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Bud Win Sets the Standard for Great Australian Radio Spots Cannes Radio judge Mike Edmonds says anyone who dismisses the Grand Prix win for Budweiser beer is missing the point about great radio. Edmonds, the Creative Director of Perth agency Meerkats says the Cannes judging was incredibly thorough and extremely fair and he was really impressed with the whole process. To judge the 1034 entries, including the 39 from Australia, the categories were roughly halved and distributed among the judges. Each judge received a pre-loaded audio player and a folder with all the scripts. There were English translations for all the scripts, and some of the spots also had English versions. The first two days judges were on their own, listening and allocating points to each spot. The third day the judges worked together, putting together the shortlist and awarding gold, silver and bronze Lions. The fourth day was spent choosing (and arguing) over the Grand Prix. "I was really impressed," Mike says. "It's a very expensive show to enter but you really see where the money goes because there were 15 judges just for radio alone and there were four people from the organising body in the place all the time, monitoring." Mike says there was also lots of time for discussion and explanation to ensure every spot had a fair hearing. If judges felt strongly about particular spots that didn't make the shortlist solely on points, they could argue for their inclusion. "For example the Thredbo campaign was in there and I explained to everybody that this was part of a long-running campaign. It sometimes makes a difference and it sometimes doesn't, but the critical thing is that every spot gets an equal chance to be recognised and judged on its own merits regardless of the language, or the history or topicality or any kind of cultural influence." Four of the Australian entries made the shortlist of 170, but none won any Lions. The four short listed Aussie entries were "Australia Day" for the Meat and Livestock Corporation, "Big Girl" for Granny's Pies and Cakes, "TorinO" for Thredbo Ski Resort and "No Break" for the Victorian Transport Accident Commission. ...no choice but to give Bud the Grand Prix... "I think for a very dedicated and terrific jury that it was a brave decision. At the end of the day we couldn't not give it the Grand Prix because it was simply head and shoulders above everything else. "And so, we had on the fourth day, hours and hours of discussion. It came down to the Bud campaign, the Get a Girlfriend Campaign from South Africa or the Point Nine Seconds Guinness Book of Records spot from Norway. There was endless discussion, honestly, hours worth of discussion about the pros and cons and the role of the awards and what message we'd be sending out to radio. "But at the end of the day we all agreed that the Bud stuff was better written, better produced and damn it, just funnier than anything else. And if radio is to continue to be a relevant medium in a world where media is fragmenting like crazy then agencies have to be able to come up with great, long-running campaign ideas just for radio and Bud is a terrific example of a radio only campaign," Mike says. So good in fact, that every one of the Bud spots on their own, scored higher than any other spot in the competition in the first round of judging. "In the end it was a show of hands and we all agreed we couldn't not give it the Grand Prix: it would be a travesty." At the press conference announcing the win, the judges stressed that creative directors should play the Bud spots to their copywriters as an example of the kind of ideas that spark great radio campaigns. "If people say not Bud again, they're missing the point. Honestly if you listen to all the short listed ads, I'm sure most people would agree. The only reasons anybody would say "I don't like the Bud stuff" is because they're tired of it. But I think consumers aren't. And I think clients and agencies sometimes get tired of an idea way before consumers do." "...a good simple honest spot will always shine through..." Mike says he's revised his earlier comments about the quality and quantity of the Australian spots...because a lot of the local spots weren't in the categories he judged in the first two days. However, he does think that some Australian agencies are overlooking potential Cannes entries, because they misunderstand the competition. "I know some creatives think that Cannes, because it's international and there are judges from South America, and Europe and so forth, that the idea has to global, or a universal gag or an ad that sounds like it would be an award winning radio ad to get anywhere, but it's not true," Mike stresses. "A lot of the stuff that won was just really simple, charming engaging little spots that just had a real element of truth about them. And that's why I think the judging procedure is so good, because a good little simple honest spot will always shine through even at Cannes. So I just want to make sure that agencies are entering the stuff that they themselves just personally love as opposed to stuff that they think maybe sounds like an award winning spot." He says producers and engineers in radio stations and studios should also be vigilant. "Keep your ear out for the stuff that you think is just a funny spot, is just really nice, or has a nice message about it because often that gets up." He described a winning spot from Argentina which was one voice, no music, no sound effects. It was simply an announcer reading a missing persons description from the police...part way through the announcement about the missing old man he starts to laugh, as he's describing what the man is wearing. He tries to stifle his laughter but the clothes the man is wearing are so mis-matched he can't help himself. It's a Father's Day ad for a shopping centre. "It won a Gold because we all just enjoyed it so much. So, if something is charming and hits the spot, just give it a go," Mike says. You can hear the winning spots at: www.canneslions.com New Faces Back to Front at Risk Risk Sound is nurturing the careers of two new faces who've joined the studio straight from Uni. Receptionist/PA Bryony Wilson was at Monash on a Performing Arts scholarship and dub room starter Sandy Milne is finishing off his RMIT diploma in music industry technical skills. For Bryony the job at Risk builds on skills she gained at Mike Reed Studios before she went back to Uni to follow her passion for performing arts. Now she says she has the perfect job. "I (can) combine my performative self (voice overs, singing practice in the studios after hours, meeting actors and talent casters alike) with my business self (organiser, PA, host, caterer, receptionist)," Bryony says. For his part, Sandy jumped at the chance to join the workforce when Risk engineer Paul McCosh put out some feelers through contacts in various music courses. "It's just great to get something like this and be able to learn on the job," Sandy says. Before Risk, Sandy concentrated on getting as much work experience as he could, which included working on radio and TV broadcasts out of Bendigo for the Commonwealth Games basketball tournaments. He's also done volunteer work with university radio station SYN FM recording and editing radio commercials. And he's on the youth advisory council for a group called "The Push" which organises drug and alcohol-free events for young people. Even though he's working at Risk, Sandy's still attending Uni one and a half days a week, and is looking forward to his next assignment, which involves recording and editing a Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound mix. Sandy's predecessor Kendall has been smitten by both the travel bug and the love bug. His adventures begin mid July, when he's off to Peru to get married.
