That means that they are abstaining from voting because it’s either work entered by their agency or they’re credited on the work.

Of course, I wanted something more dramatic. Like making an ‘X’ with your forearms. (This idea wasn’t embraced at all. Harry thought it was some Super Friends sign or something) Needless to say the jury politely opted for the symbolic ‘A’ gester instead.

Which worked out just nicely.

The PEOPLE...

Judging in Action

Advertising Medal Round

Today was the day we reviewed the shortlist. Like the craft TV jury, we had dividers set up between the judges. This was done to keep the vote of each jury member confidential.

(Speaking of keeping things confidential, for the first time ever we had the jury sign non-disclosure agreements saying they wouldn't disclose the results of the show.)

Of course, discussion of the work during the voting was encouraged. It was pretty obvious who liked what. And of course, who hated what.

But the silent majority ruled the day. I think that discussion is essential to determine the result of any creative show.

How I wish I could have had a video camera taping the whole event from end to end. Especially today! The education you get listening to these guys discuss each ad is unbelievable. It really is.

Then again, I think people act differently when a camera is focused on them. They may even vote differently!

What do you think guys? Think we are ready for CCA TV?


We did catch a few conversations on video. Will review the tapes next week and show it here. You can really learn something from these guys.

As the chairman this year, I didn't comment on any work. Especially my own. I thought it was best to let the jury decide. As you saw at the 4As Creative Seminar, these people are really world class.

Naturally, I did comment on category definitions, rules and sometimes offer suggestions when it came time to call for a second vote.

Noor is unbelievable. She is so composed. I can'timagine anybody doing that job better. She gets down to business man. She is a focused, fair and a gracious moderator. She really doesn't miss a thing.

Her little team of boys moved with perfect precision.

As for the jury. I don't envy those guys. But I think they did an exceptional job.

The question of how well some of the proven pieces did in other international shows came up a few times during the tea breaks. As it did when I served on the jury a few years ago. I remember Adrian Holmes commenting "Well, perhaps the other chaps were wrong?"

I also remember a year when a certain ad for the Economist called 'Brain' got no more than a finalist! That's a hard one to swallow. I was in New York later that spring and I saw it go on to win a One Show gold!

And the list goes on and on...

Some of our Bates work that got into a few shows this year also tanked. What can I say? It's just the way it flows sometimes.

All in all, if we were to judge the advertising section all over again tomorrow, I think it would be roughly the same result.

Perhaps a few less medals, but I think the final tally would be very close to what we had at the end of the today.

The maturity these guys showed in there was admirable. While it got hot at times, each still returned to the safety of his or her own jury box with a vote FOR or a vote AGAINST.

Looking at the work one last time before I left tonight, I thought we had a good spread of winners. I think our TV still sucks. When compared to our print work it just doesn't rate.

I have a lot of respect for the people in that room today. I hope each of them feels just as good as I do about the end result.

And in case you are wondering, I personally witnessed the tally of the secret ballots. We definitely have a clear Gong Winner for Advertising.

The DM and Design work is up tomorrow. Our Design and DM Chairmen will head up those juries. Like our advertisng jury, each Design and DM judge have a voice and a vote to give us.

I can't wait to see how it all turns out.

I'm out of here. Goodnight Singapore.

Creative Circle Awards Judging

Creative Seminar

You guys really got to come to this. The show starts at 1pm. This is your chance to see some cool work and ask some questions of the jury.

It’s 1:41am in the morning right now and I’m really looking forward to see what the foreign jury has prepared for tomorrow. These guys are so cool. I admit, I was quite intimidated by them at first, but they are just so down to earth. I suspect you will really enjoy their talks.

And trust me, they are more scared of you than you are of them! Just because they can do great ads doesn’t mean they can talk like JFK. Please ask some questions as we go. It will make the show cooler.

Book your seats early guys. I’m getting some of my clients to go too. Think of it as a training exercise. I can’t sell you guys a thing so it’s really up to you, but I think this is a rare opportunity.

SMS me some questions from your agency in advance for any of the speakers okay. Hope to see you there.

Mr Chairman, we have problem

Well, it was all going well with the little zapper barcode thingamajig until we got to the dreaded medal round for craft TV.

Then the Y2K bug kicked in something wicked. While the barcode system was good for the IN/OUT bit the first round, it wasn’t so cool when we got to the medal round.

The zapping bit was fun. Xbox it wasn’t. But it was fun while it lasted. Sadly, the downloading of data, and the arithmetic that followed, was very, very, very, slow.

I think we were averaging 40 minutes just to count the damn things. And that was just for the finalists!

Next we had to go over a category like animation. So we take one TVC that made the shortlist and vote on whether or not it still made a finalist.

Wait 30 minutes. Again.

And once that is decided we vote on the bronze winners.

Wait 30 minutes more.

Then vote again to see if it makes it to a silver.

Wait 30 minutes more.

Then vote for it as a gold.

After all that, we still have the option of discussing the true meaning of the category and the relative merit of the entry.

And that was 1 entry. We only have 39 more to go.

At the rate we were going, we’d probably finish the voting by Chinese New Year.

It was quite frustrating. Until we decided not to be a slave to technology. Instead, it made more sense just to stick to the spirit of the original CAP ruling.

And that was to have secret voting along with an open discussion. So each member on the jury got to see and discuss each category and then vote in secret.

Last year, Tian It put up dividers between each jury member. It looks ridiculous but it works. That way each person could vote separately with their hands without knowing who or what the person next to them was voting on.

We followed that model and it worked brilliantly.

We reviewed each piece entry by entry. The majority of hands ruled. It went something like this.

