This is the first time that the recipient of the ‘Print Creative Media Buy’ award has taken home the Grand Prix.
For winning the Grand Prix, creative agency UP BrandBuzz and media agency Maxus Communications Singapore each bagged $8,000 in cash while client Ministry of Education (MoE) won a full-page advertisement in either The Straits Times or Lianhe Zaobao.
Just days before Teachers’ Day, 1 September, a creative print advertisement invited students to cut out a ‘Teachers’ Day Coupon’ from the newspapers and send it to their favourite teacher.
Valerie Cheng, executive creative director, JWT/XM Asia, who was one of the judges, said of the Grand Prix winner, "What really stood out was its simplicity and the ability to work within the boundaries of the media to include an element of engagement that gave the audience something back - an emotion."
Organised by Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) the Ink Awards celebrate and reward excellence in print advertising within Singapore.
Held at the Shangri La Hotel Singapore, the evening’s theme ‘Battle of the Advertising World’ framed a competition that received a total of 291 entries from 46 creative agencies, 36 media agencies and 95 advertisers this year.
There are a total of seven awards, from which the Grand Prix winner is selected, plus awards for the creative and media agency that garner the most kudos on the night.
Mr Leslie Fong, senior executive vice-president of SPH’s marketing division said that this year's Grand Prix winner has shown what possibilities a creative buy advertisement can achieve. "Mindshare Singapore and DDB Singapore are deserving winners of the The Ink Media Agency and Ink Creative Agency titles, for their consistency in delivering impressive works."
