:| The CCA Chairman's Blog |: (unofficial)

CCA Medal Tally from 2003 to 2006

2006-11-14T17:37:00.000+08:00

The Opening..

2006-11-13T18:31:00.000+08:00

2006-11-10T21:02:00.000+08:00

Abhijit Avasthi

Steve Dunn

2006-11-08T21:33:00.000+08:00

Creative Circle Awards 2006 Medal Ranking

2006-11-06T10:43:00.000+08:00

Unofficial CCA After party: Velvet

2006-11-03T12:17:00.000+08:00

Susan Alinsangan, Advertising Jury

2006-11-03T01:26:00.000+08:00

Have a piece of CCA 2006 (early bird)

2006-10-31T18:14:00.000+08:00

Have a piece of Steve Dunn

Creative Circle Awards 1982 - Gold Award

2006-10-30T18:22:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-30T10:26:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-27T10:38:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again.

It's the phone call again.

2006-10-26T12:12:00.000+08:00

Deadline extended.

Phone Call

2006-10-25T11:53:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again.

2006-10-19T10:33:00.000+08:00

Judging - Advertising

Food Tasting Round 1

2006-10-19T09:14:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-19T08:18:00.000+08:00

More of The People...

2006-10-18T15:28:00.000+08:00

A vs. X

2006-10-18T10:53:00.000+08:00

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...

2006-10-18T08:46:00.000+08:00

Judging in Action

2006-10-17T14:33:00.000+08:00

Advertising Medal Round

2006-10-13T11:26:00.000+08:00

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.

2006-10-12T10:01:00.000+08:00

Creative Circle Awards Judging

Creative Seminar

2006-10-11T08:23:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-11T08:20:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-11T08:19:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-11T07:39:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-10T12:32:00.000+08:00

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

2006-10-10T12:24:00.000+08:00

Judging Day 1 - The Welcome Dinner

2006-10-10T11:48:00.000+08:00

Judging Day 1

2006-10-10T11:33:00.000+08:00

The Judges are landing...

2006-10-06T21:50:00.000+08:00

Passapol Limpisirisan - Advertising Jury

2006-10-06T12:16:00.000+08:00

Passapol Limpisirisan
Executive Creative Director
Euro RSCG Flagship, Bangkok

Passapol limpisirisan (Lex) graduated in Communication Arts at Bangkok University and started his advertising career as copy writer.

He worked at Lintas, Prakit & FCB before, then move to Dentsu, Young and Rubicam, where he won many local awards.

In 2000, he joined Flagship Advertising, a small, independent, Thai agency, as creative director. His work for Krungthai Bank has been rewarded with international awards, including Cannes Lion, Clio, AdFest and Best of Film at the Media Asian Awards.

When the agency merged to become EURO RSCG Flagship in 2003, he won more awards for their work on Soken DVD, including a Gold Cannes Lion, Bronze Clio, Best of Film at Adfest, Best of the Best at the Media Asian awards, Best of the Best at Time Asia and Best of Film at Bangkok Art Directors Awards, Best of film at TAC Award.

As a result of their success, Euro RSCG Flagship became one of the most awarded agency in Thailand and The Gunn Report acclaimed Soken DVD campaign as the third of the most awarded commercial in the world in 2003 (35 awards).

The beginning of 2005, he kicked off his international award starting with News1 campaign for best of the best at Media Asian awards ,silver lion in Cannes ,silver poster and silver campaign at Ad Festivel ,Best Out Door Ad in Award ( Australia Award ).

He bagged numerous local awards from Ad Man award for News1 campaign
,World Vision campaign ,Krungthai Bank and Soken DVD new campaign.

Passapol has judged many international award such as Art Directors Club in New York ,Media Asian awards in Hong Kong, Kencil Award in Malaysia and Time Asia in Taiwan.

Currently, Passapol is ranked NO.9th Asia top young creative from Media magazine.

He really love advertising especially love to work with his co Executive Wiboon Leepakpreeda

TV work by Passapol Limpisirisan

2006-10-06T11:56:00.000+08:00

Krung Thai Bank - Murder

Krung Thai Bank - Pregnant

OKMD - Robot

Soken - Kill Bill

Soken - Titanic

Soken - X...X...X

Maid

Craig Rosenthal - Advertising Jury

2006-10-05T23:54:00.000+08:00

My first ever job was for a firm of chartered accountants in Brisbane, Australia. One day I was auditing the books of a small Brisbane advertising agency and I came across an unusual business expense - a receipt for The Red Garter Bar (an infamous strip club in the valley).

It occurred to me that advertising seemed like a much more interesting business to be in than bean counting. So I worked up the nerve to ask the creative director how to go about getting into advertising. His advice was as follows: first get a better haircut; second go to Award School; and third find no discrepancy with his expense claim.