Noor was say…

“Is it a finalist? Hands please.”, “Okay, it’s a finalist.”, “Is it a bronze? No, not enough for a bronze.”

“Next entry.” said the mighty Noor.

I really think this worked well. This also gave them a chance to see how the show was panning out. Juries take on a life of their own in most shows. Either they go on a gold rush, or they slash and burn everything in existence.

This is usually the time we pull out the archives and compare this year’s shortlist with the previous years. Just so there is something to refer to.

Total top secret voting (with statistical averaging) lead to a total of 2 bronze medals on one crazy year. That’s probably not a very good show at all. Stuff like this leaves the poor chairman with little else to do but lower the average below the majority.

Not sure why, but people seem less generous with the hardware when they are just writing a number down on a piece of paper.

So I called for an hour break as me and Noor smashed the machines and literally turned the tables over.

The verdict was to go “Old School”. Chairs and voting booths. It all looked quite comical, but it was just as effective.

Each guy then got to vote without the influence of the others around him or her. And they got to talk the work UP or talk it DOWN.

Like unicorns, gold medals and great servicing people are hard to come by. And that’s the way it should be.

Next year I hope we do better in the craft areas. I I also hope the local production companies will enter more work on behalf of their clients and we will really start making some progress.

We will judge the remaining TVC medals with the advertising jury on Thursday. We saw some good work on the finalist round, but not anything that will run away with the show I’m afraid.

Craft TVC

Okay, we finished the TV judging for craft. This year is different. Different in the sense that we will have two juries to decide the fate of our craft entries.

The regular advertising panel will judge the normal creative entries, and a special technical jury will decide the craft entries.

Our technical jury was made up of our invited five foreign jurists, plus five local industry specialists. These specialists consisted of some of Singapore’s finest directors, producers and editors.

Technical Jury:

1) Kevin Tong-Boku Films
2) Tahi Heng-Moviola
3) Colin Foo-Frameworks
4) Peter Barber-Black Magic
5) Juan Foo-Shooting Gallery

Fish head Curry

I can’t think of a better place to take a foreign jury. Steve Dunn didn’t make it. He had to go back and work on his presentation for today. Abhijit headed straight to Ogilvy Centre for a lunch engagement. But Susan, Passapol, Harry, Priti, Craig, Joji, and Alex made it for the feast.

Sara from the 4As was there as well. As was Bee Hong, who was kind enough to pick up the bill. Which was nice cause I only had about six dollars in my pocket today. Which was hardly enough for a bribe or a ride home!

Judging Day 1

Our first day went pretty smooth. With our little
barcode scanners we just buzzed along through ten room
changes. I have to say, a lot of work went into this.
And I don’t just mean the 4As. I mean, Singapore
really did a lot of work this year.

Some of Singapore’s proven winners are here. There is
a lot of new material too. Work entered under craft
for illustration was at an all time high. And for some
reason, we didn’t see a lot of ambient work this year.
However the poster category was up in full force. Will
get a breakdown later and post a little pie chart so
you guys can strategize for next year.

There were some things I learned as well. If you have
a CD with a Quicktime attached to your outdoor,
ambient or poster entry, I think it is best to attach
it to the front. Not the back. This is for obvious
reasons. (So we don’t forget it!) Judges can’t turn
the boards over anyway, so if you tape stuff to the
back, it usually gets forgotten. I caught a few of
them early in the day, but was worried I might have
missed something.

And for the integrated categories where you make DVDs,
don’t make the menu page too slick. There are times we
thought the menu page was the entry! With music and
changing visuals, it’s hard to tell. Keep it Simple is
the way to go I’d say.

Also, if you enter something in the small space
category you should enter it actual size! My own
agency entered the CCA poster (which also ran in the
1/16th space in IS Magazine) full size!!! Which I feel
missed the point entirely.

There are some agencies that like to enter the GIANT
ads, but I don’t know if that’s always the best
format. Sure, some get the impact, but others just
kind of grow out of their press category and become a
poster. If it was art directed as an A3 I personally
feel it shouldn’t be displayed much bigger. The A3
layouts with copy just seemed more precious somehow.

I always liked Neil French’s rule for table presence.
With the big white borders to frame the ad just
nicely. It always looks great on the table. It’s
bloody expensive, but I still think it gives the piece
an edge when it's on the table.

For actual printed posters however, cropping it to the
bleed just looks right somehow.

What was also missing is ads with copy! The foreign
judges quickly noted that most of our ads used visual
ideas and jokes. A condition that isn’t unique to
Singapore. But alas, there are copy ads. Just less
copy than we've seen in the past.

Overall, the day went so smooth. It’s hard to tell
what is in or out at this stage. With the bar code
scanners, we just heard little beeps. Less in the
beginning part of the day, and more after lunch.

The system worked just fine so far. But this is the
easy bit. It’s just in or out. I instructed the jury
to just decide if he was worthy or not. If something
was on the line, just vote it in. We can chuck it out
later. Just wanted a good field to choose from.

But the real test will be the medal rounds. That’s
when we have an open discussion about each piece.
Judges will then judge the piece on their score sheets
with a little zap from their scanners.

We rapped up the night with a welcome dinner for the
judges. I heard this was the first year we officially
had a welcome dinner for all the judges, CAP committee
and 4As organizers. I thought it was a great way to
start off the week.

Will go to Banana Leaf tomorrow for a little fish head
curry. Nothing like a giant fish head floating in
curry to freak the foreign judges.

Creative Circle Awards Judging Day 1 - Welcome Dinner

Judging Day 1 - The Welcome Dinner

Judging Day 1