D&AD Awards Black and Yellow Pencils for 2009

The D&AD Awards were presented in a ceremony last night in London. The Black and Yellow Pencils, highly regarded in the advertising and design industries, are presented for work in thirty disciplines of design, advertising and creative communication. The solid beech awards are filled, sealed, masked, sanded, primed, painted, sprayed, printed, glossed and packed for a limited number of creatives from around the world.

D&AD President Garrick Hamm said, “The breadth of creative work that’s been awarded this year is exceptional. We’re in the midst of a challenging time, and this work shows what the industry is capable of. The four Black Pencil winners demonstrate the power and all-encompassing nature of creativity – in education, politics and even in the change in our pockets. These winners are more than just great pieces of communication, they change our behaviour and touch our lives.”

Black Pencils

The Black Pencil is the creative industry’s most elusive prize, only awarded for truly groundbreaking work. This year four Black Pencils were awarded, two of them to Droga5.

• BMW Kinetic Sculpture, by Art+Com, Germany, for Environmental Design in Installations.
• The Royal Mint, New Reverse UK Coin Designs, by Matt Dent, for Applied Print Graphics in Graphic Design.
• New York City Department of Education, Million, by Droga5, for Integrated.
• Jewish Council of Education & Research, The Great Schlep, by Droga5, for Writing Viral.

Yellow Pencils

54 Yellow Pencils were also awarded in recognition of work that sets new benchmarks in creative excellence.

• Chrysler Korea Jeep In Two Worlds, by BBDO Proximity Malaysia, for Art Direction in Poster Advertising
• Alka Seltzer For Whatever campaign, by CLM BBDO, France, (2) for Art Direction in Press Advertising, and Newspaper Press Advertising Colour in Press Advertising.
• Tooheys Extra Dry TED696 Project, by BMF Australia, for Branding in Printed Material.
• Velocity Films Researchers Wanted, by JWT South Africa, for Broadcast Innovations.
• BMW Kinetic Sculpture, by Art+Com, Germany, for Digital Installations.
• British Airways Cloud, by Troika Design, UK, for Digital Installations.
• Flash Bistrotheque, by David Kohn Architects, UK, for Leisure Tourism in Environmental Design.
• Architectural Association [C]Space DRL10 Pavilion, by Nex Architecture, UK, for Public Space & Community in Environmental Design.
• White Road Mediterranean Sculptor’s Symposium, Bijela Cesta ‘U isceKivanju Kise’, by Studio Rasic, Croatia, for Public Space & Community in Environmental Design, .
• Casa Panama, by Studio mk27, Brazil, for Environmental Design, Residential.
• Kiddi Corporation Ply Exhibition, by Dentsu Inc. Tokyo, Japan, for Environmental Design, Temporary Exhibitions.
• Travel Oregon The Book of Oregon, Wieden+Kennedy, USA, for Graphic Design in Catalogues & Brochures.
• WERK Magazine, WERK No. 16, Joe Magee Special, by Work Advertising Pte Ltd, Singapore, (2) for Catalogues & Brochures in Graphic Design, and for Illustration in Magazine & Newspaper Design.
• IKEA Germany Bigger Storage Ideas, by Ogilvy Frankfurt, Germany, for Environmental Graphics in Graphic Design.
• Coca Cola Identity/Classic Can/Ident, by Turner Duckworth, London & San Francisco, UK, for Integrated Graphics in Graphic Design.
• Flora S.A Meet Wally’s Heart, Lowe Bull, South Africa, for Integrated.
• Publico, Portugal, for Entire Newspapers in Magazine & Newspaper Design.
• New York Magazine, by Brain, New York, USA, for Magazine Front Covers in Magazine & Newspaper Design.
• UN Voices Project, Saatchi & Saatchi, Australia, for Mobile Marketing.
• Honda Ke-tai Traveler K-TRA, by Dentsu Inc. Japan, for Mobile Marketing.
• Sydney Dogs & Cats Home Throw Us A Bone, M&C Saatchi/Mark, Australia, for Mobile Marketing.
• Gnarls Barkley Who’s Gonna Save My Soul, by Radical Media, USA, for Animation in Music Videos.
• Bjork, Wanderlust, by Ghost Robot, USA, (3) for Music Videos, Art Direction in Music Videos, and Special Effects in Music Videos.
• Will Young, Changes, Academy Films, UK, for Cinematography in Music Videos.
• Radiohead, House of Cards, Zoo Film Production, USA, for Music Videos.
• Sagami Original 0.02 Condom, Love Distance, GT Inc, Japan, for Digital Advertising Campaigns in Online Advertising.
• Burger King Whopper Sacrifice, by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, USA, for Digital Innovations in Online Advertising.
• Barnardo’s, Break the Cycle, by BBH, UK, for Online Advertising.
• Ichida Garden, Newspaper to Newspaper, by Dentsu Inc. Tokyo, Japan, for Packaging Design.
• Wptt Contraceptive Trouble Maker Campaign, by HanTang Communications Group, China, for Packaging Design.
• Das Commitee, Faces of Evil, Germany, for Photography in Book Design.
• Harvey Nichols Bristol Store Wallace & Gromit campaign, by DDB London, UK, (2) for Poster Advertising Campaigns and Newspaper Press Advertising Colour in Press Advertising.
• Nova Radio, Vinyl Campaign, by Y&R France, for Poster Advertising Campaigns.
• Quantum Saddle, by Seymourpowell, UK, for Leisure in Product Design.
• Apple MacBook Air, by Apple, USA, for Product Design.
• MARS Skittles Pinata, by TBWA\Chiat\Day, USA, for TV Commercials 41-60 seconds in TV & Cinema Advertising.
• More4 Stanley Kubrick Season, by Channel 4, UK, for TV Promotions, Stings & Programmer Junctions, TV & Cinema Communications.
• Coca Cola It’s Mine, by MJZ, USA, for Special Effects in TV & Cinema Crafts.
• Radiohead in WOWOW campaign, by Bascule Inc, Japan, for Interface & Navigation in Websites.
• Frito-Lay Doritos Hotel 626, by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, USA, for Microsites in Websites.
• Frito-Lay Tostitos NOLAF, by Mekanism, USA, for Microsites in Websites.
• Comcast Rabbit, by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, USA, for Writing for Advertising in TV & Cinema Advertising.
• Orange Goldspots campaign by Mother London, UK, for Writing for Advertising, TV & Cinema Advertising.
• Asbury & Asbury, Corpoetics, UK, for Writing for Design in Graphic Design.
• Christopher Doyle, You, me and everyone I know, Australia, for Writing for Design in Graphic Design.

