TBWA\Whybin Cleans Up at Cannes

Press Release:

TBWA\Whybin – the New Creative Power House Down Under

Agency caps off remarkable year with further global recognition, 3rd place ranking in the world, and feat that is unmatched by any other local outfit

Thursday, June 22nd, 2006: The most important international festival in the advertising world has seen fit to award local advertising agency TBWA\Whybin with 3 Gold Lion accolades, making it arguably the best performing creative outfit in the country on the global stage. In addition, TBWA\Whybin’s direct arm, Tequila, was voted third best direct agency in the world, further reinforcing its unique position as a provider of fully integrated solutions.

A staggering 24,000 advertisements from 81 countries have been showcased at the Festival, held for the 53rd time in Cannes, in the South of France. The awards related specifically to the adidas ‘Be the Ball’ initiative, which transformed Auckland’s reverse bungee into a giant football, and the ‘Stand in Black’ campaign for the DHL 2005 Lions Rugby Tour. Furthermore, the festival judges will acknowledge adidas later in the week as international client of the year for its creative and consumer led advertising, on the back of another TBWA\Whybin client, Playstation, winning the award the previous year.

Andy Blood, Creative Director at TBWA\Whybin, says the win at Cannes has propelled TBWA\Whybin right to the forefront of New Zealand advertising creativity and innovation. “It’s been an unbelievable year for the agency in terms of the reception our work has had internationally and the successful platform we’ve delivered for adidas. No other local agency can credibly claim to have won at every significant advertising awards event in the world, as we can in 2006,” he says.

The TBWA\Whybin performance in the six categories at Cannes (Lions Direct, Promo Lions., Media Lions, Outdoor, Radio Lions and Press) included:

Direct:
-Gold for ASB ‘Bootscraper’
-Bronze for ‘Snowman’
-Finalist for Nissan 'Torn'

Promo Lions:
Gold Lion for adidas ‘Be the Ball’
Gold Lion for adidas ‘Stand in Black’
-Finalist for ASB 'Bootscraper'

Finalists – awards pending:
Multiple Sclerosis was a finalist for 'Eyes' (in print) and ‘Bladder’
Lion adidas ‘Be the Ball’ in Outdoor (Ambient stunts and live ads)

Media Lions;
Gold for ‘Be the ball’-Best use of Ambient
‘Be the Ball’-Best use of special events and stunts.

ENDS

TBWA Worldwide (www.tbwa.com), Advertising Age magazine’s 2004 Global Agency Network of the Year, is one of the world’s fastest growing top ten agency networks. TBWA creates disruptive ideas for global clients, including Absolut, adidas, Apple, Beiersdorf, Häagen-Dazs, Henkel, Masterfoods, McDonald’s, Nissan and Sony PlayStation. In 2005, TBWA was recognized Most Awarded Agency Network in the World by The Gunn Report. TBWA has also been recognized, in 2005, as the most awarded network at the Clio Awards and for the second year in a row, as the most awarded network at Cannes, The One Show and AdFest. TBWA has 239 offices in 75 countries, and approximately 8,300 employees worldwide.

TBWA Worldwide is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE: OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com http://www.omnicomgroup.com/). Omnicom is a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom's branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

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