The Best of Perth 2009

Our December issue (out now) has our annual review of the best work done in Perth over the past year, as seen by some of the town’s creative directors.

Here’s what caught their eyes (and ears). Do you agree? Or is there something you think they missed?

Brett Wheeler – Rare

TV: HBF ‘Your health is all that matters’ campaign (Meerkats). Greatidea, amazingly produced and damn brave. It reminds us all of thereason why we take out health insurance in the first place. Online: 7PMProject (Marketforce). Simple, fun and interactive. A tick in everybox, and perfect for the medium. Print: That Poker ad (Gatecrasher). Itdoes what every award-winning print ad (and online ad) has to do thesedays, which is to use the medium. Radio: RAC ‘SOS’ (The Brand Agency).It made me laugh. Ambient: Gordon Dawson. I was thinking about givingit to the ORS ‘Brain Game’ projection (Marketforce), however Gordonjust edged it out with his speech at this year’s PADC awards. Shit thatwas funny.

Ron Samuel – Cooch

First of all congratulations to all the creatives and agency people whomanaged to keep their jobs this year. The GFC claimed some talentedpeople and I hope they managed to land on their feet somewhere. If Iwere a single person in that situation I’d definitely be heading toAsia where there is both growth and opportunity. Amidst all of thegloom we heard rumours about the collapse of our industry, the end ofagencies and all sorts of other silly stuff. All that’s really happenedis that the evolution of the advertising industry was accelerated. Thechanges we were expecting to flow into the industry overtime wereforced in by necessity.

Every time we experience market volatility the industry changes and itdoesn’t revert. I believe that this time will not be an exception. Whatkind of changes? Well clients who knew nothing about digital but had touse it, due to budget or circumstance, and achieved great, measurable,results. They will now educate themselves and keep moving in thatdirection, which will be a healthy challenge for all us. Google becomesthe national sponsor of AWARD school, showing that it’s still all aboutideas regardless of the medium. That kind of stuff.

It was slim pickings creatively over the year, which is understandablegiven the low appetite for risk across the board. Nevertheless it wasgreat to see a client like IKEA sticking to its creative beliefs, whileothers were in retail panic.  They let Marketforce continue to creategreat work, as they did with 303, and it stood out head and shouldersabove most of their competitors.

The most inspiring piece of press work for me was the Poker ad byGatecrasher, an excellent idea, precisely targeted and well executed.We need more of those.

Equilibrium’s website for Nick Cave was as good as you’d see anywhereand a well deserved winner at the Australian Web Awards. I’m sure we’llbe seeing a lot more from them.

For radio the ‘Recycled Radio’ campaign for CD Dodd by Rare was astandout. I’m sure that it will be recognised at lots of shows.

It looks like it’s going to be another interesting year next year. Good luck everyone.

Adam Barker – Gatecrasher

For me, the standout ads in 2009 have been created either this year, orlast year, as part of The West Australian Competition. It’s amazing howoften an annual review of WA’s best turns into a review of West Compwinners and finalists. (No wonder the other states are jealous whenthey see what comes out of it.)

One of my favourite things about this competition is that it almostalways gives rise to a completely new way of looking at one of ouroldest mediums. I’m talking about the ads that find an innovative wayof using the newspaper medium itself.

The ORS ‘Tear’ ad is one of those unique, simple ideas that makes usengage with the paper in a novel way and dramatises a relevant messagein the process. Great stuff.

Another lovely idea was the IKEA ‘Crossword’ ad. I reckon it was robbedat the Caxtons. I don’t think it’s going to do as well as ‘SlidingDoor’ (another West Comp ad of course), but we haven’t heard the lastfrom this one yet.

I quite like the Lifesaving ‘Don’t Drink and Drown’ ad from 303 too. Infact, I was working on a similar brief for a similar client when I sawthis poster. Unfortunately, it was exactly the same visual I was aboutto present to my client. Bugger.

Craig Buchanan – The Brand Agency

That blank piece of paper stares at you. It’s intimidating. It looks atyou as if to say, ‘ok pal, where is it…show me how good you reallyare.’ The deadline looms. The suits are circling. Panic sets in. Maybea cup of tea will help. OK – read the brief again. What are we reallytrying to say here? Christ, look at those mandatories. Three logos? Youhave to be kidding. Alright concentrate.

