ROYAL OAK, Mich. – Volkswagen ads from both sides of the Atlantic scored impressively in the television portion of the fourth annual International Automotive Advertising Awards, bestowed at a gala reception Jan. 6 at the Royal Oak Music Theatre.
Topping the competition with the Gold Triomphe Best of Show honor was the widely acclaimed VW Polo campaign-consisting of the humorous spots "Hiccups," "Chair" and "Lamppost"-directed by Paul Gay of Outsider, London, for agency BMP DDB, London. Gay is repped in the U.S. by bicoastal Omaha Pictures.
This marks the first time IAAA Best of Show distinction has gone to foreign work. The premise of the VW work is simply that the car’s inexpensive price is startling. Strong, subtle performances distinguish the campaign’s executions, especially "Lamppost," which shows a worker putting up a red-and-white striped, padded covering around a lamppost; nearby is a VW outdoor poster touting the car’s suggested retail price. A pedestrian walks into view, staring incredulously at the ad, unaware he’s seconds away from a full-on collision with the lamppost.
In addition to the Gold Triomphe, the VW campaign copped TV Gold in the passenger cars/ subcompact category. The work is no stranger to the winners’ circle. Last year, "Lamppost" won a Gold Lion at Cannes, while the campaign took Best of Show at The One Show and earned recognition from London’s D&AD Awards.
The BMP DDB team on "Lamppost," "Chair" and "Hiccups" included creative director Jeremy Craigen, copywriter/art director Andrew Fraser and producer Howard Spivey.
BMP DDB also garnered IAAA Gold in the five-passenger car category for VW Passat spots "Doors" and "Video Diaries," both helmed by London-based director Dominic Murphy. The agency ensemble was composed of creative director Tony Cox, art director Richard Flingham and writers Andy McLeod and Nick Gill, with Spivey producing.
U.S. Gold
Volkswagen fare in the U.S. also made its mark at the IAAA competition. Arnold Communications, Boston, won a pair of Golds in the passenger/subcompact category for its work introducing the new VW Beetle: one for the campaign ("Heart," "Soul," "Flower," "Dream" and "UFO") and the other just for "Heart."
The VW Beetle commercials were directed by Nick Lewin, whose U.S. roost at the time was bicoastal Manifesto. He later shifted over to New York-headquartered X-1 Films, a satellite of Crossroads Films (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta). The London-based Lewin is represented in the U.K. by Cowboy Films, London.
Heading the Arnold Communications contingent was executive creative director Ron Lawner. His agency compatriots included creative director/writer Lance Jensen, creative director/art director Alan Pafenbach, writers David Weist, Josh Caplan, Robert Hamilton and Dana Satterwhitre and producer Bill Goodell.
"Flower," "Soul" and "UFO" each additionally took Silver awards in the subcompact category, as did the VW bug ad entitled "Dream," also directed by Lewin. "Dream" credits on the agency side were exec. creative director Lawner, creative director/writer Jensen, creative director/art director Pafenbach, producer Goodell and writer Stuart D’Rozario.
Magnificent Seven
Across 21 television categories, there were but seven Golds awarded by IAAA judges. Rounding out that elite field were: Toyota Trucks’ "Chair," directed by Spike Jonze of bicoastal/international Satellite for TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa del Rey, Calif.; Saturn’s "Baseball," helmed by Peter Care, also of Satellite, for Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco; and a British School of Motoring spot, "Simulator Solo," directed by Quentin Dupieux of Partizan Midi Minuit, Paris, for London agency Lowe Howard Spink.
"Baseball" was one of four Gold winners in the subcompact category, while "Chair" topped the trucks category and "Simulator Solo" won as best corporate TV commercial.
For "Baseball," the Publicis & Hal Riney team included exec. creative directors Dave O’Hare and John Doyle, creative directors Greg Ketchum and Dennis Lim, writer Matt Smukler, art directors Terry Finley and Kevin Samuels and producer Tom Foley.
The TBWA/Chiat/Day contingent on "Chair" consisted of exec. creative director Rob Siltanen, art director Scott MacGregor, writer Michael McKay and producer Elaine Hinton.
And for "Simulator Solo," Lowe Howard Spink artisans were creative director Paul Weinberger, art director/writer Charles Inge and producer Andy Leach.
Silver Saturn
Saturn via Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, netted four Silver TV awards in the subcompact category: "Donuts" and "Reform," directed by Satellite’s Care; "Dorm Room," helmed by Frank Todaro of bicoastal/international radical.media; and "Richard Hanna," directed by David Wild of Wild Scientific, Santa Monica.
"Dorm Room" agency credits go to exec. creative directors O’Hare and Doyle, creative director/art director Lim, creative director/writer Ketchum and producer Damian Stevens. "Donuts" artisans included O’Hare and Doyle as exec. creative directors, Lim and Ketchum as creative directors, Finley as art director, Smukler as writer, with Tom Foley and Ed Galvez serving as producers. "Reform" teamed O’Hare, Doyle, creative director/writer Ketchum, creative director/art director Lim and producer Galvez. O’Hare was exec. creative director/ writer on "Richard Hanna," with Stevens producing for Publicis & Hal Riney.
Lowe & Partners/SMS, New York, copped three TV Silvers in the fuel/motor oil category. Valvoline Motor Oil’s "Truck" and "Shrinks" each won a Silver, and those two spots teamed with "You’re Born" as a collective Silver campaign honoree. All three commercials were directed by Melodie McDaniel of Palomar Pictures, Los Angeles. The agency creative ensemble consisted of chairman/chief creative officer Lee Garfinkel, vice chairman/exec. creative director Gary Goldsmith, exec. VP/creative group head/writer Seth Fried, VP/creative group head/art director Steve Kashtan, art director Barbara Eibel, writer Mark Teringo and senior VP/agency producer Rachel Novak.
