Advertising

General Observations

Overall, the campaign subcategory offered a variety of fresh and interesting approaches that bridged traditional print along with Web, television, direct mail, etc. The winners demonstrated an ability to deliver concepts through a variety of media to reinforce key messages to their target audiences.

As for the individual ad subcategory, in general the judging panel saw some good design, but it was in some cases accompanied by weak or confused copy. This was an underwhelming subcategory to review as there was not much originality overall.

The target audience was a major starting point for consideration of an entry. Judges may not have personally embraced a solution, but considered it on the merit of impact on the intended audience. As the judging criteria stipulated, “special consideration was given to fresh ideas and creative concept development.” Ads that made an impact on the judges contained “the whole package” of engaging image/graphic with strong headlines, supporting text, and calls for action. There were many solid ads that were clear in message and clean in design, but the design solutions had been done many times over the years, so they were eliminated. Some ads were too obvious (like the school touting diversity showing a group portrait with one student of each major ethnicity), or too literal (ad with headline that read “Don’t be a fish out of water” showing a goldfish jumping out of a bowl).

The best ads were fresh (no canned, tired, or clichéd images or writing), clean (uncluttered by too much text or too many visual elements that diluted the main message), clever (even humorous), and all were believable in their message. One winner’s strength was its forthrightness with which it dealt with a previous year’s homecoming revelry that became a near riot. Another winner (the University of Maryland) used its non-threatening mascot, a turtle, with humor to produce a much more effective headline – “Fear the Turtle”. Maryland even incorporated the placement space as part of the ad, making it a much more compelling piece. For example, Maryland considered the placement of their airport billboards and as part of the ad incorporated turtles moving up the stairs then onto the billboard. The materials were eye-catching AND effective.

The grand gold winner, Ontario’s Queen’s University, turned to an exceptional use of media to call awareness to the dangers of drinking and driving to shock students into civil behavior and avoiding disaster over Homecoming Weekend – a popular event at the institution. Queen’s deserves tremendous praise for addressing the issue head-on and effectively educating its community in an inexpensive media campaign.

Advertising Campaigns (39A)