Lisa Fedyszyn’s D&AD Diary: “Danke Penny Price Packs, for holding the balance of innovative use of media, design, and creative”
Special New Zealand co-Chief Creative Officer Lisa Fedyszyn (pictured below) represented NZ on the D&AD Media jury in London last week. For her, from the many great entries, the stand-out that spoke to its audience in a brilliant way (and was every bit brilliant across the board), was Penny Price Packs via Serviceplan Germany.
A D&AD judge with a media background gave a blunt but fair commentary around one entry: “This is a brilliant media idea, but the creative really let it down.” And even though no one in the room had any personal connection to this piece of work, the creative judges couldn’t help but feel some sort of second-hand shame. Creative had let the team down.
If it wasn’t clear going in, it was now: No matter how “brilliant” an idea is, if every aspect of the project doesn’t reach a level of brilliance, it isn’t going to be awarded.
D&AD has always famously been a craft-focused show. Sure, idea is still top dog, but it’s a show where every element has to be impeccable. On top of that, every jury is looking for something a little different, nuanced to their category. For the media jury, many were obsessed with audience and how you reach them. It’s the main reason I am writing this in Campaign Brief, and I cancelled my sky writing plane.
From the many great entries, the stand out that spoke to its audience in a brilliant way (and was every bit brilliant across the board), was Penny Price Packs.
We fell in love with the simplicity of their design system, for this low price German supermarket chain, Penny. Their design just happened to the be the permanent price of the item on the packet. A strong response to inflation, instability and price gouging.
The team took an unremarkable collection of their own brand products and turned them into a piece of emotive communication that boldly demonstrated the brands’ values and purpose. What better way to utilise their media – supermarket shelves. This is how you do it. Take note shelf wobblers.
Not one part of the Penny team let it down. Phew! And as I check the D&AD site, I see the Yellow Pencil we awarded it was one of three they took home, plus a couple of other pencils and many shortlists, across a stack of categories.
Danke Penny Price Packs, for holding the balance of innovative use of media, design, and creative (and pride of creative in the room) so, so well.