All of the winning work can be viewed at: awards.dandad.org/2009.

Golden Drum Awards 2009

The Golden Drum awards, held in Portoroz, Slovenia, between 4 and 9 October, culminated in a grand ceremony revealing a range of Drums, Winged Nikes and Golden Drum Grand Prix awards. The Golden Rose, presented to the best new European agency of the year, went to Leo Burnett Beirut, who had also won the Golden Net award. The Awards week was promoted this year with the theme of brainstorming, highlighted in a set of three posters and print advertisements.

Film

• Stiegl – Escalator (Silver & Golden Drums), Demner, Merlicek & Bergmann, Austria
• Helsinki Missio – A Soldier’s Last Wish (Silver Drum), TBWA\PHS Helsinki, Finland
• Children Under Protection Agreement – Vase (Silver Drum), McCann Erickson Poland
• Pert Plus – Stop the Suffering (Silver Drum), Leo Burnett Beirut, Lebanon
• Budejoviky Budvar Pardal – Real Beer for Real Guys (Silver Drum), Kaspen Prague, Czech Republic
• Elais/Unilever Altis Olive Oil – Goodness (Silver Drum), McCann Erickson, Athens, Greece
• Mars – Squirrels, BBDO, Russian Federation
• Ilta-Sanomat Newspaper – The Way It Was Meant To Be (Golden Drum), Hasan&Partners, Finland
• Interior Club Furniture Salon – Transformations (Golden Drum), mfive creative group, Moscow
• National Museum – Munich (Grand Prix), Euro RSCG, Czech Republic

