An ad for the new Skoda Yeti, created by Owens DDB and featuring a quote by Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson, has won the NNI Press Ad of the Month award for February.

The ad, simply titled ‘Clarkson’, was art-directed by Owens’ Donal O’Dea with copywriting by Adrian Cosgrove. Media planning was courtesy of Mediacom’s Garret O’Beirne.

‘Clarkson’ was selected as the February winner by judges Pearse McCaughey of Cawley Nea and Conor Bofin of First Advertising, both of whom were impressed by the ad’s single-minded clarity.

“This is a simple, clean and bold presentation for a brand that needs to instill confidence,” said Pearse McCaughey. “The classic layout does that by letting the quote do all the work. After all, if it’s good enough for Jeremy…!”

The theme of simplicity was taken up by Conor Bofin, who described the ad as “an excellent piece of clear communication”.

“Strong branding. Just enough copy. The writer did his job by not adding anything to a really powerful quote,” he said.

By winning February’s competition, Owens DDB and ‘Clarkson’ have qualified for the 2011 NNI Press Ad of the Year awards where they will be joined by all winners and runners-up from this calendar year.

Runners-up for February include:

‘Elephants’ by DDFH&B for Vodafone
Toastie Ballot’ by OwensDDB for Johnston Mooney & O’Brien
‘Supermarket’ by bloom for the Labour Party
‘Jack in the Box’ by DDFH&B for Bord Gais

Well done to all.