74 ADS MAKE THE CUT FOR CAXTONS BUT ONLY 7 FINALISTS FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Judging of entries into the 2008 Caxton Awards for excellence in newspaper advertising has been completed, resulting in 74 finalists across 26 categories, with the number of entries up by 10 per cent on last year.
From Perth Marketforce lead the way with three finalists – Cancer Council “10 things a bloke should know”, Cancer Council “Cancer fighting machine” and Crimestoppers “Think you saw something”. Rare Creative Thinking were also multiple finalists picking up two, both for The Playroom “Big ideas for little minds”. 303 and AdImpact both had finalists for Aroma Cafe “Coffee stain” and Midalia Steel “Keep em apart” respectively.
Finalist nominations were hotly contested with Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney securing 12 finalists, M&C Saatchi Sydney 8 finalists, Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand 7 finalists, Clemenger BBDO Adelaide 6 finalists, BMF Sydney with 5 and JWT Sydney and The Campaign Palace Melbourne with 4 nominations each.
See the complete list of finalists.
23 Comments
‘but only 7’
How many did you expect CB? Given the high quality work on offer from the entire region, I think we did alright.
Don’t settle for ‘alright’ 11:57.
‘Alright’ will just get you a finalist every now and again.
I’m old enough to fondly remember 1988 when JMA O&M Perth had 12 Caxton finalists and WA had around 19 in total.
What happened to the ORS Mates Motel by MF. Finalists at Cannes, Spikes and a One Show Merit yet not good enough to make the cut at the local press comp???
Ah 1988, the good old days! When Creatives used to do solid creative ads that ran. Multiple times. With the clients’ blessing. Sadly the gotta-win-at-any-costs scam merchants have put an end to that golden era. And “raised the bar” for everyone. I’m sure local agencies submitted many of their best real ads in good faith . So how many of our paltry seven successes came out of one-offs for the West’s Caxtons comp or pro-bono charity ads?
One Perth agency, 12 Caxton finalists? The same as Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney this year. Got a link to any of it? Would love to see the work.
Do you really think we can compete at that level now?
Also, I don’t think anyone is ‘settling’ for anything, I think the comment was just stating that in comparison to big agency ‘proactive’ capabilities, WA wasn’t an embarrassment.
A link to the work? I think you are showing your age 2:52. In 1988 we were just coming to terms with the fax machine.
All I remember is the Caxton was for Hooker Land “Ump the Queue.J” which ironically was a one-off, small space ad created overnight by Mike Edmonds and Dale Simmonds and brilliantly sold to the client by Lyn Minihan. McCann Erickson’s Peter Nelson and Mark Naglazas (now The West’s film critic) also won a Caxton that year for a long copy WA Trustees ad. Then, as now, many newspaper ads were designed to appear just once so I don’t think much has changed.
Yes we can compete with Saatchi and the like over east… especially in the newspaper medium. Maybe we need to be more proactive over the whole year rather than just for the two weeks prior to The West’s Caxton Comp.
It’s true that at least one of the ads is a West Caxton comp entry (and winner). But when I’m there at the West winner announcement i see that everyone has entered so maybe you are a bit jealous, 2.39? As for pro bono clients, we’ve all got them but it seems like only a couple of agencies take that opportunity to get anything worthy of a Caxton finalist. Plus, all these pro bono public service ads have their own category so they are all judged against each other, which makes things fairer. And before you say, Yeah but doing a good ad for a charity is easier than doing an ad for a laundry detergent, save youer breath – I agree.
The Brand got 7 finalists in 2001.
That Crimestoppers “Think you saw something?” ad looks a lot better here than it did in the paper where answer was a resounding “Um, not really”. Thank goodness it is only the Could Be Caxtons comp that requires tearsheets.