Press

Toy Museum – Actionman (Silver Drum), Leo Burnett Istanbul

LTD Headhunter – Manager (Silver Drum) TWIGA, Moscow, Russian Federation

Greenpeace Construction Loan – Birds (Silver Drum), BBDO Moscow, Russian Federation

Finansbank – Accident (Silver Drum), DDB&Co Istanbul, Turkey

Commercial Film Producers of Europe and Shots Young Director Award – Affair (Silver Drum), TBWA\PHS Helsinki, Finland

Beta Playboy (Golden Drum), Leo Burnett Beirut, Lebanon

CNN Weather Report – Lightning (Golden Drum), DDB & Co Istanbul, Turkey

Gursory Resim Kursu Art Course – The Fastest Course (Golden Drum), DDB & Co Istanbul, Turkey

Max Factor – Eyes 1 (Golden Drum), Leo Burnett, Warsaw, Poland

Sinai Kimya Esemmat – Mosquito (Golden Drum), TBWA\Istanbul, Turkey

Outdoor

WWF – Garden Furniture Set (Silver Drum), Change Integrated, Poland

Dank Second Hand Furniture – Table (Silver Drum), DDB & Co, Istanbul, Turkey

Toyota Auto Lovše, Greeting Card (Silver Drum), Saatchi & Saatchi, Slovenia

Bayer, Asprin – Headache 1 (Golden Drum), Graffiti BBDO, Romania

T-Mobile Outdoor Messages (Golden Drum), MUW Saatchi & Saatchi, Bratislava, Czech Republic

Hariri Foundation – Khede Kasra (Grand Prix), Leo Burnett Beirut, Lebanon

Radio

Copycenter Tailan – Both Sides (Silver Drum), TBWA\Central Asia, Kazakhstan

Ace Bleach and Detergent – Burger Town (Silver Drum), Grey Istanbul, Turkey

Newpan – Heats up in 3 Seconds!!! (Golden Drum), Baumann Ber Rivnay Saatchi & Saatchi, Israel

Design and Art Direction

• PKP Proximity Vienna – Enough Practice! (Silver Drum), Austria
• Greenpeace – Thermo Mug (Silver Drum), NEXT Advertising, Romania
• Ekka/Mercedes Benz – The Right Move (Golden Drum), Day6 Athens, Greece
• Diageo Johnnie Walker Blue Label- Details (Silver Drum) Leo Burnett Moscow, Russian Federation
• Amnesty International – Reprieve (Silver Drum) Draft FCB, Austria
• Intersport Saemann, Flash Billboard (Silver Drum), Butter, Berlin/Duesseldorf, Germany
• Aids Africa Solidarity Fund (Fonds Solidarité Sida Afrique) – Clocks (Golden Drum), BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, France
• Jugend am Werk, Mitten ins Herz (Silver Drum), Fashingbauer & Schaar, Austria
• Draft Black – Cup & Kettle (Silver Drum), Leo Burnett, Moscow, Russian Federation
• Skoda Auto, Owl (Golden Drum), Leagas Delaney Praha, Czech Republic
• Fazer Leipomot Vilpuri Packaging Design (Silver Drum), Hasan & Partners, Finland
• Wrigley Orbit – Can’t Touch This (Silver Drum), Mark BBDO, Prague, Czech Republic
• Weingut Andreas Tscheppe – Wines (Golden Drum), Demmer, Merlicek & Bergmann, Austria
• In The Palace, Balchik, Svnth Shrt Flm Fstvl (Silver Drum), New Moment New Ideas Y&R, Sofia, Bulgaria
• Portuguese Red Cross, Store+ The store that Sells Hope (Silver Drum), Leo Burnett Lisboa, Portugal
• Just Move Ltd Brand Identity (Golden Drum), Transformer Studio, Moscow, Russian Federation
• Voskhod, Yekaterinburg – Failsafe Calendar (Silver Drum), Russian Federation
• Rahofer, Palfinger Annual Report 2008, Times Are Tough (Silver), Austria
• Buick Style Guide (Golden Drum), Leo Burnett Chicago, USA

