What do you remember of the big night? Mario Rosenstock giving it the full Enda? Julian Borra not giving “a flying arse” what anyone said about his beloved Churchill? (The nodding dog, not the former PM.) The inevitable post-show sortie to Coppers?
What most people remember about the night is the eyes.Those eyes. Yep, more than anything else, the 2010 NNI Press Ad of the Year awards were all about Publicis QMP’s now-iconic ‘Seven Signatures’ campaign, in all its stark, starey-eyed glory.
It was ironic that a TV broadcaster should win our inaugural press award, but as almost everyone in the room acknowledged, it was a seriously worthy winner.
“Truly outstanding,” said Paul Cooke. “Stopped me in my tracks,” said Julian Borra. Forget worthy winner – there was only ever going to be one winner.
But there were others, of course. Ogilvy & Mather secured a memorable double in the Best Copy stakes, for ‘Metsu’ (National Gallery) and ‘Bloomsday’ (ISPCC), while ‘Ship’ by Publicis QMP (Beamish & Crawford) shared the Best Art prize with stablemate ‘Seven Signatures’. And bloom won the Local/Regional award for ‘Lost Laptop’ (Fujifilm).
It was a fun night. We love those nights, rubbing shoulders with the boys and girls who do the creating. And in the middle of a tough year, it’s great to put aside the other stuff and celebrate the ads that do us all proud.
Neil Dawson to Judge 2011 Awards
That’s what we’ll be doing again this year, except this time the runners and riders will have a new judge to impress: Mr Neil Dawson of BETC.
Neil is one of the few creatives on the planet to have won back-to-back Cannes Grand Prix (for his Phillips series ‘Carousel’ and ‘Parallel Lines’) while his world-famous ‘Wedding’ ad on behalf of VW (left) has been named as “the most awarded print ad ever”.
Neil, in other words, is the man. He’s our man. And he’ll be here on March 8th to unveil his selections… and make someone’s night.
Will that someone be you? If you’re not already in the mix, you have until January 13th to enter the 2011 NNI Press Ad of the Year awards (December competition).
See which ads have already qualified here.
And enter here.
