The Oscars of the advertising industry are without a doubt the D&AD Awards. Some the most inspiring, innovative, creative, and game-changing ideas from all around the world compete to try and win one of the most prestigious honours of the advertising and design industry – the Black Pencil.
For those of you unfamiliar with the D&AD (Design and Art Direction). D&AD is a British chariable organisation that aims to promote excellence in design & advertising. The awards have been around for over 50 years and with every passing year the entries get better and better.
Three types of award are up for grabs:
1. Entry into the D&AD Annual – this is a great achievement in itself, as only the best pieces from thousands of entries make it to this stage
2. The Yellow Pencil – the best of the best from each category is awarded a Yellow Pencil
3. The Black Pencil – this is the most coveted prize of all, and is rarely given out – only the most “outstanding” pieces win the Black Pencil award
So that’s the awards, and I hope the above description has managed to get across the magnitude of their worth. This month the 2011 awards opened for entries, the best work will be selected by a ‘jury’ which this year includes 12 jurors from Asia. The winners will be announced in May 2011.
This year’s awards have taken a very international theme. To highlight this the D&AD president, ‘Sanky’ recorded a welcome speech in a staggering 16 different languages, in which he had to learn in just 2 weeks. Here is his attempt at the speech in Chinese:
So as the entries for this year roll-in, it seems a like a good time to reflect on the great work that has been submitted from China (and a few from Taiwan / Hong Kong) in the last few years:
China Environment Protection Fund
— Shan Shui (Poster campaign)
Client: China Environment Protection Fund
Year: 2009
Winner: JWT Shanghai
Award: D&AD Annual entry
A collaboration with a famous Shanghai artist, Yang Yong Liang.It’s a beautiful landscape painting if you look from a distance, but if you go closer, it’s neither mountain nor stream, but factory buildings that take the place of green mountains, and cars that take the place of streams. The China Environment Protection Fund wants to warn people with these striking pictures that if we don’t take any more action to reduce the environment pollution, there will come a day when all the beautiful landscapes have disappeared.
Adidas Originals China
— Sleek Series Limited Catalogues
Year: 2009
Winner: Guang Yu / Chen Man
Award: D&AD Annual entry
To me, limited edition means the possibility of creating uniqueness in mass production.
Nokia China
— Bruce Lee ‘Power’ Digital Campaign
Year: 2009
Winner: JWT Beijing
Award: D&AD Annual entry
2008 marked the 35th anniversary of Bruce Lee’s death. As a tribute to the legend, Nokia launched the Nokia N96 Bruce Lee limited edition. Our task was to reignite the passion in the legend of Bruce Lee as well as generate interest in and desire for the Nokia N96 Bruce Lee limited edition with little time or budget.
The creative idea was to Bring Bruce Lee back to life. We seeded a 10” viral teaser of secret, never-seen-before footage of Lee. Within 24 hours, it received over 700,000 views, generating hot discussion around how real it was. Two days later, we released the full length version of ‘Ping Pong’. Later on, a second viral video, ‘Match’, was released. The campaign went worldwide and has attracted over 12 million views to date.The viral videos directed consumers to the campaign microsite www.nokia-lee.com.cn. The site included 3D animation, game and demos of the phone. Fans could order their limited edition Nokia N96 there and then.
The campaign microsite also drove consumers to Nokia stores to experience the phone for real; over 35,000 customers have visited Nokia stores to date.What started as an exclusively Chinese promotion spread around the globe like wildfire. The Nokia N96 Bruce Lee limited edition: the unlimited power of keeping the legend alive.
Harvest
— Type Face Brochure
Year: 2009
Winner: Ken-Tsai Lee
Award: D&AD Annual entry
This brochure accompanied my show, the theme of which was ‘Type Faces’.
Garmin
— Lane Assist (Poster Campaign)
Year: 2009
Winner: Ogilvy Shanghai
Award: D&AD Annual entry
Garmin wanted to inform consumers of its most advanced GPS feature yet: Lane Assist. People are aware of GPS systems. And they think they are all the same. Garmin wanted to challenge that perception. We know unfamiliar roads can be as confusing as a maze, however Garmin can easily point the way to road users.
After the launch of this campaign, consumers started to ask specifically for the Lane Assist GPS model. Sales shot up by more than 13 per cent within five months.
A Chinese entry has never won a Black Pencil, and it wasn’t until 2008 that for the first time a Chinese winner was awarded a Yellow Pencil.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of China’s best D&AD entries…coming soon…
