GOLD SIREN TO RACV ‘DISCLAIMER’ RADIO SPOT VIA CLEMENGER BBDO, MELBOURNE

The RACV Financial Services ‘Disclaimer/ commercial, written by Paul Reardon and Julian Schreiber from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, has won the 2008 Gold Siren award for best radio ad of the year. It is the second year in a row that Paul Reardon (pictured) and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne have won the Gold Siren.

The RACV spot will be automatically entered into the Cannes Radio Lions to be held next month at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. The spot plays humorously on the need for disclaimers in ads, with the majority of the 60 second ad being taken up with an argument between the man doing the disclaimer and the voiceover man.

The awards were judged by the Siren Council, comprising creative directors and producers from advertising agencies and studios from throughout Australia. Judge, Rem Bruijn from agency Make in Brisbane said:  “The RACV ad was awarded the overall Gold Siren, not only because it turned radio advertising’s biggest negative into a positive, but also because it was thoroughly engaging and enjoyable to listen to. Beautifully written, cast, directed and performed.”

Writer Paul Reardon from Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne said: “It was purely circumstance, to do an ad for an RACV car loan, which unfortunately required almost 30 seconds of legal disclaimers, so it made sense for us to make such an overwhelming element of the ad the idea. Also disclaimers are a challenge every creative who writes radio has to face. How do we make them fit in and not sound like they’re undoing all the impact the ad had before all the legal jargon kicks in. It was great to write an ad where the ad and disclaimer literally had a fight.”

A series of spots for the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), which aims to prevent child abuse, called ‘Children See Children Do – Alcoholic/Football/Husband/Racist/Traffic’ written by Justin Carew, Charlie Cook, Ed James and Simon Johnson from DDB in Sydney, won the campaign category and a Silver Siren Award.

Writer, Charlie Cook from DDB Sydney said the campaign goes where people are scared to go and confronts the issue of child abuse head on.

The other winner at today’s presentation included a Silver Siren Award for the 2008 craft category winner, awarded to studio, Sound Reservoir in Sydney, for a spot for Work Against Culpable Driving (WACD), a Melbourne-based support group which aims to help prevent road trauma, called ‘Police Radio’. The commercial was produced by sound engineer, Paul Taylor and written by Damian Fitzgerald. Creative director was Luke Chess.

Judge, Brad Grisaffe of Audiobrien said: “The WACD spot captured what this category is all about: creative audio production.  As a listener, you are made to think that you are accidentally overhearing a real police communication between Police Despatch and the scene of an accident.  The ‘ear to detail’ in creating this totally believable soundscape commands your attention and leaves you feeling uncomfortable. In my mind it was without pier amongst the other worthy entries.  This is great use and understanding of the medium resulting in an engaging bit of radio.”

Chief executive officer of Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner said the standard of entries in the Siren Awards continues to rise each year: “The Siren Awards provide a fantastic opportunity for excellent Australian radio creative to be recognised both at home and again at Cannes, alongside the world’s best. Each year the Siren Awards continue to raise the bar in terms of creativity and originality and this year, the Awards, thanks in part to the continual support of CB, received a record number of entries – over 570 – up nearly 90% on last year.”

This year’s Siren winner is the fourth in a row from an agency based in Melbourne. Last year’s winner was the  Snickers ‘Hoedown’ spot, written by Paul Reardon and Jonas Peterson from agency, Clemenger BBDO in Melbourne, which went on to win the Grand Prix Radio Lion at Cannes – the first Australian ad to do so.

The 2008 Gold Siren winner was announced today at a breakfast in Melbourne hosted by Nova’s top-rating, drive time show, ‘The Wrong Way Home’ – Akmal Saleh, Cal Wilson and Ed Kavalee. The breakfast was followed by a Masterclass featuring Australian television and radio writer and producer, Tim Pye as well as Australian screen writers, Jan Sardi and Craig Pearce.  Sardi received an Academy Award nomination in 1997 for his screenplay for ‘Shine’ and is known more recently for his work on the screenplay for the US film, ‘The Notebook’.

Winning ads can be heard and downloaded @ www.sirenawards.com.au