Springer & Jacoby, Hamburg, also garnered three TV Silvers: one for Mercedes-Benz’s "Young Talents," directed by Kinka Usher of House of Usher Films, Santa Monica; and two for Daimler-Benz’s "Silence," helmed by Fabrice Carazo via Markenfilm, Hamburg.
Agency artisans on the former-which gained recognition in the brand/full-line category-were creative directors Kurt Georg Dickert and Stefan Schmidt, art directors Axel Thomsen and Wolf-Peter Camhausen, writer Alexander Schill and producer Natascha Teidler.
The agency team on "Silence"-which won in the intermediate/large car and sound design categories-consisted of creative directors Jan Ritter and Torsten Rieken, art director Reinhard Crasemann, writer Eric Urmetzer and producer Teidler. Complete sound design credits weren’t available at press time. Sound design house was O’Bahamas, Paris.
Also spreading its three Silver winners across product/media and technique categories was Campbell-Ewald Advertising, Warren, Mich. The Chevy Tahoe TV spots "Drifts" and "Garage," directed by Eric Saarinen of Plum Productions, Santa Monica, helped earn the agency a Silver in the complete campaign (combination of TV, print and/or radio) category. "Drifts" and "Garage" also each picked up a Silver in visual effects. The effects houses on both spots were Sight Effects and its sister shop In-Sight Pix, both in Venice, Calif. Sight Effects’ Alan Barnett served as visual/ digital effects supervisor. The agency contingent included vice chairman/chief creative officer William Ludwig, exec. VP/creative director Don Gould, creative directors Joe Puhy and Jim Gorman, VP/exec. art director John Clarey, VP/associate creative director/copywriter Jon Stewart and VP/exec. producer David Haldeman.
Another Silver winner in the complete campaign category was Bozell Worldwide, Southfield, with TV spot entries being "Treacherous Terrain," directed by Frederic Planchon of Premi’re Heure, Paris, and "North Pole" and "Mom," which were helmed by Zack Snyder of bicoastal HSI Productions. For Bozell, executive creative director on the spots was Gary Topolewski. Additional agency credits for "Treacherous Terrain" were creative director Bill Morden, art director Robin Chrumka, writer Mike Stocker and producer Mary Kondrat. The ensemble on "Mom" and "North Pole" included creative directors Frank Brugos and Colette Bukowicz and producer Mike Rainoldi. Additional "Mom" credits were art director Dan Councilor and writer Jon Wheeler. The writer-art director team on "North Pole" consisted of Rick Dennis and Sam Sefton.
Meantime, Bozell Mexico, Mexico City, earned a Silver in public service for "Crash Test," a Creative Club de Mexico ad promoting vehicular safety. Complete credits weren’t available at press time. The production house on the job was Garcia Bross & Asociados, Mexico City. The Bozell team included exec. creative director Chris Becker and creative director Jorge Cuchi.
DeVito/Verdi, New York, won two TV Silvers in the aftermarket products & services category for Tire Kingdom’s "Mosquito" and "Oak Tree." The former was directed by Frank Samuel, who at the time was with bicoastal Bedford Falls and has since joined the recently launched Vamp Films (see separate story, p. 8). Agency credits on the spot were creative director Rob Slosberg, art director/writer Brad Emmett, art director Mike Czako, writer Bob Fremgen and producer Rosemary Serluca.
And "Oak Tree" was helmed by Slosberg via U Direct, New York. He also served as creative director/art director on the spot. Art director was Dawn Preston Slosberg; Jeff Greenberg wrote and Barbara Michelson produced.
Rubin Postaer and Associates, Santa Monica, took a TV Silver in the motorsports category on the strength of "Driving Test," directed by David Dobkin of bicoastal RSA USA for Honda. Agency artisans were exec. creative director Larry Postaer, art director Todd Miller, writer Chad Berry and exec. producer/producer Gary Paticoff.
Another Silver winner-this one in the corporate category-was a Ford campaign consisting of the spots "Sandcastle," "Suspension," "Kennel," "Mower" and "Video Game," conceived by J. Walter Thompson-Australia, Melbourne. The package was directed by Henrick Dannerfjord of Exit Films, Melbourne. Agency talent included exec. creative director Michel Lawrence, creative directors Michael Buttlar and Steve Gill, art directors/writers Vince D’Angelo, Jeremy Wynne, Jean Ghougassian, Chris Bilby and Bruce Kneale, writer Glenys Gibbons and producer Fiona Gilles.
There were no Gold winners in any of the TV technique categories, the highest awards being Silvers, including the aforementioned visual effects and sound design winners. Taking a Silver for editing were Elahn Zetlin and director Antonio Saraceno of Saraceno Productions, Sydney, for Toyota’s "Winning Style."
The remaining four Silvers for technique came in the cinematography category, but at press time the DP credits were not available for three of the winners. The lone confirmed DP honoree was Pascal Lebeque, who lensed BMW of North America’s "Science"-directed by Adrian Moat of RSA USA-for Fallon McElligott, Minneapolis. (SHOOT will publish the remaining DP winners next week.)
Web Of Gold
Web site categories broke through for four Golds. The recipients were Lowe Interactive, New York, and Critical Mass Productions, Calgary, Alberta, which teamed to garner two Golds for a pair of Mercedes-Benz of North America Web sites. Giant Step, Chicago, won for an Oldsmobile Intrigue promotion linked to The X-Files, and Cove-Ito Advertising, Tokyo, won for a BMW Japan site.
Entries for the fourth annual IAAA competition came from 34 countries. For more info, contact iaaawards aol.com.