Media

• Showtime – Nurse Jackie on Kindle (Silver Drum), OMD, USA
• Neuroth – The World´s First In-Ear Commercial (Silver Drum), Jung von Matt/Dunau, Austria
• T-Mobile Slovensko – Messages, (Golden Drum), MUW Saatchi & Saatchi, Slovakia
• Yes Satellite TV – Deus (Golden Drum), McCann Digital Israel, Lebanon
• Hariri Foundation – Khede Kasra (Grand Prix), Leo Burnett Beirut, Lebanon
• T-Mobile Cinema Messages (Silver Drum), MUW Saatchi & Saatchi, Bratislava/Med, Czech Republic
• Proteatr, International Festival of Theaters for Disabled – You’ve never seen such actors (Silver Drum), Leo Burnett, Moscow, Russian Federation
• Rustholi Renovations, The container that became a home (Golden Drum), Hasan & Partners, Finland
• WWF – Vote Earth Monuments (Golden Drum), Leo Burnett Sydney, Australia
• Nissan Center Europe – Ceiling Cinema (Silver Drum), TBWA\Germany, Duesseldorf, Germany
• Bucharest Police – Accidents can happen to anyone! (Golden Drum), Arsenoaiei & Matasel Bucharest, Romania

Best Act Award

• Pampero Rum – World´s First Ephemeral Museum (Silver Winged Nike), Leo Burnett Lisboa, Portugal
• Portuguese Red Cross – Selling Hope (Gold Winged Nike), Leo Burnett, Portuga

Social media, brand route to connect with and built trust ... best practice

How organizations have embraced social media to connect with and built trust and affection among customers?

Some great examples of simple, effective social media strategies that have humanized organizations and allowed them to build better relationships with customers. 

1. They can’t talk about anything broader than their own products

Chris Brogan shared how Citrix Online created the Workshifting community to address the rise of telecommuting and remote work. Sure, it ties in with Citrix’s GoToMeeting/Webinar/PC product line, but the blog isn’t a commercial for its products. The same holds true for Kodak’s photography blog that Chief Blogger Jenny Cisney talked about. It’s about photography and creativity in general, not about Kodak cameras. Greg Matthews shared how Humana developed the Freewheelin bicycle sharing communities with plenty of online and “real life” components to the program. Bicycles don’t have much to do with health insurance specifically, but they are about being healthy. If a company is only talking online about its specific products and not looking for ways to connect to the bigger picture, it’s pretty difficult for people to be engaged.

2. They listen to customers but don’t take any action

If you’re going to listen to your customers, you’d better be ready to do something about what you hear. Valeria Maltoni noted that if a company creates an online presence that’s open and allows customer feedback, it creates the expectation that the company is going to do something with that feedback. Worse than not being heard is being heard and then ignored. Paula Berg from Southwest Airlines shared how a simple blog post stating the airline was considering assigned seating amassed tons of customer comments showing a lack of support for the idea. This feedback changed the direction of their internal debate and led to a new boarding procedure that maintained the open seating arrangement.

3. They aren’t calibrated internally with the technology

Jason Falls chastised corporate Web sites for being little more than online brochures. Customers expect interaction. Content creation is key to social media success, and every company should have a Web site with a content management system that allows for quick, easy content creation without the IT department needing to recode a Web site. Anyone in the organization should be able to publish via a CMS. And companies can’t expect to have a strong social media presence when social sites are blocked internally to employees.

4. They’re not framing risk accurately

Dharmesh Shah reminded us all that a corporate blog has never been fatal to an organization. NBC cameraman Jim Long said the often a company’s entry into social media is a clumsy, shotgun blast and that there’s an equal chance of looking foolish by having a ham-fisted marketing department launch a social media presence as there is if a rogue employee “goes off” on Twitter. The risk of social media is not abated by not participating. And really, while there have certainly been some hiccups and miscues along the way, social media has yet to be the undoing of any company.

