The ADVERTISING Club of New York’s 2018 International ANDY Awards, the first advertising creative award show of the season, and the first advertising award show to allow others to see inside the jury room, has announced this year’s winners. McCann New York won the show’s top honor, claiming the Best in Show GRANDY Award for Fearless Girl for client State Street Global Advisors. Wieden+Kennedy won the Bravery Award for Nike’s Breaking 2. McCann Worldgroup won the Social Good ANDY for its “Immunity Charm” campaign for the Ministry of Public Health, Afghanistan. And the Student ANDY Award was given to Chris Petersen and Seth Mollerup of BYU AdLab for “Pests Do Not Mess with The Orkin Man.”
This year’s jury was led Pete Favat, Deutsch’s North American chief creative officer, and was made up of 18 of the international advertising community’s most respected creative directors from advertising organizations around the globe including: Wieden+Kennedy, R/GA, Facebook Creative Shop, Leo Burnett, McCann London, Marcel Sydney, BBDO India, and Joan. In addition, representatives from production agency PRETTYBIRD, as well as Procter & Gamble (last year’s Bravery Award winner) were on the jury.
“I’m so incredibly proud of our ANDY chair Pete Favat, and Creative Council member Andrew Keller of Facebook as well as this year’s jury for their generosity and incredible support as we attempted to change the game in the award show space. Our vision was to deliver a refreshed process and a live jury room experience. I’m in awe of the jury’s commitment and dedication to bring education, transparency and inclusion to the community and the next generation of advertising talent. This initiative was not for the faint of heart; I thank everyone in front and behind the camera for an amazing job,” said Gina Grillo, president and CEO, The ADVERTISING Club of New York and The International ANDY Awards.
In addition to debating Fearless Girl’s impact on culture vs. the Super Bowl-controlling “It’s a Tide Ad,” this year’s jury conversation delved into issues around race, gender, inequality of access to resources, and human ideas. The judges noted that some of the best work was held together by a single big idea that was fragmented effectively across a variety of different media and can transcend boundaries.
“For me, the highlight of the Live judging was the student competition. At its core, educating folks about why awards are given is what this is all about. How cool is it for students who are hoping to someday have a career in advertising to hear some of the most high-level creative talent in our industry talking about their work? I also think marketers listening in heard the creatives perspective on the trust, collaboration and partnership required to co-create innovative work that takes risks. Being brave is something the industry needs to embrace,” said Favat.
During the student work category discussion, judges surprised viewers by Skyping in the three finalists shortlisted to share what they loved about their work and ask questions about their process and what inspired them. Impressed jurors tried to outdo each other in offering the talented winner employment.
For a full list of ANDY Winners, click here.
First-Time Feature Directors Make Major Splash At AFI Fest, Generate Oscar Buzz
Two first-time feature directors who are generating Oscar buzz this awards season were front and center this past weekend at AFI Fest in Hollywood. Rachel Morrison, who made history as the first woman nominated for a Best Cinematography Oscar---on the strength of Mudbound in 2018--brought her feature directorial debut, The Fire Inside (Amazon MGM Studios), to the festival on Sunday (10/27), and shared insights into the film during a conversation session immediately following the screening. This came a day after William Goldenberg, an Oscar-winning editor for Argo in 2013, had his initial foray into feature directing, Unstoppable (Amazon MGM Studios), showcased at the AFI proceedings. He too spoke after the screening during a panel discussion. The Fire Inside--which made its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival--tells the story of Claressa “T-Rex” Shields (portrayed by Ryan Destiny), a Black boxer from Flint, Mich., who trained to become the first woman in U.S. history to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the sport. She achieved this feat--with the help of coach Jason Crutchfield (Brian Tyree Henry)--only to find that her victory at the Summer Games came with relatively little fanfare and no endorsement deals. So much for the hope that the historic accomplishment would be a ticket out of socioeconomic purgatory for Shields and her family. It seemed like yet another setback in a cycle of adversity throughout Shields’ life but she persevered, going on to win her second Gold Medal at the next Olympics and becoming a champion for gender equality and equitable pay for women in sports. Shields has served as a source of inspiration for woman athletes worldwide--as well as to the community of... Read More