GLOBAL, NOVEMBER 15,2011: After a week of extensive judging in Las Vegas last September, the London International Awards (LIA) has finally unveiled the winners to one of the world’s most highly-anticipated awards shows. The jury, however, stayed true to its discriminating character.
Of the 14,283 entries, only three took home a shiny new Grand Prix. BBDO walked away with the distinction of Agency of the Year, while the inaugural LIA for the Post-production Company of the Year went to The Mill. No firm emerged as Production Company of the Year either.
Three’s no crowd
The London International Awards was stingy with the Grand Prix, giving no more than three of the coveted metals across three categories. JWT Shanghai’s “Heaven and Hell” for Samsonite continued to shine as Asia’s number one campaign of the year, bagging Grand Prix in the Print Category. “Most of the work was good and solid. But only the winner of the Grand LIA stood out much more above the level of the others. The gap between this work and the other statue winners is so great that it had to be the Print Grand LIA,” said Non-Traditional, Print and Poster Billboard Jury President Pablo del Ocampo.
Joining JWT Shanghai on top of the LIA roster were Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Marshall Street Editors. Crispin Porter + Bogusky walked home with the Grand LIA for The NEW Category, thanks to American Express’ “Small Business Saturday”. Meanwhile, Marshall Street Editors received the first ever Grand LIA awarded for TV/Cineman/Online Film- Technique. The latter was the team behind the cutting room for Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam’s “The Entrance” for Heineken.
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JWT’s "Heaven and Hell"
Cut above the rest: Heineken’s "The Entrance" by Wall Street Editors
A total of 69 Gold LIAs were also given away. As expected, the Grand Prix winners dominated the Gold Count: JWT Shanghai had four for “Heaven and Hell”, Crispin Porter + Bogusky got one each for “Small Business Sunday” and Domino Pizza’s “Show Us your Pizza” Integrated Campaign, and Marshall Street editors won three for “The Entrance”.
The United States, Germany and the United Kingdom were the biggest winners, bagging 118, 58 and 52 metals respectively.
Asian Front
On top of JWT Shanghai’s stellar performance, Asia and the Pacific region also bagged more than a hundred finalists and metals across various categories. Australia led the haul with 38 metals, followed by Thailand (21), and Japan (14).
Ironically, Thailand’s 21 finalists only produced four winners. These are Y&R Thailand’s “Pet”, “Bully” “Asteroid” and “Killer Bees” campaign for Ichitan Double Drink (one silver); Creative Juice Bangkok’s “Fish, Chicken, and Pork campaigns for M Wrap (two Bronzes); and Leo Burnett Thailand’s “Panyee FC” for TMB (one bronze).
Japan’s batting average was much better, translating its haul of 14 finalists to one Gold, six Silvers, and one Bronze. The lone Gold and Bronze went to Aoi Advertising Promotion Inc for SOUR’s “Mirror” in the Digital and NEW categories. Silvers were split among Dentsu Inc., Dentsu Inc. Kansai, Eight Branding Design Co., Ogilvy & Mather Japan and Tokyu Agency Inc.
Australia also managed to make 31 metals out of its 38 shortlists. No Golds were won, but there were plenty of Silvers (11) and Bronzes (20) for agencies down under.
The NEW Category
This year’s awards show was made even more memorable with the inclusion of the NEW Award. LIA created the special award with the recommendation of the NEW category jury. “The NEW Category is protean by nature. Things that once were ‘new’ become established channels or concepts,” relayed NEW category Jury President Faris Yakob. In the end, the award went to Warrior Poets for “Pom Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold”
Yakob states that “Pom Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” is a documentary about product placement, paid for entirely by product placement in it,which details the process of getting sponsors on board and the marketing deployed to promote the film. “It didn’t seem to sit comfortably alongside the other ideas being judged, but it did seem interesting and directional for the industry to discuss and highlight. Therefore, in the spirit of recognizing that, the jury decided to create a special award to recognize it, outside of The NEW Category,” he noted.