Several advertising industry awards have been held in the first half of this year. To save you wading through them all, here's a summary of the radio accolades from around Australia and overseas.
Cannes Radio Lions Four Australian radio spots made it to the shortlist of 170 at Cannes this year, but there were no local winners when the Radio Lions were announced. The Grand Prix for radio went to a campaign of eight comedy spots for Bud Light Beer from DDB Chicago which praised "heroes" such as "Mr Gasoline BBQ Starter" and "Mr Jean Shorts Wearer." The four short listed Aussie entries were "Australia Day" for the Meat and Livestock Corporation, "Big Girl" for Granny's Pies and Cakes, "Torino'" for Thredbo Ski Resort and "No Break" for the Victorian Transport Accident Commission. You can hear the winning spots at: www.canneslions.com MADC Awards Risk scooped the majority of the radio awards at the MADCs, getting credits for three silver and four bronze. gasinc won a Best of Category and gastoo a bronze. Risk's work on the spots for Bic Pens won two silvers and two bronzes and the other winning spots were all for Open Family, a non-profit organisation that helps homeless kids. In the TV categories Gusto picked up a silver and Good Audio Sense (now gasinc) picked up a bronze.
Best 30 Second Radio Commercial
Best Radio Campaign
Best 45+ Second Radio Commercial
Best Community Service/Charity Advertisement - Radio
Best Community Service/Charity Advertisement - Radio
Best Community Service/Charity Campaign
Best 15 Second Television Commercial
Best 30 Second Television Commercial
Best 30 Second Television Commercial
Best 45+ Second Television Commercial
Best Television Campaign
Best Cinema Commercial Adelaide Awards Best FX continues to produce award winning, high end sound design for TV and Radio advertising in association with local advertising agencies. Best FX recently won one Gold, two Silver and two Bronze awards at the annual AADC Awards Night in April this year. The AADC, (Adelaide Advertising and Design Club), promotes and maintains high standards in the field of South Australian advertising and holds the annual awards night that celebrates the 'best of' in Advertising emerging out of SA. Best FX entered six items in three categories and Pete was awarded five prizes in total. Sydney-based Sound Reservoir picked up a silver and two bronze awards, all for sound engineering by James Martell for TV spots. Tracks won a silver and a bronze for TV sound engineering and Timms won a bronze and a silver: one for a radio spot and one for music composition. If you're interested in the visual side of things, the Award Book for the 2006 AADCs is a work of art. You can download it here: AADC Awards Book 2006 ALL.pdf
Radio Single Commercial 30 Seconds and Under
Radio Production
Casting - Other Radio/Music Craft
TV Single Commercial 30 sec & under
TV Single Commercial over 30Secs
Television campaign
TV Cinema Soundtrack Production
Music Composition and Arrangement Sirens Round 1 A spot for Ford based on Yul Brunner and the Magnificent Seven is the first Sirens winner for the 2007 year. The same spot, written by Nick Weller and Phillip van Bruchem from JWT Melbourne also won the craft category for sound engineer Phil Kenihan at Front of House. Two other ads for Ford were also Highly Commended in the single category in round one. The ads, written by Scott Glennon from JWT Melbourne were 'Dial-a-date' for a special offer on Falcon utes and 'Trucker Radio', which promotes the Ford Territory's car-like handling compared to other 4WDs. The campaign category was won by a spot for Dulux aquanamel paint. Highly Commended in the same category were a series of spots for NEC, engineered by Rob Sharples at Austereo. You can hear the winning spots at www.sirenawards.com.au IVF Conceives Award Winning Ads The winning Siren Awards for 2006 all shared an uncommon, common theme: artificial insemination. A 30 second radio spot about artificially inseminating chickens won the Gold trophy in the 2006 Sirens Awards, and the top spot in the Craft Category was for an IVF clinic. The Bic pen ad conceived at Smart advertising and produced at Risk won a silver Siren in its category, as well as the gold overall trophy for the year. It was automatically entered in the Cannes Radio Lions, but didn't make the finalist list overseas. Sirens judge Peter Withy from KWP! Advertising, said the ad was a very fine, fun idea for a seemingly difficult and low interest category. "The ad displays very fresh work, well produced and a style of humour we don't hear all that often. The writing makes it unique. Great radio starts with a great script - all the studio tricks in the world won't elevate dullness to greatness," he said. The inaugural winners of the new Craft Category were the production team at Hot 91.1 Sunshine Coast for an ad called "The tadpole and the egg." The client was IVF Sunshine Coast. Sound engineer for the ad was Vaughan Jones and creative director was Kirsten Scholes. Judge Peter Withy said the ad was unique. "I think degree of difficulty has a lot of bearing. Imagine being given the task of bringing sperm and ovaries to life in situ. Pretty damn difficult." You can hear the winning spots on: www.sirenawards.com.au List of 2006 Siren Award winners:
Siren Awards 2006 Single Category Winner (Silver Trophy)
Siren Awards 2006 Campaign Category Winner (Silver Trophy)
Siren Awards 2006 Craft Category Winner (Silver Trophy)
