Fried bread stick beats off rivals

<p>The 7th China Advertising Festival, held in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province </p><p>from October 18-22 crowned the "Fried Bread Stick Bone" print ad as the </p><p>overall winner of the awards. The advertisement for a calcium tablet </p><p>holds that your bones will turn into a soggy fried bread stick, popular </p><p>as a breakfast favorite all over China, if you don't resort to calcium </p><p>support. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In minimalist fashion the ad, created by local advertising agency Guilin </p><p>Huadun Advertisement Planning, shows a fried breadstick, which </p><p>characteristically has the shape of a bone. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"At this year's advertising festival there were quite a few inspiring </p><p>and great ideas," says J Walter Thompson/Bridge China executive creative </p><p>director, China Lo Sheung Yan, who was on the judging panel for the </p><p>second year running. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Local talent is showing great promise by using a local simple story to </p><p>show what the product is about. The bread stick, which everyone in China </p><p>knows and which really comes from local culture, is a very good </p><p>example," said Mr Lo. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The now annual advertising awards, which were held in Wuxi for the </p><p>second year running, saw a total of 1,760 entries come in from across </p><p>the country, including 1,166 entries for the category print, 468 for </p><p>audio visual and 126 for radio. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In total, nine golden medals were awarded, 30 silver and 78 bronze </p><p>medals. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He Qiyuan, director of the training department of the China Advertising </p><p>Association and vice secretary general and office director of the </p><p>Organising Committee of the 7th China Advertising Festival, said, </p><p>"Overall there was a great improvement in (the) quality of entries, </p><p>while local advertising companies show promise to catch up to </p><p>international levels within the next two years." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Reflecting the industry, general print showed a higher standard than </p><p>cash-intensive TV commercials, while government-promoted public welfare </p><p>commercials figured prominently. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Three gold prizes for television commercials were awarded. Gold for the </p><p>consumer product category went to a "Nike Heart Beat" by J Walter </p><p>Thompson/Bridge, gold for the public welfare category went to "Happy </p><p>Spring Festival" by Beijing Sang Xia Advertising and the category </p><p>Dotcom/various went to "Soim.Com" by Pacesetter Pictures International </p><p>(PPI). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Five categories were awarded in the print sector. Corporate Image was </p><p>won by "CoolBid.com" by Euro RSCG Partnership, Health Care products, </p><p>Fried Bead Stick Bone" by Guilin Huadun Advertisement Planning, three </p><p>public welfare awards went to, "Football Hooligan" by J Walter </p><p>Thompson/Bridge, "Education for less well off children" and "Spider Web </p><p>Bra" and "Spider Web Underwear", both by Bates Advertising Shanghai. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>One gold radio award went to the public welfare category for </p><p>"Concentrate on one thing rather than two" by the Transportation </p><p>Editorial Department of Henan People's Radio Station. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>As a first, the National Youth Advertising Design Awards were held, </p><p>where young upcoming talent competed with one another on creating an </p><p>advertising campaign in a limited amount of time. Chao Shaojun and Feng </p><p>Dapeng from McCann Erickson Guangming, Guangzhou took home the award </p><p>after being locked away for 24 hours with the task to develop a campaign </p><p>for next year's youth advertising competition. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Said Mr He, "The awards were very well received by the young talents and </p><p>they participated in a very enthusiastic way. The awards also open many </p><p>opportunities for the winners. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"This year's awards were much more balanced than last year's," Mr Lo </p><p>continued, "and it was very much an interactive experience between the </p><p>15 judges, 10 from the mainland and five international judges." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Mr Lo said, "Last year was a real experience as the judges were seeing </p><p>advertisement in a very different way. This year there was much more </p><p>discussion about the advertisement, while a local judges could explain </p><p>to us why something would work in Xinjiang for example, while we could </p><p>give our international input." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>While Wuxi has put in a bid to host the event every other year, for now </p><p>it has not been decided where next year's awards will take place. While </p><p>there is still much to be done to make the festival an international </p><p>event, the first priority is to continue to increase the national </p><p>standing of the awards for an industry which incorporates more than </p><p>60,000 companies. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Source: CMM Intelligence. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>