On Sept. 25, the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) held its fourth annual "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" awards. The show recognizes advertisers and clients who portray and address women in both positive (the Good) and negative (the Bad and the Ugly) ways.
Fallon Minneapolis took home several prizes, including the Grand Good for Nordstromshoes.com’s "Moving Van," directed by Traktor of bicoastal/international Partizan. In the spot, a woman tosses furniture out of the back of a truck onto the highway, heedless of damage she’s causing in order to accommodate her shoes. She returns to the van’s cab and, when her boyfriend looks at her, demands, ‘What?’ Two more spots in the Nordstromshoes.com’s "Make Room for Shoes" campaign were given Goods: "Crush" and "Doorstep" (both also helmed by Traktor) featured women demolishing sports cars and abandoning husbands in order to claim more storage space.
The Grand Ugly went to Clairol Herbal Essence’s "Courtroom" via The Kaplan Thaler Group, New York, in which a woman is moved to ecstasy over the thought of a shampoo. The spot was directed by Graham Rose of Striper Films, New York.
Other Good winners were "Pick Up" and "Feng Shui," out of Fallon Minneapolis and directed by Paul Gay of bicoastal Omaha Pictures; Oxygen’s "I Am Baby" via Mullen, Wenham, Mass., directed by Baker Smith of Tate & Partners, Santa Monica; Ikea’s "Work Lights," via Deutsch, New York, directed by Noam Murro, then of bicoastal HKM Productions, now of Stiefel+Company, Santa Monica (as of Nov. 1, Murro will be directing via a new shop, Biscuit Filmworks, Hollywood); BMW’s "Spring Skiing" via Fallon Minneapolis, directed by Laurence Dunmore out of bicoastal RSA USA; Nike’s "Beautiful," out of Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., directed by Frank Budgen
of Gorgeous Enterprises, London; PBS’ "Light" and "Fishbowl," directed by Errol Morris of bicoastal/international @radical.media; Charles Schwab’s "Picabo Street" and Visa’s "Pole Vault," both via BBDO New York and directed by David Cornell of bicoastal Headquarters; and Visa’s "Paint Chips," also via BBDO New York, directed by Erich Joiner of bicoastal Tool of North America.
Some of the losing spots came from clients not known for controversial fare. However, the judges objected to what they saw as stereotypes reinforced by the ads. For example, Jell-O Pudding’s "The Boy Next Door" via Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York, had a voiceover by Bill Cosby. It profiled a little girl determined to win the boy next door with Jell-O. However, she’s dismayed to discover that other little girls have the same idea.
Other Bads were Nomad Telephone’s "23rd Bride" via Jean & Montmarin, Paris; Always’ "Accident Risk" and "Pick Up Lines" via Amazon Advertising, San Francisco, both directed by Chris Strother of bicoastal The End; Audi’s "Paparazzi" via McKinney & Silver, Raleigh, N.C.-which is owned by marchFIRST, Chicago -directed by Marcus Nispel, then of bicoastal RSA USA and now of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander (MJZ); Pepsi’s "Pepsi Man, Pool" via Asastsu, Japan; Palmolive’s "Spring Sensations" via Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York; and Brut’s "Commercial" via the former Ammirati Puris Lintas, New York, directed by Christopher Guest of bicoastal Moxie Pictures.
However, Joni Madison, chief of operations at McKinney & Silver, objected to the Audi ad’s designation as a loser, citing the fact that "Paparazzi" ran briefly several years ago. "We thought it was ill representative to have the public perceive that that was current work."
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly organizing committee (which did not vote on the ads) consisted of more than a dozen of AWNY’s 1,200 members, and was co-chaired by Cindy Gallop, president, Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York; Alison Burns, president, Fallon New York; and Catherine St. Jean, partner/chief operating officer of executive recruitment firm Judy Wald Partners, New York.
The independent panel of judges consisted of John Hegarty, chairman of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York; Jamie Barrett, executive creative director of Fallon New York; Jane Talcott, group creative director, Young & Rubicam; Mary Warlick, executive director, The One Club; Jackie End, group creative director, TBWA/Chiat Day, New York; Karen Magee, VP consumer marketing, Time Magazine; Laurel Cutler, futurist; Betty Powell, professor of English/Women’s Studies at Mars Hill College; and Lauren Kellner, a high school student.
A call for submissions went out in early July, and had to be in by the third week of the month. Out of the 1,000 total entries (submissions for the Bad and Ugly categories were free; Good submissions cost $100 per entry), 130 television ads were submitted. The only stipulation was that the ads had to have run. Judges watched videotapes of the television ads and rated the spots on a scale from one to five, five being a good high score. St. Jean pointed out, "It was funny; some commercials that were submitted as Goods got bad marks!" though she declined to elaborate. No creative voted on the merits of his/her own agency’s work, and judges were encouraged to comment on what they saw. St. Jean tabulated the results.
