Asia's best shine at Spikes 07

Following what may have been the closest showdown in the 21-year history of the Asian Advertising Awards - now renamed the Spikes - an integrated campaign took home the top award for the first time.

Japan’s Hakuhodo shop Space Runner scooped the Platinum prize for a holistic approach to selling Pana-sonic’s Oxyride batteries.

Deploying everything from TV to PR, the campaign saw Japanese consumers follow a team trying to power the first manned flight using only dry-cell batteries. Eventually, they succeeded with 100 batteries. “I have to believe the Panasonic campaign is going to win at Cannes,” said jury chairman Bob Scarpelli, chief creative officer of DDB Worldwide.

“What I loved about it is that it engaged the public too; it engaged the consumer,” said Scarpelli, who will chair film and press at Cannes this year. “That’s real communication. That’s a real client and magnificent product demonstration.”

Another judge, Linda Locke, Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific ECD, added: “You really have to give the client kudos for committing to this. It could’ve been a huge embarrassment if it didn’t take off.”

Fireworks, strobe lights and thunderous applause commemorated the announcement at the awards ceremony attended by over 300 people in the elegant surroundings of the chic Ku De Ta. The platinum win was a close call however, as Scarpelli revealed after the awards show. “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” he confided to delegates on the last day of the Spikes conference, held at the Ritz-Carlton. “We came down to a tie-break between Oxyride and the second Smooth E campaign,” he said.

JEH United had won top honours last year for its first Smooth E campaign, putting it in position for a dramatic double win. “The vote was seven-seven, since one of the judges had dropped out,” Scarpelli continued. “So as chairman, I got to cast the final vote. And last night, when the winner was announced, half the jury told me I was an idiot, the other half gave me the thumbs-up.”

One judge, Dentsu executive creative director Yuya Furukawa, said: “The Platinum award had to send a message from all us judges. If we selected Panasonic, the message would have been, ‘as creative persons we should step into a new world, beyond conventional method, media, even beyond advertising’. If we selected Smooth E, the message would have been, ‘the power of TVC is still strong; it is the most emotional media and the possibilities are endless’. I decided from such a perspective.”

Only four golds were awarded this year, to Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore for its Navy ‘Page turner’ direct mail work, Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai for its IAPA adoption print ads, JEH United for Smooth E in TV and Space Runner for its Panasonic work, winning in the integrated category.

Out of nearly 4,700 pieces of work, the judges awarded one platinum, four golds, 38 silvers and 48 bronzes, underscoring the Spikes’ reputation for rigorous judging. “It’s not one of those shows where they throw away a whole bunch of awards,” said one judge, Mark Waites, chief creative officer and joint partner of Mother UK. “To win a gold here, you’ve really got to try hard.”

As the sun and surf beckoned outside, the main panel of 15 regional and global creatives shivered inside the judging room for three full days.

Donald Gunn, founder of the Gunn Report, witnessed part of the judging process. “What’s impressed me the most so far is the high quality of the judges assembled here. The judging has been very excellently organised.”

TV stood out again as the strongest category, for most of the jury, particularly work from Japan and Thailand.

“Asia has such a unique sense of humour,” said Andy McKeon, ECD of JWT Australia and New Zealand. “It’s more colourful, more real than what you’ll find in the US or Europe.”

Looking slicker than last year, the second installment of JEH United’s ‘Smooth E Baby Foam’ campaign, which introduced some new, pimple-faced characters to wise-cracking pharmacist Joom, nabbed the only gold in the TV category. “It’s so hard to do year two,” said TBWA\London ECD Steve Henry. “But you just want to see these spots again and again.”

Despite the accolades, some judges felt TV creative hadn’t surpassed the standards set in 2006. “TV was strong, but not as good as last year,” said Chukiat Jaroensuk, ECD of Euro RSCG Flagship Thailand.

Paul Catmur, ECD of Y&R Australia and New Zealand, agreed. “The best three campaigns for me were the best three last year too. But I liked the Japanese work. They always do quirky stuff that doesn’t follow a ‘Cannes-style’. They do their own thing.”

Reactions to print, on the other hand, were more mixed. “Print this year was very good,” said Tham Khai Meng, co-chairman and ECD of Ogilvy & Mather Asia-Pacific.

McKeon agreed. “There was a lot of beauty here and Asia really captured it well. As far as craft went, Asia really nailed it.” Print, however, also turned judges’ attention to the controversial issue of scam advertising. “There was a lot of work in print that isn’t scam as such, because it does run and it’s legal, but it’s near scam,” said Henry. “It’s semi-scam.”

Scarpelli felt there were a lot of public service ads in this category. “There was some fantastic public service work, but I was looking at it hoping it was having real impact,” he said.

Ogilvy Mumbai laid claim to the only gold in this category, but with six out of 12 print silvers, Singapore agencies ascended the stage most often. Ogilvy’s copy-driven ‘Death/Lung Cancer’ campaign for the Singapore Hospice Council and BBDO’s ‘Slouch’ campaign for Wrangler were saluted multiple times.