So I moved to Sydney and went to AWARD school. After AWARD School I worked for Saatchi's for 3 years. Then in 2000 on my way back from my
sister's wedding in London, I some how managed to miss my flight at Changi so I stayed in Singapore for a week. That was six years ago. Today, I'm still here and happily working for McCann Erickson and, coincidently, also teaching at Award School.

More work from Craig Rosenthal

2006-10-04T16:45:00.000+08:00

Craig Rosenthal - Advertising Jury

2006-10-04T16:23:00.000+08:00

Craig

"Why do you keep losing my number!" He asks.

I'm not exactly sure. But for some reason, Craig's number keeps falling into the void between my SIM card and phone memory.

Which means, I usually end up pestering one of Craig's known accomplices to give me his number.

Luckily, thanks to the six degrees of separation (2 degrees in this town.) I always manage to find him.

Last time I saw Craig was in Cannes. Craig and Ivan bagged themselves a bronze lion that night. They only let you take the big walk for Silver and above. (Does that suck or what!) Not to fear, they mail you the hardware later.

And it’s easy to find a Singaporean in Cannes. I saw him and a few other of Singapore's finest loitering around various coffee shops and Chinese restaurants.

We celebrated with a fine Italian dinner and some ice cream. (Crazy bunch huh.)

I’ve known Craig for a few years now. I first met him back when his hair was still spikey and he was working over at DDB.

Craig’s got some great stuff. Love that insurance ambient idea he did with the two cars hitting each other on the lift doors.

Think that ad was in D&AD. That’s back before everybody started padding their books with every kind of scambient ad you could think of.

(Had a kid come in once with an entire book full of scambient ideas. No copy. Just scambient ideas and logos. He was late for our meeting. Told me he had trouble parking his car at Suntec! Poor kid.)

Craig was good enough to judge the Crowbar awards when I was co-chairman last year. He’s very supportive of young talent here in Singapore. How I wish he was around when I was starting out. He’d be a great guy to learn from.

Tian It has a good crew over there. They will no doubt be showing up with some new work this year.

Anyway, I’ve attached some photos from Cannes. Thought it would be nice to give the Art Directors something to look at.

JUAN CABRAL CANCELS!!

2006-10-03T16:54:00.000+08:00

Na Beh…

I knew it was too good to be true. Yes, the rumour is confirmed. Sony Balls man Juan Cabral had to pull out of the show.

We tried to juggle some things but we just couldn’t make it work.

Just between us, it was because of a Sony job. It happens. I’m sorry about that guys.
I really am. (Though I hear the girls will be more disturbed by this unfortunate twist of fate.)

But that’s how it goes.

Like I said, putting a jury together is hell.

If I had a dollar for every holiday I cancelled because of some jackass shifting a production schedule on me, I’d be cutting the red ribbon on that pizzeria I keep threatening to open.

As much as you can plan, it all just gets crazy sometimes. I mean, shit, Juan was the first guy who agreed to judge. And that was months ago!

Other than that, for the moment, we are pretty much on track.

I still dread checking my email because I fear another one of the superstars on the jury is going to pull out between now and judging next week.

It sounds so easy to pick a jury. At least that’s what I used to think.

It’s just as hard picking the right people to work for you. You always have your dream team in mind. You know, your MVPs from other agencies. But you know, it’s all about timing sometimes. Either you will prosper from it, or you will be a victim of it.

In the end it all works out somehow. It just does. Thank God there is balance in the universe huh.

Above is Jaun’s video of him saying that he’s sorry that he can’t make the show.

I like that, what a gentleman.

Flashback of Gold Medals Creative Circle Awards 1982

2006-09-29T18:10:00.000+08:00

Best Campaign Of The Year 1982

2006-09-29T17:37:00.000+08:00

Richard Copping - Advertising Jury

2006-09-28T09:09:00.000+08:00

Ascension Island, South Atlantic Ocean

Richard Copping is Head of Art at Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore. He was born on the Ascension Island, a tiny island in the Alantic Ocean, he has also lived in the West Indies and the Arabian Gulf. He was educated at St Edmunds College in England then went on to complete a BA in Graphic Design at Middlesex College, London. He worked as Graphic Designer in London before moving to JWT London as an Art Director in 1997. He came to Singapore in 2000 working at BBDO and Bates before moving to Saatchi & Saatchi. His work has won at both local and international shows like Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, Clio, Adfest and Singapore CCA’s. Richard’s interests apart from his family include sports, travel and nature.

Priti Kapoor - Advertising Jury

2006-09-27T11:52:00.000+08:00

Priti, who finds it quite strange writing about herself in third person, started her career at a little Indian creative hotshop called Enterprise, armed with an M.B.A that she’s been trying to live down ever since.

