VML Melbourne’s Dean Shein and Asher Paris win Round 3 of Youngbloods’ Hard Sell competition

Dean Shein and Asher Paris from VML Melbourne have taken out round 3 of Youngbloods’ The Hard Sell creative competition, the free-to-enter creative competition for advertising students and juniors, judged by industry leaders.

Late last year Youngbloods dropped a brief for round 3 of The Hard Sell. This year’s brief asked participants to sell McCain frozen pizzas to the OG’s of handmade cooking – Italians. And wowee, the volume and standard of work received blew Nonna’s socks clean off.  The Youngbloods team congratulates everyone who took the time to enter.

Shein and Paris won for their narrative-flipping, nostalgic idea: Frozen In Time. Winning themselves an airfryer and $300 in cold, hard… vouchers. Oh, and of course, the glory. Sweet, sweet glory.

Youngbloods gives special thanks to McCain Foods for sponsoring and joining in the judging for this year’s
Hard Sell.

Judges comments below:

1st Place
Frozen In Time
Dean Shein and Asher Paris (VML)

Rosie Stone, ACD at Leo Burnett: “Frozen in Time stood out from the pack immediately, both for its brilliant simplicity and the surprising way it pulled on the heart strings. Across the board, we all loved how it gave a fresh yet nostalgic spin on frozen pizza. Molto bene.”

Steph Gwee, ECD at VML: “Ignoring the slightly cyrogenic-ish title for a moment, this idea is the most PR-able one in the submissions. I love how it took something that’s negative (the frozen nature of the pizza) and flipped the narrative to talk about how it helps preserves something precious to families. An idea that’s wholesome and weird at the same time.”

Tom Bennett, Brand Manager at McCain Foods: “The winning entry, Frozen in Time, worked on a number of levels and did a great job understanding the brief. They created a unique way for the target audience (authentic Italians) to celebrate their heritage, specifically their Nonna’s cooking, and in doing so provided a compelling reason for this target audience to buy frozen pizza.”

Joe Hill, ECD at whiteGREY: “Transformed the product into a mechanism for cultural preservation – awesome.

2nd Place
1800-NONNA
Alex Norton and Christian Di Virgilio (Channel UC / AFFINITY)

Rosie Stone, ACD at Leo Burnett: “Converting Nonna’s into frozen pizza lovers is no easy feat. But 1800-Nonna managed to do exactly that by turning frozen pizza, an absolute nonna no-no, into a way for Nonna’s everywhere to deliver much needed meals to their grandchildren.”

Steph Gwee, ECD at VML: “Food is a love language for most grandmothers, in some cultures asking “Have you eaten?” is pretty much a way to say “I Love You”. This idea takes a universal insight about how no matter how old you are, your grandmothers will always want to make sure their precious grandkids are well fed. This campaign speaks to nonnas in a way that feels insightful, real, refreshing. Bonus point because it makes me want to hug my grandma.”

Tom Bennett, Brand Manager at McCain Foods: “A fun and inspired interpretation of the brief. Harnessing Nonna’s desire for her children and grandchildren to always be well fed, and positioning frozen pizza as the means to do this.”

Joe Hill, ECD at whiteGREY: “Found a beautiful new problem to solve within the lives of Nonnas, reframing the product as a cheeky emergency response. So fun and smart.

3rd Place
ITALIA-NCESTRY
Catherine Risbey and Isabella Novak (The General Store)

Rosie Stone, ACD at Leo Burnett: “Apart from being one of the best puns of the bunch, Itali-Ancestry had a really fun and clever take on how to attract more Italians: by going after the ones who don’t know that they’re Italian. That’s one spicy strategy.”

Steph Gwee, ECD at VML: Is there an Italian in all of us? Are we all actually related to Michaelangelo? I like that this idea makes me ask these things. It’s an interesting use of medium for a store promotion. I would just push this execution a little further – do you get more discounts when you have a higher percentage of Italian ancestry? Do you do a genetic test at supermarkets when you sample the pizzas and lick the fork?

Tom Bennett, Brand Manager at McCain Foods: “Definitely the best example from the submissions of lateral thinking… this felt like one of those campaigns that has the potential to be reshared, make the evening news and potentially win awards. I can already picture Hamish Blake claiming his 1/16th Italian heritage for a free McCain frozen pizza”

Joe Hill, ECD at whiteGREY: “Unlocked a hidden audience – the unknowingly Italian amongst us. Brill.”

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