Ever noticed when you tear a newspaper one way it goes in a straightline but you tear it the other way and it goes all wonky? Brilliantinsight. Absolutely fabulous ad. Well done Chewy and Ryan. The Officeof Road Safety ‘Tear’ ad gets my vote for Best of the Year. I’m surethere were some anxious moments waiting for that wonderful insight.Worth every bit of sweat that went into that idea I reckon. And Iunderstand that it wasn’t for the Caxton Competition, so for me thatmakes it even better. Nothing against the comp of course but obviouslythe real briefs with real deadlines and real mandatories are a littletougher to crack (Alas Craig, it was done for The West Caxton Comp -Ed). Great ideas like this that come out in a year of economic woes,global meltdown thingies and an atmosphere of conservatism should beapplauded, and not just the people that have the job of staring at thatblank piece of paper and cracking the big idea but also the ‘circlingsuits’, planners and the client.

Mitch’s ‘Recycling’ radio campaign and the IKEA work has also been impressive and deserves all the accolades they’ve received.

OK, back to that blank piece of paper. Maybe a cup of tea first.

Andrew Tinning – Marketforce

I can’t believe it’s that time of year again. My, how time flies! Itwould seem that in 2009 our industry has suffered the same fate as thewine industry. We’ve both been at the mercy of climate change and thedrought that has followed. The result has been slim pickings and a yearthat cannot be described as being exactly vintage.

The cream of the previous years’ crop has continued to do well on awardstages but most of it has now run its course and next year may prove tobe a d
ifferent story.

It’s the work that was produced here this year that will determine ourcreative reputation beyond these borders so let’s hope for a late runof brilliance. Anyway waffles are best served at breakfast and not in articles like this so without further ado here are my picks.

TV: The Rethink drink was very well produced and made a powerful point.The most shocking thing about it was the decision to take it off air.The new HBF campaign was again beautifully crafted although it seemedto polarise a lot of people. Moving from nice people to nice peoplesuffering both physically and emotionally was a big brave step.Ultimately brand health will determine its success.

Print: The big winner here, along with some other pieces I can’tmention, has to be Burswood Poker by Gatecrasher. Ace idea aceexecution. I also liked the new foster care campaign from the boys atCooch – not a sad looking kid in sight and all the more engaging forit. The Office Of John Cheese by Block was beautifully crafted and theprint component of the Jesus campaign from 303 was very simple and veryengaging. I’m not sure if the credit goes to their Sydney office thoughor whether it’s regarded as a Perth piece because a Perth creative wasinvolved. Regardless I liked it because it wasn’t preachy andmanipulating like a lot of stuff in the same category.

Digital: Jesus has a second coming in this category as well, again -nice simple engaging and fun. The work for the Nick Cave exhibition byEquilibrium was very nice and justifiably recognised at the AustralianWeb Awards. The Curtin Box received a lot of hype and was one of thefew local examples of a digitally driven integrated idea and I applaudthem for having a go.

Outdoor/ambient: Cooch did some nice stuff for Transperth and the GoldSkull for indoor goes to the inaugural Campaign Brief Legendary Lunch.

Radio: This is an interesting one. The PADC judges expressed theirdisappointment given our rep as a radio town but I thought there weresome worthy spots produced this year. Meerkat’s iiNet ‘InterruptingIrishman’ and Murdoch Uni ‘Sound Journey, Brand’s RAC ‘SOS’ and Rare’sCD Dodd campaign all struck a chord.

Design: The Gold goes to Gentleman’s Agreement for Dan Murphy’s by Braincells – a lovely piece of work.

This was the stuff I noticed and in most cases really liked. I’m notgoing to bother bagging the stuff I didn’t, it’s counter productive andit’s all been vented on the blog.

Cheers and here’s to a happy creative new year.

Mark Braddock – Block

Apart from the usual suspects (ie IKEA newspaper and tv) there havebeen a few things that have got me excited in Perth this year. If youhaven’t heard of Studio Bomba yet you should do yourself a favour andcheck out their website (studiobomba.com.au). They are doing some greatwork that is both big on ideas and wonderfully crafted. This year theywere featured on Communication Arts’ website and presented at SemiPermanent. I love the self-promo poster they did – Sagmeister goes cute- very cool.

I am also impressed with the recent work that has been produced forChicken Treat. It’s not going to be featuring in any award show soonbut it has come forward in leaps as far as production values go and itreally has an engaging tone of voice. It finally feels like the brandis developing a personality distinct from its stablemate Red Rooster.

And finally, it may not be advertising as such, but I have been excitedby the rise of Jus Burgers. This is one of those micro-brands thatPerth does so well. It shows what you can do with a great product,attention to detail and a hell of a lot of hard work – this is realcreativity. Look forward to seeing how they grow the business over thenext few years.