5. Their internal culture isn’t aligned for social media success

The customer should be at the core of the brand. When policies, procedures, products and processes become more important than the customer, there’s no way social media efforts can be effective. When your employees are more concerned with what’s in or out of their job description than doing the right thing to help the customer, that’s not a culture that’s likely to build trust and advocacy for your brand. Yes, Zappos was cited time and again as a case study, but largely because it has a culture that makes social media work. All of its employees are focused on customer service at the core. The same holds true for Southwest Airlines.

Crowdsourced branding, a disaster for Kraft?

When Kraft launched a spin-off of their uniquely Australian Vegemite spread, they turned to consumers for a name… and it was dropped four days later. Last week another name was announced, can Kraft make it right this time?

The year was 1923 when chemist Cyril Callister took out a newspaper ad announcing his new food invention, a salty yeast extract spread made from the by-products of beer manufacturing, and a £50 award for the best name. Similar to the British Marmite, the sticky brown paste has become a staple in the country, selling more than 22 million jars per year. Over 85 years later, Kraft Foods followed Callister’s plan to name a new milder variation—a Vegemite and cream cheese blend—with much less fanfare.

“Now all it needs is a name,” Kraft launched the new product with a TV commercial by JWT Australia.

iSnack 2.0

Kraft Foods launched an Australia-wide contest in June 2009, putting the product on grocery shelves with special “Name Me” packaging. Over 48,000 entries came in across the country during the three-month contest, (somehow) resulting in the name ‘iSnack 2.0.’
Announced September 26th during the 2009 Australian Football League Grand Final, the name was chosen by a panel of marketing and communication experts in an effort to market the longtime staple to the younger ‘iPod’ generation. Replacing the temporary packaging, the new labels were printed with the tagline: “iSnack 2.0, because it's the next generation Vegemite.”
The name was coined by Dean Robbins, a 27-year-old web designer:

It was all a bit tongue-in-cheek really, the ‘i’ phenomenon and Web 2.0 have been recent revolutions, and I thought the new Vegemite name could do the same.

Left: Original Vegemite spread (Photo: StephenMitchell, Flickr); Right: Packaging for iSnack 2.0 and the “Name Me” contest (Photo: avlxyz, Flickr)

Cheesybite, Vegefail

Within days, criticism was heard all over Australia, especially among the product’s tech-savvy target market who took to YouTube and Twitter (making #Vegefail a trending topic). “The new name has simply not resonated with Australians. Particularly the modern technical aspects associated with it,” Kraft said in a statement on September 30th. The controversial name was discontinued only four days after its launch.

Our Kraft Foods storeroom currently has thousands of jars of the iSnack 2.0 named Vegemite. This product will be distributed around Australia, and will continue to be sold in supermarkets for months to come – until Australia decides upon a new name.

Nameless once again, Kraft scrambled to short-list another six names and let the public decide. Polling more than 30,000 people, Kraft announced the product’s newest name on October 7th: ‘Vegemite Cheesybite,’ which captured 36% of the votes (although many chose ‘none of the above’ and were not included in the vote).

Left: Vegemite Cheesybite, Kraft’s third and (hopefully) last packaging for the new product; Right: Results from Kraft’s survey
The name ‘Cheesymite’ was never considered, due to its popular use for another cheesy Vegemite-based snack in Australia and New Zealand. However it has been reported the name Cheesybite might come with its own legalcan of worms (just what they need).
The new Cheesybite jars will replace the iSnack variation in the coming months.

What does this say about the brand?

Kraft assures us this is not a publicity stunt, “We are proud custodians of Vegemite and have always been aware that it is the people's brand and a national icon.” Regardless, the publicity has the remaining iSnack-branded jars flying off grocery shelves and making their way onto eBay as “rare collector’s items.”
Some have said this incident has damaged the Vegemite brand in Australia. No one can deny iSnack 2.0 was a terrible choice—it says nothing about the product, and even the thought of it makes anyone who’s ever used an iPod roll their eyes (who were these marketing “experts” that handpicked the name from over 48,000 entries, anyway?).
But after all this, one thing is very clear: Australians are passionate about the Vegemite brand (and that’s what every brand wants)