11 October, 2006

World class advertising - Greater Wellington wins two New York Festival Silver Medals

Greater Wellington Regional Council has added two New York Festival awards for advertising to its trophy cabinet.

The Silver World Medals were awarded for Greater Wellington’s Breathe Easier cinema advertisement that was screened in March and April in the region’s cinemas. The advertisement was developed to raise awareness of the link between pollution from cars and respiratory health.

Wellington animation company Karactaz produced the 30 second advertisement; the creative development was done by Clemenger BBDO, and Greater Wellington commissioned the work.

“The success at the New York Festival once again demonstrates that Wellington’s creative community is world class at what it does,” said Greater Wellington Chairman Ian Buchanan. “Clemenger BBDO, Karactaz, and the staff at Greater Wellington have proved that you can communicate difficult issues with style and creativity.”
The New York Festivals are one of the most prestigious competitions in the advertising industry, judged by an international panel of creative directors and drawing entries from the world’s largest advertising companies.
Breathe Easier won Silver Medals in the Cel Animation and Computer Animation categories (Cel Animation is the old fashioned pencil and paper way of doing things).
In the Cel Animation category, Honda and Levi jeans won the gold; Greater Wellington and Volkswagen won Silvers; United Airlines got a Bronze and Walt Disney got a finalist certificate.
In the Computer Animation category, Heineken won the Gold; Greater Wellington and Toohey’s Beer won Silvers; Kellog’s won Bronze and Mercedes Benz got a finalist certificate.
Dylan Coburn, who directed the production for Karactaz, said that the close relationships in the Wellington creative community were a key to the success of the project.

“The key with this project was that Karactaz was trusted to produce the animation. Being across the road from the agency meant we could regularly communicate and that worked well. I think it's a very effective campaign and the team that worked on it from Karactaz are extremely proud of it - so a big thanks the Greater Wellington and Clemenger BBDO for giving us the opportunity.”
Marc Chetcuti was the Senior Art Director on the project for Clemenger BBDO and developed the concept with Creative Director Jim Thomas, supported by Account Director Sean Keaney. Marc said he identified with the message of the project as his brother had asthma as a child, and living near congested traffic made his condition worse.
“Beating some of the big name agencies with much larger creative departments, not only in New Zealand but globally too, made the win all the more pleasurable,” said Marc.
Andrew Cutler, Strategic Communication Manager at Greater Wellington, commissioned the advertisement as part of the Be the Difference programme.
“The project just got better as we went on,” said Andrew. “We said ‘yes’ to a great creative idea from Clemenger BBDO, and then ‘yes’ to the outstanding animation from Karactaz. This advertisement was a winner from day one.”
The advertisement can be directly viewed at:
http://www.bethedifference.gw.govt.nz/story_images/2695_breathe_easier_s5157.MPG
Or go to the Be the Difference website, and click on the Breathe Easier icon in the lefthand column.
www.bethedifference.gw.govt.nz
Awards for Be the Difference include:

- WriteMark ‘People’s Choice’ award at the New Zealand plain English awards, 2006.
- Public Relations Institute of New Zealand Awards, Highly Commended for Government Communications, 2006.
- 2 finalists at Cannes International Advertising Awards, 2005, for direct marketing on how to improve water quality.
- 2 bronze awards at the New York Advertising Festival 2004 for cinema advertising and an underwater billboard campaign.

ENDS

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