After a few years of the usual musical chairs with various agencies, she landed up at Leo Burnett Singapore where among other work, she did the SPCA ‘Can’t find your pet campaign?’ that was accepted into the D&AD, and got a Gold at Times AsiaPac, 2 Bronzes at CLIO, another one at AdFest and CCA, as well as being a Cannes finalist.

A few years on came the Aquent ‘Been there too long?’ campaign that picked up a Gold and Silver Lion at Cannes, a Bronze at Clio, a Bronze at Times AsiaPac, a Gold, 3 Silvers and 3 Bronzes at the CCA, 4 Bronzes and a Silver at AdFest, 2 Bronzes at Award Australia, 2 Silvers at the Andy Awards , Best of Copy at the Ink Awards as well as being was accepted in the CA Advertising Annual and One Show.

As it turned out, Priti had been there too long and a while ago, moved to DDB Singapore as Creative Group Head. Recent work includes the Wonderbra ‘Economist’ ad that’s been accepted into the CA Advertising Annual, was finalist at Cannes and got a Bronze at last year’s CCA, the JH Kim ‘Taekwondo’ series that was accepted into the One Show and was a finalist at Cannes, as well as the StarHub Cable and Brand commercials on air currently.

Craig Rosenthal - Advertising Jury

2006-09-25T11:31:00.000+08:00

This is Craig’s 8th successful year in advertising.

His secret to success?

If you put a celebrity in an ad, it’s 42% more memorable.
And if it’s a cute fury animal e.g. a squirrel 72% more memorable.
My recommendation is always the latter.

Craig Rosenthal - Advertising Jury

2006-09-25T11:28:00.000+08:00

We got him!

2006-09-22T14:18:00.000+08:00

We got Steve Dunn. How cool is that? There’s something kinda cool about being a chairman. You can do things.You can call people. You can even call legends like Steve Dunn!

You take a breath or two before you make such a call. You steady yourself, think over what you’re going to say then “bam”.

Nameless Secretary: “Good afternoon, J. WalterThomson.”

Me: “Hello, I’m looking for Steve Dunn.”
Nameless Secretary: “Steve Dunn. Just a moment.”

sfx: ring ring

Steve Dunn: “ello?”

Me: “Hey man, um, ah, my name is Rob and I’m the chairman of this year’s creative show in Singapore. I’ve been meaning to call you for so long. I’m putting a jury together, and, ah can you, want to come to Singapore and judge our show?”

(First pause.)

Steve Dunn: “I’d love to, when is it?”

Me: “Judging is from 9 October to 12 October.”

Steve Dunn: “Okay, sounds good.”

Me: “Hey, are you really Steve Dunn?”

Steve Dunn: “Yes, I am.”

Rob: “Cool. Jesus, I'm talking to Steve Dunn.”

(Awkward Pause)

Me: “I’m a huge fan man. Really love your stuff. I’ve been carting it around with me for years. I’ve memorized the first 1,000 words of the “THEN WE WENT BACK FOR THEIR SHOES” ad.

Steve Dunn: (Laughs) “Thank you, but I bet those ads have a lot of cobwebs on them by now I’m sure.”
Me: “I can’t believe it, I’m talking to Steve Dunn.”

Steve Dunn: “So what happens next?”

Me: “I don’t know, I will get the 4As, that’s the show’s organizer, to write you an email today with all the details about the flights, dates and hotels. It’s a good time of year to come out. I’d say you take another week and visit Bali or Malaysia while you’re out here. I’ll send you some information.”

Steve Dunn: “Sounds good.”

Me: “This is great man, see you soon, thank you so much?”

Steve Dunn: “Okay, see you Rob, goodbye.”

Me: “Bye.”

It’s just like that! More or less. It would be worse if I was ringing him and saying, “Hey man, can you check out my book…”

I like the bit I read about him in the Art Director’s Book from D&AD. He has a cool line in there. I think he says something like “I am proud to say that I’ve won a lot of awards and even prouder to say I haven’t kept any of them.”

This is from a guy who has some serious medal. At last count it was something like 6 Silver D&AD Pencils, over 100 entries in the D&AD annual and 8 One Show Golds!

How cool is that? I’d be wearing those things around my neck if I had that kind of hardware. Game Over man...Game Over...

If you don't have a copy of The Art Director's Book or The Copy Book please get one. Essential reading for anybody who cares about advertising.

(And will the intern who stole my first edition Copy Book kindly send it back? No questions asked of course. It was last seen in the agency formerly known as FCB.)

So the good news is that we now have Steve Dunn on our jury. As for the bad news, with Steve on the jury I can’t get Thomas Yang from JWT Singapore. Thomas in my opinion is one of the best art directors in town.

He's really one of the few guys who still manages to surprise us with something fresh year after year. You almost never seem him coming either, then next thing you know he’s kicking your ass again with some new shit.

