DDB Sydney’s ‘Amazing’ McDonald’s McValue radio spot wins round four of 2013 Siren Awards
A radio commercial for McDonald’s called “Amazing”, has won the single and overall categories in round four of the 2013 Siren Awards.
The spot was written by Cameron Hoelter (near left) and Richard Morgan (far left) from DDB Sydney for the McDonald’s McValue meal.
Winning writers, Hoelter and Morgan said the ad was inspired by a scene in the movie Uncle Buck: “There was a great scene in the movie where John Candy and Macaulay Culkin have a really dry, rapid-fire question and answer conversation and we thought it might funny to do something similar in a radio ad.”
LISTEN TO THE SPOT – MCD McValue Lunch Radio ‘Amazing’ 1.mp3
“Effective radio has to be single minded. But the best ideas also leverage the benefits of the medium. It’s nothing new, but radio gives you the power to trigger people’s imagination, better than any other medium.”
Says Andrew Woodhead, winner of the single and overall categories in round three and a judge in round four from Leo Burnett Melbourne: “Anyone who’s written retail radio knows it’s almost impossible to be engaging when your list of mandatories include the price, the product ingredients, the opening times and the jingle. This ad manages to do it all without compromising the entertainment value.”
The “Amazing” ad is now in the running to win the best radio ad of the year, which will be announced in May. Writers of the best radio ad for 2013 win airfares, accommodation, plus automatic entry and tickets to this year’s Cannes Advertising Lions Festival held 16- 22 June. For the second year running, the client of the Gold Siren winning ad also wins a trip to Cannes and the festival.
The campaign category winner in round four was the series of three ads for Britax Safe n Sound child car seats. Written by Eamonn Dixon and Daniel Grech (left) from agency DDB Melbourne, the series of ads cleverly paint a picture of the danger of other drivers on the road and why listeners should purchase a Britax Safe n Sound seat.
Winner of the craft category was the ad titled “Back in the Day” produced by Ralph van Dijk (Eardrum) and Abby Sie (Song Zu). In the South Australian Tourism Commission ad, comedian Fiona O’Louglin reminisces about family holiday road trips.
A further three ads were highly commended in the single category; another McDonald’s ad from Hoelter and Morgan of DDB Sydney titled “Lucky Day”, the ad titled “Kirsty” from the Britax Safe n Sound campaign winning series by Dixon and Grech and Whybin TBWA’s ad for Nissan Motor Co Australia, titled “It’s Hard to Picture It – HIT” written by Chris Ellis and Amelia Birrell.
Others highly commended in the craft category was another ad from van Dijk and Sie for the South Australian Tourism Commission called “Ages Ago”, a Nova 106..9 Brisbane ad produced by sound engineer, Ben Clayton for Queensland Theatre Company called “Photographs” and an ad for the University of Canberra by Production Alley sound engineers Rodney Lowe and Nic Buchanan.
Says Joan Warner, chief executive officer, Commercial Radio Australia: “The entries into the Siren Awards continue to be highly creative and showcase radio as an effective advertising medium.”
Round five, the last opportunity for entry into the 2013 Siren Awards is now open. Entries close for round 5 on 15 February.
14 Comments
Well done Cam and co.
Oh, and well done Chris Ellis!
Hear that? That’s John Candy sobbing in heaven.
Really nice campaign DDB. Would be pretty power stuff if you heard that in the car with baby on board. Very strong indeed. Congrats to all involved.
I can accept the degree of difficulty in writing an outstanding retail spot, especially for a client like McDonalds. But an engaging idea would be a good start. As opposed to just a technique to organise information. Give me any of the other DDB ads any day of the week.
Yeah!!! Congrats Dan Dan! You da man!!
You too Ellis!
Good job boys!
X
I played this 5 times and can’t find an idea.
Maybe I am just really hung over.
the idea is to copy the format of a familiar comedy set up (2 Ronnies, uncle buck etc) but flip the context of the conversation so that they can tell you about maccas in an interesting way.
Not saying you have to like it, but you can’t say there is no idea.
Cheers
wow
How’s that an idea? Sounds like you’re talking about an execution? I haven’t listened to the ad though, I’m sure it’s OK.
depends on your definition of an idea i suppose.
maybe my standards are lower than most
Sorry Bill, I see that as an execution not an idea.
Hey Bill,
Sometimes you have to say so much there’s simply no room for an idea. So delivering the mandatories with a playful tone of voice, is the way to go. So you’re right to give some credit to the ad, as far as this is concerned.
Cheers.
yeah, that was my thinking.
id be quite pleased if anyone had some links to more radio in this product realm with the ‘idea’ that people have been mentioning in there.
just to break my monday up
If you have no room for anything but to say the mandatories why is there need to cut to the tag guy at the end? Why not have the two blokes say that bit too and then do the sting? – (tag guy just repeated everything and added in “1 of 4 value meals”?
Like most Macca’s radio it’s simple and charming but unlikely to be a podium finish.