Media Awards Showcase Agency Innovation

Media Awards Showcase Agency Innovation

The annual CAANZ Media Awards showcase the innovations and smart thinking that advertising agency media team and media suppliers bring to advertising campaigns.

The latest awards were announced at a function in Auckland on Tuesday night.

The ten category winners were for: the LTSA, Vodafone (2 winners), Telecom (2 winners), Cadbury (2 winners), Westpac, Xbox, and Freedom Air.

Best In Show Award went to Clemenger BBDO for their LTSA “RUOK2DRIV?” campaign which targeted youth drink and driving. The campaign was also winner of the Best Smart Media Idea category. Highly commended in Best in Show was spark for their Vodafone V24 Challenge.

Media Agency of the Year, a new award, went to DDB Media, headed by Kath Watson.

Best Media Sales Pitch of the Year was another hotly contested new category this year, and there were two winners announced.

Brendon Kersey from the Newspaper Advertising Bureau won for his proposal to Saatchi & Saatchi for the WestpacTrust name change (to Westpac) campaign.

Greig Thirkell from SKY TV won for his proposal, once again to Saatchi & Saatchi for the Telecom toll calls during the Soccer World Cup.

Lynne Clifton, the executive director of the Communications Agencies Association, says the awards highlighted the sophistication and creativity of media thinking within agencies, as well as the flexibility and responsiveness of the media.

"It's enormously exciting to see the country's agencies finding new ways to get messages through for their clients," says Clifton.

"What's also clear is that many of these ideas wouldn't have come off without close co-operation and partnership between agencies and media organisations."

CAANZ is the national body representing New Zealand's advertising and communications agencies.

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