I’ve been wondering about the Caxton Competition winner you mentioned 3.48. How is it that this can be a 2008 Caxton finalist when the exact same idea picked up a bronze in last year’s AWARD show? (For those interested, it was done by Clemenger BBDO Wellington for their client Accident Compensation Corporation – http://www.clemengerbbdo.co.nz/main.html.) In no way am I intimating that Jules and Murray pinched the idea, as Kim pointed out coincidences happen. But surely once you find out it’s been done, you should pull it from all future awards. Kim, is it time for a code of conduct?
10% finalists. 10% population, but a far smaller proportion of the national advertising budget. Could we do better? Yes. Should we want to do better? Yes. Should we beat ourselves up? No. Caxtons is a great event. Get behind it!
It’s not Jules and Murray’s fault 6.30pm. The West competition is a creative exercise and I’m sure they were really happy with all the entries they put in. However, judges at every level should be aware of what has been going on at awards in the last few years. I think if the big names had bothered to look at the work at this year’s competition the similarity would have been picked up pretty quick. Should they pull it? I don’t think so. The next group of judges might have the same annuals as you on their shelves and if they haven’t, good luck to the guys.
Ad Impact again eh? And not a classifieds ad. Right when I was just about to dub them the classified kings. Well Done.
Does Ad Impact’s latest attempt strike anyone else as being remarkably similar to the ‘fence em in’ idea that ran previously – http://www.lemonflip.sk/index.php?newsid=10416
Steve Lorimer’s version was much better. I bet Luciano misses him.
We don’t have the ability to look at a piece of work we’ve done and know immediately whether it’s been done before. But we do have the power when we find out to pull it from Awards shows. If this isn’t a commonly accepted practice, what’s to stop the more unscrupulous amongst us, copying work, entering awards, then claiming ignorance? What’s that going to do for creative standards? And what’s that going to do for our industry?
Now I need to go back to work. I’ve had a great idea that uses a stack of casino chips to represent a stubbed out cigarette.
The Crimestoppers ad is not the same as the ‘bikes just appear’ ad from ClemengerBBDO NZ. It uses a similar technique in the same way as Rare’s “trains appear from nowhere”. Coincidences like this happen all the time.
Perhaps some very raw juniors may deliberately copy work but it is a short term strategy as creatives who do this will always get caught.
6.30pm: A code of conduct? are you kidding?
I agree with Kim. Who cares if the ad only ran once. As Kim said often they are only created to run once. And these little comments about the West creative exercise creating scam ads. That’s rubbish as all the ads get signed off by the client and only the winner gets free media.
Take out the 3 ads above that came out of the West competition, and 303’s great Ikea ad that also came from the comp, and our creative output as a whole plummets.
Most of the last two year’s best press also came from the comp. I think it is amazing the support Les at The West gives us. Thanks Les.
5.40. Are you from The Brand? I hope not cos the worst case of digital trickery for award shows in recent history was surely the before and ‘after’ shots to reveal the flowers in the Water corp ad. When i tested it I got a grey lump of pulp… what a waste of water
2:26 Everyone knows an ad doesn’t need to work in real life to win an award. Get with the programme!
I’m depressed. The Brand Agency got 7 finalists in 2001 but our whole Perth industry can only get 7 this year. I am new to the industry but surely we should be moving forward and just because we are in Perth this should not hold us back.
I’d love to put my name to my comments but I really want to work with you all. Good on Steve Harris and Kim Shaw for having the balls to comment. I’d love to work in your agency one day.
Well said (12.37) especially about Les Corner. Thank you Les. You has been a fantastic supporter of creativity in Perth for a very long time and very worthy of your PADC life membership.
If you want to test this, next time you meet a sales rep from any radio or TV station explain to them about what a great idea you have and see how the rep reacts. Les is the only one in Perth that is equally excited as you. That says a lot about him.
Thanks 12.37 and 6.49, still so much more to do – there is a gold print lion in WA lurking some where. What a day that will be!! Keep thinking.
12.07 Maybe it’s similar because it’s part of a campaign and the fact that Drew Ridley who was a half the creative team at the time is still at Ad Impact. Nuf said.
Steve Lorimer