South Australian creative community rallies for sold-out 47th Annual AADC Awards, Showpony makes history with two coveted Gold Chair wins

In a celebration of local creative excellence, the Adelaide Advertising and Design Club (AADC) wrapped up a jam-packed week of inspiring talks with a bang at The Forty Seventh Annual AADC Awards last Thursday night. The annual event, this year held at the Wolf Blass Event Centre at Morphettville Racecourse was a sold-out affair, bringing together over 300 of South Australia’s creative community, current and emerging.

 

Local craftsperson, Scott Illingworth (pictured below) of Seeing Sounds was recognised with the iconic watering can trophy and a standing ovation, honoured for his significant and enduring impact on the creative industry.

Says AADC co-president Nic Eldridge: “The most common terms people raise when talking about them is that they are one of the good guys. Generous and humble but with a steely resolve to be the best they can be in their chosen craft. Bucking the trend within the industry, authenticity is their super power and wearing their heart on their sleeve is their signature trait. This person cares deeply about those he works with, and the industry at large.”

The Gold Chair, signifying the pinnacle of advertising excellence, was for the first time ever awarded to not one, but two entries — both from Showpony Adelaide. The Jury described Showpony’s TVC for Fantastic Snacks’ second phase of the award-winning Yup to the Cup campaign as “Amusingly weird with the right amount of wrong”, and loved the attention-grabbing campaign for BreastScreen SA, Make Time for the Girls.

View Showpony Adelaide’s Gold Chair entry for Fantastic Snacks’ Yup to the Cup Phase 2 here.

Showpony Adelaide’s Gold Chair entry for BreastScreen SA’s Make Time for the Girls campaign here.

The Rita Siow Design Chair, named in the honour of the late Rita Siow, celebrates the most outstanding design entry of the year and was awarded to the Smiling Starts brand identity, by Simple (pictured above) for the Western Australian government. The Smiling Starts project —which also picked up 5 awards across design and craft categories— was a crowd favourite, with comments from the Jury including “Every touch point breaks down the dental anxiety with tasteful humor and excitement. Every aspect of this brand works together wonderfully to evoke a positive feeling about going to see the dentist.” and “Brilliant project”.

View Simple’s Rita Siow Design Chair entry for the Western Australian Government’s Smiling Starts brand here.

The Master’s Chair for best in Craft, went to Marty Pepper (pictured above middle) of KOJO Studios for his exceptional post-production work on RAA’s Better to be a Member campaign, featuring the most well-known bee in South Australia, Trev. Pepper’s work on the campaign saw him facilitate a fully animated character into the commercials, including recording dialogue onset, lip syncing the character, removing road closures and high-vis before colour grading the shots to fully integrate Trev into the live action story.

View Marty Pepper of KOJO Studio’s Master’s Chair entry for RAA’s Better to be a Member campaign here.

The Chair for Good was introduced in 2022 to highlight creative work that drives social change. This year, kwpx’s (pictured above) work for Guide Dogs SA/NT took home the Chair for their Dogs Unite for Guide Dogs campaign. The work was well-received by the Jury across the Advertising category too, picking up a total of 4 Awards in addition to taking home the Chair for Good and being described as “Pawsome work!” by the Jury.

View kwpx’s Chair for Good entry for Guide Dogs SA/NT Dogs Unite for Guide Dogs campaign here.

The night also celebrated the future of the industry with the Student Awards, with Student of the Year being awarded to Brian Park (pictured above middle). The junior designer impressed the Student Jury with his work across the Flinders Private Hospital Rebrand and Parvis Magna Student Concert Program.

View Brian Park, Student of the Year’s entries for Flinders Private Hospital Rebrand here and Parvis Magna Student Concert Program here.

A full tally of all the night’s Award and major award winners:

Showpony Adelaide / 8 Awards plus The Gold Chair for best in Advertising

Simple / 6 Awards plus The Rita Siow Design Chair for best in Design
Including 2 Awards in Craft, awarded to Sam Brown and Matt Schirripa kwpx / 4 Awards, plus the Chair for Good for best in For Good

Fuller / 2 Awards
Both in Craft, awarded to Jarrod Knoblauch

Studio Landmark / 2 Awards

Scott Illingworth of Seeing Sounds / 2 Awards

KOJO Studios / 2 Awards
Both in Craft, awarded to Marty Pepper and Sam Clarke

Angela Heesom of Heesom Casting / 2 Awards

Proetic / 2 Awards

Black Sheep Advertising / 1 Award

Detour Design Studio / 1 Award

Jonathan van der Knapp of Jonathan VDK / 1 Award

Maxx Corkindale / 1 Award

NATION / 1 Award

Parallax / 1 Award

The Sideways Theory / 1 Award
Awarded to Jason Hollamby in Craft

Toolbox Graphic Design / 1 Award

Visualizm / 1 Award

A full tally of the night’s Student winners:

Brian Park / 2 Awards
Di Wang / 1 Award
Chloe Coates / 1 Award
Emily Daws / 1 Award
Georgia Sandford / 1 Award
Sam Magarey / 1 Award
Jessie Showell / 1 Award

Finalist, award and major award entries can be seen in the gallery here.

The AADC would like to acknowledge the continued and generous support of its sponsors and volunteers who make not only the Awards program, but all of the Club’s ambitious agenda possible across the year.