Siren Awards 2006 Single Category Winner (Gold Trophy) Radio Industry Engages Fawlty Tactics John Cleese will be the key drawcard at the Australian Radio Conference and the Australian Commercial Radio Awards (ACRAs), to be held in Sydney in October. Commercial Radio Australia, which runs both events, has also organised for Cleese to conduct workshops on sales and marketing techniques. Attendance at the workshops will be by invitation only. Cleese recently announced his intention to retire from performing comedy and write a book about its history including great moments of stage, film and TV comedy, from silent screen classics to modern entertainment. This year's Australian Radio Conference will be held at the Crystal Palace Conference Centre at Luna Park in Sydney on Friday, 13 October. Your Bits - Studio news
Our Bits - AudioNET® News Firstly, a reminder that we've changed our domain name, so our website and email addresses are all now under the AudioNET banner. So you can find us at www.audionet.com.au or email us via @audionet.com.au. Radio Wizard Material Instruction Deliveries Thanks to all the traffic managers who responded to our survey about Material Instruction Delivery via the Radio Wizard and congratulations to Carol Peters from Wave FM who won the draw for the AudioNET® remote-controlled car. Vaughan's been hard at work incorporating your feedback into the Radio Wizard since trials began in May and more agencies will be trialing MI deliveries in July. The aim of the Radio Wizard is to make life easier for all of us along the radio commercial delivery chain, but it has specific design features to help everyone. For media agencies, Radio Wizard allows them to create one electronic list of radio stations that's used for dispatching both Material Instructions and audio. Agencies can export their BCC booking data straight into the Radio Wizard, which then converts the information into different formats for MI delivery and dispatch orders. For creative agencies, they get an accurate dispatch order straight from the media agency. All they have to do is check the relevant key numbers and when the spots have been approved, forward the dispatch order to the studios. We're also building a Job Card into the Radio Wizard, specifically for creative agencies that want to keep track of production details for future reference. The Radio Wizard Job Card will also have a handy tick box feature they can use to flag spots worthy of entry into advertising awards. Production studios benefit from getting exactly the same dispatch information as the creative agency. No more re-entering station information or deciphering blurry faxes or out-dated station lists. (Did we tell you the one about the order for 3DB last year, about 20 years after it ceased to exist?) Studios are the last line of defence before the spots are sent to the radio station, so now instead of getting second or third-hand information, they can use original information to ensure the correct spots are sent to the correct stations. For radio stations, Radio Wizard delivery means traffic and production staff are working off the same master set of instructions. Radio Wizard ensures traffic managers get all the essential broadcast information they need, all in the same format, no matter what agency they come from. And Radio Wizard makes sure the MIs match the audio. Hopefully fewer late night headaches for carting staff who get broadcast instructions for key numbers they don't have. And of course all the information is archived and searchable by anyone involved in the campaign. We've even added a tracking number for each dispatch, so no matter whether you're ringing AudioNET® support, or an agency, studio or radio station, you're all working off the same information. AirCheck Monitoring Some radio stations have discovered a silver lining to AirCheck monitoring for radio spots. Because AirCheck works on "fingerprint-type" technology rather than watermarking, spots recorded in radio stations no longer have to be sent off-site for watermarking, if clients want to monitor their campaigns. This obviously saves time and effort for production staff. It also means clients can decide they want to monitor after spots have started on-air. AudioNET® Managing Director Dave Cox says agencies are already enthusiastic about AirCheck because it offers a broad range of data about radio advertising, rather than just allowing one client to check their own spots. "The beauty of AirCheck is that it can provide current information to help with planning and buying, daily information while campaigns are on air and then detailed data for post-campaign analysis. "Media agencies are also particularly impressed that they can simply export data from their BCC booking system straight into AudioNET's Radio Wizard™ and AirCheck reports. This not only provides greater accuracy, but saves a lot of time and effort," Dave said. "And of course, everything's archived and searchable for future reference." For more information about AirCheck or Radio Wizard contact Dave Cox on 0414 310 225 or through dcox@audionet.com.au. AudioNET® Thought For The Day "If A equals success, then the formula is A equals X plus Y and Z, with X being work, Y play, and Z keeping your mouth shut." - Albert Einstein.
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Killer Bits: July 2006
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