The best ads from Campaign Brief’s 30 years. 1994: WA Turf Club ‘Yearling’

Campaign Brief WA turns 30 this month, so over the thirty days of June we’re looking back and choosing the best ad done in each of our 30 years.

There’s a bit to choose from for 1994 but for us it comes down to two: The Brand Agency’s WA Turf Club ‘Yearling’ magazine ad and Marketforce’s ‘Shark!’ outdoor poster for Underwater World.

It’s close but we’ll give it to the former as perhaps the high point of print craft in Perth.

‘Yearling’ and in fact the whole campaign was precisely written by Peter Nelson, beautifully shot by Allan Myles and lovingly art directed by Craig Buchanan. The Races have never looked so good – and that was the point.

The campaign aimed at restoring the integrity of the racing industry, which Account Director, the late Ken Painter, said had for too long focused on the “side shows” and forgotten the main event. Each execution concentrated on a particular aspect of the essence of horse racing. ‘Jockey’ was also particularly good.

The campaign went on to absolutely dominate the PADCs the following year, winning Best of Show, The West Australian Fellowship, and awards in every category related to it.

‘Shark!’ was created by hot Sydney team Adam Lance and Denis Mamo, who only spent a year at Marketforce but lit up the town with a succession of great work across most media. This was one of their best. Silver at the PADCs and lots of picks in our Creative Circle.

Couple of other shout-outs.

Mike Edmonds was still cranking out great radio spots for HBF Travel Insurance. ‘Back to the boring commercials’ was the latest and we’d have picked it as best of the year if we hadn’t already given the campaign a nod for 1992. ‘Back to the boring commercials’ went on to win the first $20,000 94.5FM Radio Writers Award in 1995 – against all comers. It was a national competition that year, with 18 commercials from WA and 18 from the east in the running.

A small space press ad for The Bra Bar was very topical at the time. Security guards at Burswood Casino had been caught out using their cameras to look down women’s tops. This ad by freelancer Nick Rheinberger (and also shot by Myles) for a local lingerie shop generated heaps of extra publicity when it ran.

And 303 launched ‘Ted’ for HBF at the end of the year. Now, the industry hated this ad – way too cute and sentimental – but the public went nuts for it. This first ad in what would become a long-running series was created by Lindsay Medalia and Ray Van Kempen, and used live action combined with Paintbrush animation to bring Ted to life. It won nothing but like we said, it was a sensation with the general public and lifted the already strong HBF brand to another level again.