He was also one of the talents behind JWT’s Golden Gong win last year.

Anyway, with Steve Dunn on our jury, it’s not so good to have Thomas Yang on our jury too. Reason is, if they both were on the jury then two of them would have to abstain from voting for any JWT work.

This somehow wouldn’t be fair to the JWT guys. It’s best to have an even spread. Some agencies will be left out for sure, but I think we will have a pretty well-balanced jury in the end.

Sorry about that Thomas. Will try and make it up to you somehow.

Steve Dunn - Advertising Jury.

2006-09-21T11:18:00.000+08:00

BMP. Steve began he career at the then leading Creative agency in London aged 18, under leading industry figure Dave Trott. During his two years there, he had his first work accepted in D&AD annual.

Leagas Delaney. Worked as Tim Delaney’s partner for 11 years. He was appointed Head of Art at 21 and later deputy CD. During that time Leagas Delaney, for five years in succession, were statistically proved the most award winning agency in the UK across most accounts in a Campaign magazine survey. In a poll by Campaign, Steve was also voted by senior creative people to be the person they’d most like to work with.

Wieden& Kennedy. Steve was the first non-American to be Creative Director on Nike in Portland Oregon. He was nominated by Adweek in the U.S as one of the most creative stars in of the year.

Lowe Howard-Spink. Steve was one of the core five man management team as well as being Head of Art and Creative Director on all print.
Under him, the agency won more awards than they had for ten years; including three D&AD silvers, Two Cannes gold’s, Six Campaign Silver’s, One Show Silver and the agency were voted ‘Agency of the year’ at Cannes.

Ogilvy. As Executive CD and one of a four man management team, Steve led an agency that had never won awards for years and who lay 10th in the worldwide Ogilvy Creative league table, to pencils at Cannes and the One Show, silver awards at Campaign, Two D&AD nominations and over 28 entries in D&AD in two years and beat the New York office to 2nd position in the Ogilvy world table. The UK also produced a commercial voted the best in the world by any Ogilvy agency.

Moon Production Co. Following the success of a short film that was accepted by the illustrious Raindance film festival, Steve joined Moon as a Commercials Director and partner in the company where he produced commercials for amongst others Boots, The Observer and Kia Cars. He was nominated by Dan Wieden, key trade magazines and London agency BBH, as a director to watch.

JWT. In 2005 Steve was appointed Head of Art and Design of JWT London working closely with Craig Davis the Worldwide Creative Director.
In March 2006 JWT London rose to 1st place in the JWT worldwide rankings for the first time.

Personal Awards: Six D&AD pencils. Nine D&AD pencil nominations. Four Campaign Press golds, Nineteen Campaign Press silver awards, Ten Creative Circle gold awards, Twelve Creative Circle silver awards, Eight One Show golds, Six One Show silvers. Many assorted awards in Cannes, Eurobest, and Ariel etc and over 100 entries in the D&AD annual.

Clients: Adidas, Nike, Reebok, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Diesel Jeans, Tesco, Timberland, GQ Magazine, Max Factor, Couthauld Art Institute, Jazz FM, Ordnance Survey, Royal Marsden Hospital, Samaritans, Susy Lamplugh Trust, The Guardian Newspaper Group, Midland Montague, Nationwide, Arthur Andersen, Scottish Amicable, ING Barings, Royal Sun Alliance, American Express, IBM, Motorola, Eastman Kodak, B.P, Porsche, Ford, Toyota, Vauxhall. Hennessy Cognac, Stella Artois, 6X, Tetley Bitter, Smirnoff, Olympus Cameras, Phillips, Pontins, Mattel, Glaxo Smith-Klein, Vision Express, KFC, Severn Trent Water, Kraft, COI, UK Gold, Carlton Television, Kimberley Clark, Unilever. Vodafone. Knorr. Reckitt-Benkiser,
Kraft, Mazd.

Industry Views;
The subject of articles in The US, Europe, Singapore, South Africa and Australia, he is featured in the book ‘25 of the World’s Best Art Directors, has work in the archives of the V&A, has been voted the art director most senior UK industry figures wanted to work with. He has sat on many international awards juries and has been variously referred to as:
‘A brilliant creative maverick”
Famously uncompromising in his creative standards”
The most outstanding art director of his generation”
The legendary Creative Director of Ogilvy”.

More of Steve Dunn's work

2006-09-21T10:52:00.000+08:00

CCA Rankings 2005

2006-09-20T16:19:00.000+08:00

Steve Dunn - Advertising Jury. Enough Said.

2006-09-19T16:47:00.000+08:00

2006-09-18T16:35:00.000+08:00

Chapter 6

The Index of D&AD

2006-09-17T13:07:00.000+08:00

Adidas - Spelling

2006-09-15T18:51:00.000+08:00