This week's guest judge is Jim Ingram, national chief creative tinker and co-founder of Thinkerbell, Australia.
BEST TV
Best: CoorDown 'Just The Two Of Us'. This spot got me in a very unexpected way. Mostly because I was watching it thinking it must be for a credit card company with detached fees, or an insurance firm that promises to be with you all the way. So when I realised it was for an organisation that celebrates and educates on sex and sexual relationships for people with Down syndrome, well, I liked it. And when I watched it again, knowing the message, I liked it even more picking up on the executional subtleties throughout.
Runner Up: Mona 'The Best Of Our Worst'. I've not been to MONA. But I've always wanted to. And watching this has made me want to even more. Beautifully taps into an anti-FOMO-MONA type vibe by highlighting how 'ordinary' people didn't like the experience. But I'm not ordinary. I'm fucking extraordinary and I wanna go to MONA to prove it.
BEST PRINT
Best: Findtur Travel Agency 'Wallpaper'. I was morally torn here. Judging a full-page print ad for a travel agent company felt like the days where we also saw full-page print ads for costume shop companies in awards (guilty as charged). But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt because I think the insight is so strong here. Your phone wallpaper has become the modern-day photo in the wallet and we often bump our kids for our best braggy holiday snaps. And this could (and should) go on and on and on and...
Runner Up: Micro Cotton 'Snow'. I must be in a mood for simplicity, because I'm drawn to the lovely craft of this. Assuming the claim is real, this is an elegant way to execute it. And again, I imagine there's more in the laundry set than this one.
BEST OUTDOOR
Best: Activision 'Scratchboards'. This was in the Ambient category, so I'm not sure if it's a bit of a stretch for outdoor, but skateboards that act as instant-win scratchies is pretty bloody cool way to promote Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2. If anything, it gets gamers outdoors doing some physical activity for a bit...
Runner Up: National Cancer Institute 'Graffitesti'. A sticker that gets placed over a dick pick to educate on how to self-test for testicular cancer? It seems pretty whack at first, but tapping into the graffiti sub-culture with a ballsy idea like this (see what I did there) is a pretty clever way to get younger generation men to start the conversation, at the very least.
BEST INTERACTIVE
Best: Reporters Without Borders 'The Truth Wins'. This is so clever. And so simple. And so huge. To help journalists in Russia avoid being censored on social media, they developed a top secret search code that updates every day and can't be censored - the daily lottery numbers. A new account each day, searchable by lottery number, to receive up-to-date and censorship-free news. Yep.
Runner Up: Heineken 'Virtual Heineken Silver'. I'm still not sure exactly what this is, but I watched a 9-minute film set in the metaverse where I witnessed a virtual Heineken Global Master Brewer launch a virtual beer at a virtual conference with virtual lobster and caviar. I'm sold.