LONDON – Y&R New Zealand and what3words emerged as the Most Awarded Advertising Agency and Most Awarded Design Agency respectively at the 54th D&AD Professional Awards Ceremony.
Technology startup what3words snatched one of the two coveted Black Pencils awarded for ‘The World Addressed,’ a pioneering method of communication precise locations around the world. The other elusive Black Pencil was awarded to iyamadesign for ‘mt expo 2015,’ a spatial design in Japan for masking tape brand, Kamoi Kakoshi.
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“We talked a lot about work that we viewed as game changing. We talked about the responsibility of sending a message to the design community to say this [a Black Pencil winner] will change the way we look at design. We also talked about the iconic work that had won in the past, and how you remember the impact it had,” shared Christian Davies, Fitch EDC Americas and Foreman for Spatial and Experiential Design.
“mt expo 2015 was beautiful in its simplicity. I thought it was a piece of work that inspired wonder in the people that experienced it. There was a common theme that was to discuss the backlash against ‘digital for digital’s sake’. So I voted for something that was beautifully simple,” Davies added.
Despite the absence of a Black Pencil in their haul, Y&R New Zealand bagged a total of ten Pencils, eight of which–six Yellow Pencils, one Graphite Pencil and one Wood Pencil–was for their work on McWhopper for Burger King Corporation.
Recognizing work which demonstrates outstanding creativity for social good, three White Pencils were awarded to ‘Security Moms’ by Ogilvy Brazil for Sport Clube do Recife, ‘Fairphone 2’ by seymourpowell for Fairphone, and ‘Clever Buoy’ by M&C Saatchi for Optus.
“We’ve seen a record number of entries and some truly wonderful work, including stand-out pieces of creative thinking in our new Media and PR categories. Equally pleasing is that putting purpose alongside profit and seeking to ‘do well by doing good’ is driving increasing numbers of incredibly high quality work for some very big brands. We love it when the commercial agenda and the sustainability agenda begin to intersect,’” commented Tim Lindsay, CEO, D&AD.
DIVISION was named the Most Awarded Production Company while Burger King was the Most Awarded Client the McWhopper campaign by Y&R New Zealand.
This year’s President’s Award was given to Steve Henry, co-founder of Decoded and one of the founders and creative partner of the world-renowned advertising agency HHCL. Henry is known for his “You’ve Been Tango’d” commercials and other well-known catchphrases such as Ronseal’s “Does what it says on the tin.”
“Steve Henry’s work and approach has inspired, shaken and awoken a generation of today’s Creative Directors. Populist TV, diversity, tech start-up, purpose and education – it’s all here. As engaged today as ever, he’s the person I most enjoy trying to reimagine the industry with over a cup of tea,” shared Andy Sandoz, D&AD President.
A total of 747 Pencils were awarded during the D&AD Judging 2016 with the United Kingdom leading globally with 217 Pencils while Japan led Asia with a total of 42 Pencils including one Black Pencil and four Yellow Pencils.
