Bestads Best of the Week Reviewed by Damon Stapleton, Chief Creative Officer, Droga5 ANZ
Each week Bestadsontv.com [the global arm of Campaign Brief] picks the very best advertising in the world, in every medium – which is reviewed by a top creative director or team to select their own personal favourites.
This week’s guest judge is Damon Stapleton, Chief Creative Officer, Droga5 ANZ.
BEST TV
Winner: Uber ‘Zwiebellook‘. Such a nice simple truth. A truth that has happened to me many times while catching the bus as a student and riding a bike. Fun fact. Riding through a hailstorm without gloves hurts your knuckles. Layers and layers of clothing we carry. And it doesn’t bloody help. But one more layer (an Uber) could. I guess I was looking for some beautiful writing. Beautifully shot. I wanted to not know where it was going. I wanted to feel like I hadn’t seen it before. I also wanted a real connection to the benefit of the product. So, I got all that. And it reminded me how pissed off I was in the hailstorm without that extra layer. Congrats.
Runner Up: Rennie ‘Baxter’s Story‘. I know, I know. Controversial. It’s hard to win against a cute dog that sounds like a gangster in a Guy Ritchie film. Fair. Maybe it’s because I just got a puppy which means I may have some bias. But hear me out. I guess what I liked was that it felt effortless. It all just worked. Almost like an escape from the noise. Good writing. Well executed. You could argue this feels old fashioned. Sure, but there are lessons. It didn’t feel rushed. It gave you something for your time. It reminds us how a story well told still works. The simplicity is refreshing and entertaining. For a moment I forgot it was an ad. It made me genuinely smile. And come on guys, the dog talks.
BEST PRINT
Winner: Disneyland ‘Solar Eclipse‘. Quite a few solar eclipse pieces of work this week. I am always a sucker when you can create something singular that tells an entire story. For me this wins because the image does all the work. No copy required. Mickeys ear, the eclipse, the castle. This is where magic happens every day. You put it together in your head. Good stuff.
Runner Up: A&W Canada ‘Burgers to Beat MS‘. I always like print that doesn’t give you everything straight away. I like the fact you must look for the burger. You have to put it together. And a bit of humour. I like the insight too. Humans are lazy. Most of us don’t want to run a marathon to help our fellow man. But eat a burger. That we can handle. We might even eat two and really help.
BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: K18 ‘Tumblehair‘. I like this because it’s bloody mad and it has to happen in the real world. We are talking about a giant ball of real hair people. You will remember it. Can you remember any billboards you drove past today? Exactly. I also like work that transcends categories. Is this outdoor, experiential, an activation, film or social. Answer. Yes. Nice one.
Runners up: Magners ‘Great Comedy, Terrible Waste Of‘ and Netflix / The Last House ‘How Long Can He Servive‘. Sorry, I know this breaks the rules, but I like these for different reasons. Here is my issue. Outdoor has many definitions. These range from a billboard or poster all the way to something experiential that could involve actors or multi-media. That’s a big space and is hard to judge against each other. So, I like Magners because it is a simple old school billboard that is funny, impactful and well done because of a one visual and a single headline. I like it because it is great within the definition of a billboard. I love Netflix because it takes outdoor and pushes the boundaries. It understands that outdoor is now social, digital, television and just about everything else. It understands that giving humans an experience and entertainment will always be the way forward. I like both.
This week’s guest judge is Damon Stapleton, Chief Creative Officer, Droga5 ANZ.
Damon was Founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Monkeys in New Zealand. Before that he was Regional CCO of DDB ANZ where he led DDB NZ to 20 Agency of the Year titles. He was also ECD of Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and TBWA Hunt Lascaris, named South African Agency of the Decade.
Damon has created global work for BMW, Toyota, Heineken, Tourism Australia, Amazon, Qantas, McDonald’s and Adidas for the FIFA World Cup. His awards include almost 60 D&AD Pencils (two Black), 70+ Cannes Lions, three Grand Clios, 11 One Show Golds, and the first ADC Black Cube ever awarded. He’s best known for The Zimbabwean’s “Trillion Dollar” campaign which is in the permanent collection of The British Museum, Samsung I-Test which won a D&AD Black Pencil and OPSM’s “Penny the Pirate,” which was judged the world’s most effective campaign by WARC.
Damon has judged Cannes, D&AD and Spikes Asia on multiple occasions. He is also on the International Board of the One Show.
In his very small amounts of spare time, he has published short stories and writes his blog damonsbrain.com.
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