Meanwhile, with nearly 1,000 entries, outdoor received the largest response but, ultimately, the smallest percentage of metal. Creativity in outdoor left much to be desired, Locke said. “I think all the jury felt the quality in outdoor was quite disappointing,” she said. “We tended to see posters and point-of-sale ads. Little transient, little ambient, little interactive. There’s a lot of opportunity outdoors to use it cleverly for brands.”

Meanwhile, no golds were awarded by the Spikes’ inaugural digital panel, led by glue London founder Mark Cridge. “We were all a bit underwhelmed,” he said. “With the giving of awards, we were fairly generous, to be honest.”

The mobile category proved especially disappointing. “You always expect Asia as the region which is pushing mobile stuff, especially Japan and Korea,” said Fernanda Romano, ECD of Lowe New York. “But it was really hard to find something that deserved an award. I wish Japan had submitted more too. They usually do some really fantastic stuff, but we didn’t see much this year.”

Cridge noted that most of the work lacked in either idea, execution, or both. He was, however, particularly impressed by the Mentos Helpline website by OgilvyOne Mumbai. This spoof call centre uses a flash-based video to engage consumers online and captured one of only two silvers in digital. OgilvyOne also claimed the other, for a a DHL regional microsite developed by its Singapore office.

Standout work aside, judges expressed concern as well as admiration, with the prevalence of scam a hotly-discussed issue. “There was too much print and outdoor work without commercial intent,” Catmur said. “Our industry should be about problem-solving. Our job isn’t just about going to a client and telling them what to do.”

Henry said: “You can tell they’ve just mocked it up and done it once or twice or three times, and you get that in print. It’s a complicated issue. I think it’s time to move on from that kind of work, and try to concentrate on real clients doing real work.”

“We ended up challenging the finalists in every category,” said Scarpelli. “There was a lot of good discussion during judging. It is a very exciting time to be in this industry, and I believe some of the best work in the world is coming out of Asia. You’ve got a pretty tough jury in there. Asia shouldn’t really be worrying about award shows. It should be worried about building brands, about client relationships. The awards will come.”

Catmur wished more could see the work. “It’s important for creative directors to come to this show so that they can learn. They need to see what’s cutting-edge and what gets thrown out,” he said.

In tandem, Media also introduced the first Young Spikes programme at the kickoff party for the Spikes conference. Sponsored by Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions and Omnicom, the Young Spikes, which was chaired by TBWA\Asia-Pacific’s creative-at-large John Merrifield, will combine mentorship with prizes and special opportunities for the most promising creatives.

“The future is coming quicker than ever — and no one is going to be better prepared than the youngest people who are now coming into this business,” he said.

“They’re already living the way that we’re trying to communicate to people. While they may be the youngest, don’t be surprised if they’re really the most relevant.”

The Conference: Creative success is an art, not a science
By Robin Hicks

“If you talked to normal people the way advertising talks to people,” said Mark Cridge, chief executive officer of UK digital agency glue London, “they’d punch you in the face.”

The need for advertising to redefine itself was high on the agenda at the Spikes conference in Bali, which aimed to paint a picture of the creative future.

Steve Henry, executive creative director of TBWA\London, said that the industry should stop peddling half-truths and embrace a new era of transparency and honesty, in a session entitled ‘Postcards from Europe and South America’.

He said: “What we used to get away with doesn’t work in the open digital age.”

Which is why it’s even more important to stay true to core brand values, said Mark Waites, chief creative officer and founding partner of Mother UK, and Brad Roseberry, creative director of BBDO New York, in a talk on the Cola Wars.

So, too, is the need to entertain, and the time when marketing directors could think logically and not emotionally is over, said Henry. “Being entertaining is an art, not a science,” he added.

The need to entertain will bring agencies into conflict with traditional forms of entertainment such as TV programmes and films, added Henry. “Dove’s ‘Campaign for real beauty’ makes us feel better in a way a good documentary would,” he said.

The entertainment imperative, said Fernanda Romano, executive creative director of Lowe New York, is reaping havoc with the traditional agency model. “Agencies should be looking to fill their creative departments with musicians, artists and film producers,” she suggested.

“We need to change the way we recruit, and stop obsessing about the transition to a new agency model nobody can define.”

Crispin Porter + Bogusky is one agency which has got its model right, speakers argued in a session on the future of television.

Chris Moore, CEO of Sydney-based production house Filmgraphics, who worked at Crispin Porter as an integrated producer, pointed at its ‘Sublyminal advertising’ campaigns for Sprite as rare examples of how to properly integrate TV with digital media — and beat ad-skipping technology at the same time.

Crispin Porter’s Sprite work has been copied and parodied. Which is no bad thing, said one of the world’s top directors, Bryan Buckley.

“We need to think about how we can remix our work, and be mindful that the stories we tell live longer when they enter the digital space and take on lives of their own,” he said.

Asian agencies are “well placed for this future”, concluded Donald Gunn, director of the Gunn Report.
Last year, three out of the top 10 most-awarded TV commercials came from Asia and five out of the top 10 print ads were Asian.

If Asian agencies can embrace digital with the same creative rigour, speakers argued, they will enjoy a brighter future.