EURO WINS DEC/JAN ‘COULD BE A CAXTON’ FOR VEET ‘GOODBYE BUSH’ TOPICAL AD

The topical Veet ‘Goodbye Bush’ newspaper ad, created by John Gault and Patryjca Lukjanow (pictured below) via Euro RSCG, Sydney has taken out the December/January ‘Could Be a Caxton’ competition ‘Could be a Caxton’ was established by the Caxton Committee and supported by The Newspaper Works to recognise and showcase great creativity on a bi-monthly basis.

Client: Reckitt Benckiser

Agency: Euro RSCG Australia

ECD: Rowan Dean

Copywriter: John Gault

Art Director: Patryjca Lukjanow

Judge of the December/January competition and Creative Director of The Campaign Palace, Cameron Hoelter, said: “I have to make it perfectly clear up front I don’t really like puns. In fact when I see one, I usually make that ‘wincey face’ more associated with watching someone fall over on concrete.

“So this month’s ‘Could be a Caxton’ throws up an interesting creative dilemma. Because the strongest ad this round is Veet ‘Goodbye Bush’. Sitting directly under a large photo and article about Obama’s inauguration, it’s a nice example of topical advertising.

“Now this is the bit where I sound like a hypocrite. The ad made me smile. I remember thinking how strange it was to see an ad in a newspaper that made me actually feel something. I also remember my second reaction, ‘shit, a pun’, and a familiar one at that,” he said.

“So when the bundle of ‘Could be a Caxton’ finalists arrived on my desk to judge, I prayed there would be a better ad than Veet, thus neatly avoiding this creative conundrum. And there were a couple of other nice efforts – the Artline ad was also a worthy example of topical advertising – but nothing resonated nearly as much.

“In fact I was talking to my mum the other day and she mentioned she’d seen the Veet ad, ‘the one with the Bush slogan’. And even after disappointing her that it wasn’t one of mine, she still thought it was very clever. So there you have it. Veet it is.”

The Artline ad creative credits are:

Client: Pelikan Artline

Agency: BCM

Creative Director: Nick Ikonomou

Copywriter: Nick Ikonomou

Art Director: Andy Iles

The February/March competition is now open for entries.  It’s free to enter and anyone can submit nominations.  For more information on how to enter the Could Be a Caxton competition and the Caxtons in general, visit www.thecaxtonawards.com.au