Saatchi’s Toohey’s ad could be a Caxton
An ad by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney for Tooheys New Beer Economy has been announced as the February/March winner of the Could Be a Caxton competition, established by the Caxton Committee and supported by The Newspaper Works to recognise and showcase great creativity on a bi-monthly basis.
Client: Lion Nathan
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney
Creative Director: Dave Bowman
Art Director: Pete Galmes (Southpaw)
Writer: John McKelvey, James-Ross Edwards (Southpaw)
Says Shaun Branagan, creative director of AdPartners Sydney and the judge of the Febuary/March competition: “This is not a great print ad. It is, however, a great idea. The execution is not great. However the idea’s insightful, relevant, and funny. The type is not great; personally I detest the use of the ellipsis. However, did I mention it’s a great idea? Note to self: be more economical with use of words.”
Two Highly Commendeds were also awarded:
42 BELOW
Shaun Branagan said: “On my time off I tend not to scrutinise advertising. Call me crazy butI like to read a book. Or go to a gallery. So when I’m wearing mypunter’s hat rather than my judge’s hat, I’m always impressed when Inotice any ads at all. Some weeks ago, whilst idly flipping through thepaper I did chance upon this 42 Below ad. Witty headline drew me in.Copy had charm and wit. Almost made me buy a bottle.”
TUI BLOND
Shaun Branagan said: “Hold the press. Breaking news. Press ad goes interactive. In contrastto the old school 42 Below ad, this is new schooI. And I love it.Unfortunately I think it’s a bit obscure. Even though I’ve been usingthis message tape (bought online from a great site – suck.uk.com) thead still took me a moment or two to figure out. Anyway marks awardedfor ingenuity. Damn those clever Kiwis and their No 8 wire mentality.”
The April/May Could Be a Caxton competition is now open for entries. It’s free to enter and anyone can submit nominations. The copywriterand art director responsible for the newspaper campaign judged best ofthe year’s Could Be a Caxton bi-monthly winning ads, will score an allexpenses-paid trip to the 2010 Caxton Awards.
For more information on how to enter the Could Be a Caxton competitionand the Caxtons in general, visit www.thecaxtonawards.com.au.
25 Comments
Wow Shaun, that’s a back handed compliment if I’ve ever heard one.
Why pick it?
Don’t question the master Ben
He’s right about one thing….it’s not great.
I love advertising.
You’ve lost the plot Branagan. New is great. 42 Below is rubbish. Tui… Not that hard to get mate.
Yeah, why pick it?
Sean shorn Shaun
I thought it was Could Be a Caxton. Not Couldn’t.
I’d like to screw some of those models though.
So we’re starting a couldn’t be a Caxton? I’ll add BAMMERCISE. That’s if they do print, which I’m sure they would, seeing as it rocks.
What’s a caxton??
Jesus Christ. Look at the media placement. It couldn’t be more inappropriate. An article talking about the horrific murders of two kids… oh hang on… then there’s a horrific example of advertising. The whole campaign is based on cheap cliched gags. hate it!
What’s a Branagan?
Congratulations to the guys who’ve done this toohey’s ad.
I think this is a great move to award it. I applaud Shaun Branagan for going with this ad. At the moment there’s too much work getting kudos that seems to be purely based on execution and technique. Art Directionally this one aint great – it looks like mac visual. But it is a clever idea. In fact surely it’s time for ‘idea’ to make a comeback. Work across a range of channels will never survive on execution alone.
I’m with Shaun. Nice idea. Average execution.
8:24
Yeah I thought that as well: certainly doesn’t reveal Tooheys in a decent light. Could have stuck it elsewhere.
When you book a press ad you don’t get to choose the content in the editorial around it.
The media placement is not right it has been retouched in there by someone not from the agency.
10:56
That’s even worse! If it was agency, then they’re obviously employing illiterate idiots!
Check out Ad Partners blog page. And see what Branagan has done with the Salvo’s print work. Awful. He’s the last one that should be talking about Art Direction.
I woke up the other day and realised I’m to fucking old for this shit.
C’amon!
That’s not a good idea at all.
That’s a bad ad indeed.
sorry, not bad, just average.
average idea, average copy and average art direction.
I have to say that.
Better luck for the creative on the next brief! keep trying hard,
but be careful with the bad compliments..they’re false and
hold you guys back!
Are we awarding caxton’s based on their part in an integrated campaign?
If so, best job in the world’s newspaper classifieds should have won hands down last year. If not, why award new?
Isn’t it about celebrating excellence in press (ie imagine the grandpa that reads it hasn’t seen anything else from the campaign?)
@ 11:22 – good point, well made. It also begs another question – *why* exactly should we still care about the Caxtons?
2:01 pm – I know what you’re saying, it’s been a question from the industry for a while especially with the advances in digital and not many ‘creative’ based digital award shows in the land it makes even more sense to broaden the horizon.
However, I wasn’t questioning the validity of the Caxtons – just why is a small part of a nice campaign, that the judge admitted himself wasn’t flash, awarded over an ad that stands on it’s own for Caxton?
What is the criteria for judging?
I’m a little confused.