Saatchi and Saatchi’s T-Mobile ‘Welcome Back‘ ad triumphed at the 2011 British Arrows Awards, scooping the Thinkbox sponsored best television commercial of the year award and two further gold awards for telecommunications services and best over 90 second TV commercial.
The awards, held at Battersea Evolution in Battersea Park saw Mother win the prestigious award for Most Successful Agency of the Year sponsored by IMD plc. Mother’s success in 2011 has come from two Gold Awards – for IKEA ‘Kitchen Party’ and Match.com ‘Piano’, a Bronze award for PG Tips, and two finalist nominations for Stella Artois 4% ‘Piano’ and The Post Office ‘Danny’.
Academy and Smuggler jointly picked up the Panalux Award for Most Successful Production Company of the Year.
The directors of the British Arrows voted for Volkswagen to receive The Chairman’s Award sponsored by MPC for an Outstanding Contribution to the Industry. The award is usually given to an individual, and this is only the second time an advertiser has been selected, Hamlet being the first.
The awards jury, chaired by Nick Gill, Executive Creative Director at BBH, included Tony Davidson, Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy London, Damon Collins, Executive Creative Director at Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, Stephen Butler, Creative Director at Mother, Peter Duffy, Marketing Director at Easyjet, Craig Inglis, Director of Marketing at John Lewis Partnership and Richard Larcombe, Director of Advertising and Sponsorship at Virgin Media.
A British Arrows Fellowship, sponsored by The Mill, was awarded to commercials director Ivan Zacharias for an outstanding contribution to the production of commercials. The John Webster Award for best 30 second commercial was won by TBWALondon for its John Smith’s ‘Diner’ ad.
The successful evening, presided over by the British Arrows chairman Lizie Gower, Managing Director of Academy Films, was attended by nearly 1,000 and was a true reflection of the constantly changing advertising and production industries with 2011 seeing the number of non-television entries climb into three figures for the first time.
British Arrows has benefited from new branding and identity designed by Red Brick Road following its transformation from the BTAAs. The change was made to reflect the amount of web content entered over the last two years.
To view the full list of winners, runners-up and judges, visit the British Arrows online at www.britisharrows.com.
About British Arrows
British Arrows is the new name for the British Television Advertising Awards which began in 1976 to recognise and reward the best television and cinema commercials made by British advertising agencies and production companies. The event attracts an entry of almost a thousand commercials, and a similar number of people attend the presentation of awards each March.
British Arrows is organised by a not-for-profit company whose shareholders are companies involved with the making of commercials. The company directors are: Chairman – Lizie Gower (Managing Director, Academy Commercials); Vice Chairmen – Andy Gulliman (Head of Broadcast, Saatchi & Saatchi) and Zoe Bell. Nick Bell (International Creative Director (Unilever), DDB Europe), James Lowther (Founding Partner, M&C Saatchi), Paul Rothwell (Managing Director, Gorgeous Enterprises), Francine Linsey (Head of TV, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO), Jeremy Miles, Robin Shenfield (Chief Executive, The Mill), Mark Benson (Managing Director, The Moving Picture Company), James Studholme (Managing Director, Blink Productions), Tony Davidson (Creative Director, Wieden and Kennedy), Jeremy Craigen (Executive Creative Director, DDB London), Charles Crisp (Head of TV, The Red Brick Road), Lindsey Clay (Marketing Director, Thinkbox), Nick Gill (Executive Creative Director, BBH), Damon Collins (Executive Creative Director, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R), Ben Priest (Creative Director, Adam and Eve), Robert Campbell (Managing Director, Outsider)
In 1996, the British Television Advertising Craft Awards (now known as British Arrows Craft Awards) began in order to recognise those individuals whose production crafts and skills make the UK a major centre of production excellence.
