Clemenger BBDO/Proximity, Wellington takes out Grand Axis for KiwiRail ‘Conscious Crossing’; Colenso BBDO crowned Axis Agency of the Year
At a sell-out event at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland tonight, emceed by comedian, Brendan Lovegrove, 800 advertising types came together at the local to celebrate the industry’s best creative work from the past year.
The highly coveted Grand Axis for 2017 was awarded to Clemenger BBDO/Proximity (pictured top) for their simple-to-use but sophisticated “Conscious Crossing” created for KiwiRail around rail safety. The innovative idea which used metal bars to make pedestrians conscious of trains as they crossed the railway tracks was a hit with all judges. The trophy will sit alongside the Grand Prix awarded in Outdoor and in Design for User Experience and a further 7 Gold Axis Awards in Innovation, For Good, Out of Home Special Build, Non-Traditional Outdoor, Promo & Activation, User Experience, Brand Experience/Environmental, Product Design Non-Tech, and User Experience.
But tonight Colenso BBDO (pictured above) was the force du jour as they raced to the finish with a final tally of 36 finalists, 32 bronzes, 15 silvers and 4 golds to win the Agency of the Year for the second year running.
Clemenger BBDO/Proximity swept up on the night and the International Judges had this to say: “The Conscious Crossing goes further than a mere ad ever could. It forces consumers to change their behaviour at the moment when it’s most important – which is precisely what every ad we do is aiming for and so often missing. It’s a perfect example of an ad agency solving the client’s problem, not just the client’s brief.”
That said, there were many other great pieces of winning work and happy agency teams at Axis 2017.
Special Group had a great night out with their work for Goodman Fielder, Molenburg Sandwich Shop picking up a Gold in Design Brand Experience and 2 Degrees, “Data Hunt” picking up a Gold in Digital and Interactive Mobile. Karma Cola then went on to win not only a Gold for “What Comes Around Goes Around” in Design 360, but a Grand Prix for design and product work that was popular with both international and local judges alike. This work also went on to win a gold in For Good.
Other winners included DDB with their work for Tokyo Dry, picking up a Gold in TV Long Form. DDB/Beatworms then went on to win Gold in craft for Sound Design plus many silvers and a craft gold for Mum’s Wish in Cinematography.
Colenso BBDO picked up over a dozen silvers across the board and then Golds for Anchor, X-Ray Casts in Direct and Promo & Activation. Colenso BBDO also picked up a Gold for V Pure in Product Design and a Gold with Watermark Ltd for Digital Animation/Motion Graphics for their app for Mars PEDIGREE “A Dogs Story” in craft.
Ogilvy & Mather picked up two golds for NZ Police “Do you care enough to be a cop”, with the police client in full uniform joining them at the table for the night; and a second gold for “A Kauri Cries” for the Auckland City Council in Tech Driven Creative.
FCB also picked up a couple of Gold in Magazine for their work for NZ Fire Service, “Made From Remains” and then later for their Tech Driven Creative Vodafone 4G work Redline work.
TBWA picked up Gold for their work for the Salvation Army in the Charity categories for The Unexpected Homeless.
In Craft – The Sweet Shop had a great night picking up 3 golds, 1 for New Zealand Lotteries’ “Mum’s Wish” in Cinematography and 2 for HFC’s, “Health Is” in Direction and in Sound Design. Curious Films won for Direction with their piece for Clemenger BBDO/Proximity’s, “Hello” and Assembly won for animated work for Kubo and the Two Strings.
Creative Client of the Year went to Mars NZ (middle left) and The Sweet Shop (above left) celebrated six consecutive years being named Production Company of the Year.
Jen Storey (below left) was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her long, rewarding and creative career in the advertising industry as a much-loved and talented producer. The room took a moment to stand to pay their respect as the clip played and Jen was true to form with her short and excellent speech.
The Axis Student Challenge Award went to Nathaniel Ong and Lauren Day from Media Design School for their campaign Google Womb Hangout.
“Axis has always been the pivotal moment in the New Zealand creative calendar because it is a celebration of our best creative work; the work our industry is most proud of because it has broken the rules, permeates popular culture and influences behavioural change, and the winners this year are all great examples of those attributes” said Paul Head, CEO of CAANZ.
Nancy Hartley, ECD and Managing Partner of Rumble in Australia and Chuck Rachford, ECD at Cossette Chicago, USA flew into Auckland earlier last week, and joined the 4 local Jury Presidents on the Executive Judging Panel. Their role was to award the final metal which included a total of 26 gold Axis Awards, 3 Grand Prix and 7 additional Special Awards including Emerging Talent and the Axis Student Challenge.
11 Comments
Well deserved BBDO. Congratulations.
How can 4 golds win agency of the year? Or is it just those with the deepest pockets to enter 32 bronzes that will win each year
So many golds for work that wouldn’t have won last year.
And the conversation around the Grand Prix winner was generally WTF, back to nonsense theories.
Save the world or don’t bother entering.
How funny was I right??
maybe this wasn’t a vintage crop of kiwi creative but still, the conscious crossing is a genius idea. Well done clems.
The judging was pretty questionable. I mean Vodafone 4G, Karma Kola, V-Pure ? Really.
26 Golds for that crop of work is questionable.
Bad luck of you’re entering next year, as they’ll tighten the screws.
Brilliant work by Clemenger. Never have I seen one agency absolutely own the show like they did.
Great work for Clems. Some good work from Ogilvy. But can’t help but agree with you @Let’s be honest, I was genuinely baffled by those three getting gold. Silver at a pinch, but Gold?
Well done Jen. You are amazing at what you do. Leading the charge for what I hope is further recognition for Producers moving forward.