New Zealand shop sweeps DM Asia awards

<P>SINGAPORE WOW Rapp Collins New Zealand made a near-clean sweep of metal at this year's DMAsia Awards, held in Singapore earlier this month. </P> <P><br><br><BR>The Omnicom agency walked away with three of four Best of Show agency awards (Best Strategy, Best Creative Execution and the Shane Weaver Award) for its Coruba Rum campaign, 'Get sponsored'. The campaign also scooped nine of the 17 golds handed out. In 'Get Sponsored', Coruba made cheeky reference to the role of brand-sponsored sports legends. The rum label held a competition to find 20 'potential party legends' and will lend product sponsorship for their parties for an entire year.</P> <P><br><br><BR>Meanwhile, Rapp Collins Malaysia took home a Best of Show Use of Channel, for its Microsoft 'Resignation letter' execution.</P> <P><br><br> <BR>Best of Show Client of the Year, went to Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. </P> <P><br><br><BR>OgilvyOne Malaysia also made several trips to the podium to receive golds for its work on IBM's 'Ticket to indulgence' and Guinness Malaysia's 'Empty almanac' campaigns, plus a silver for its Nokia 'Perfectly simple' campaign.</P> <P><br><br><BR>"It looks like the DM world is starting to heat up now that there's money around," said Profero managing director Greg Wood, who chaired the judging panel. "(It is) strange that when there's a recession, companies will still advertise, but will cut spending in the direct response and CRM areas, when these should be the most valuable." </P>