In collaboration with Tonic Design, a Loeries newcomer, Grid earned a Grand Prix for its mixed-media campaign for the Comair/British Airways airport lounge.
It was the only Grand Prix won by an agency on the night, and it was shared with a furniture and interior design practice. Tonic has been named Furniture Designer of the Year (2007) and Interior Designer of the Year (2008) by Elle Decoration.
The other Grand Prix, in the “architecture and interior design” category, went to the architectural firm of Boogertman & Partners, for the stunning National Stadium.
One of the significant developments of the last two or three years is that the Loeries is attracting the interest of three-dimensional designers and architects who operate outside the traditional marketing arena. Among other winners, for example, are studioMAS (architecture and urban design) and OCA Architects.
Grid’s winning work included the brand identity for Brand South Africa (bronze), and Nike’s football training centre in Soweto (a gold in architecture and interior design and a silver in publication design).
The agency is a regular on awards podiums, but last year was, by its standards, relatively quiet.
This year it’s had a high hit rate, converting eight of its 11 finalists into hardware. But the agency has essentially shot its bolt now. The design awards are out of the way, and there are not many (if any) categories left in which it can expect more awards tonight.
Other design shops in a similar position are Disturbance Design (lying 13), Switch (9th), Coley Porter Bell (14th), and Cross Colours (16th).
The number of awards is almost equal on both nights. Those handed out on the first night are essentially the non-electronic (TV and radio) categories: design, print and outdoor advertising, experiential (print and traditional media-based), student and young creative awards.
Coming up tonight is TV and cinema, radio, digital, live events, mixed-media and integrated campaigns.
Joe Public exceeded the promise of its 29 finalists by winning a total of eight awards for five different clients.
Awards included a copywriting craft gold for Clover’s Cooking Calendar, and silvers for Tracker, Rock4AIDS and Brothers for Life, but it will still has hopes for more tonight.
McCann-Erickson has been in the creative wilderness for some years, but its showing this year promises the beginning of a renaissance.
DDB’s small Cape Town office also debuted with an excellent score. The halfway stage does not give much indication of what the final score will be. Many of the best agencies in these categories are poor performers in the remaining categories.
The rankings are loosely based on a complicated new point system introduced by Loerie Awards CE Andrew Human.
Our unofficial list of the top 15 agencies at the halfway stage are:
Grid |
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TBWA Hunt Lascaris |
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KingJames |
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Joe Public |
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FoxP2 |
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Ogilvy Cape |
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McCann-Erickson |
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DDB Cape Town |
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Switch |
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Ogilvy Jhb |
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Jupiter Cape Town |
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Draftfcb Jhb |
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Disturbance |
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Coley Porter Bell |
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Hello World |
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The points scale in the new scheme is: Grand Prix 300; Gold 110; Craft Gold 90; Silver 40; Craft Certificate30; Bronze 15.
But on top of this, a group of ads making up a campaign or programme earns 1.5 times the points of a single ad, as do the specified campaign categories such as mixed-media or internal marketing programmes.
But Grand Prix winners don’t get upweighted if they are campaigns. Where agencies collaborate on an entry, the points are shared equally between them.
- Fin24.com