In a year that saw few top prizes awarded, the Publicis Groupe agency won a single gold, in the print category with ‘Risks’ for the Breast Cancer Welfare Association.
The same client merited three silvers, in the graphic design and poster categories, while two silvers went to Saatchis’ pool-themed films for Guinness.
The same client merited three silvers, in the graphic design and poster categories, while two silvers went to Saatchis’ pool-themed films for Guinness.
“I was disappointed,” said Rowan Chanen, regional executive creative director of Y&R, who sat on the Kancils’ international jury. “Malaysia has come into its own over the past few years, and is up there with the best advertising markets in the world. But standards were not as high as last year.”
Of only nine golds awarded in 14 categories, Leo Burnett won for its ‘Tan Hong Ming’ film for Petronas, JWT for its ‘Bacon’ print ad for Scott Kitchen Towels and BBDO for Snickers with its ‘Cyclist’ poster.
The best work, noted Chanen, was in non-traditional media. A gold went to Compass Interactive, for its ‘Jangan Togel’ (don’t you’re your shirt) website (nikefootball. com.my/jangantogel) for Nike - which also collected the Golden Kancil for best idea of the year.
A gold was awarded to IF Interactive for its ‘Building the future’ website (whatif.net.my) for Discovery Networks International. However the online advertising, email marketing and mobile marketing categories saw no higher than a bronze awarded.
“There are a few companies doing great work, but most agencies are struggling to bring great ideas and insights online,” said Chanen.
“That said, the digital work was far more interesting than the traditional, which seems to be stuck in a rut.”
Jennifer Chan, head of the 4As creative excellence committee, added: “Malaysian advertising has improved ten fold in the last four years, but there’s no room for complacency.
It’s dangerous for us to think that we’re now a worldclass market. There’s plenty of room for improvement.”
BBDO claimed the rebel idea award for its ‘Washing machine demo’ for Olympus, which was named advertiser of the year.
Controversially, there was no recognition for DiGi’s ‘Yellow man’ campaign by Naga DDB. Widely recognised as one of the most effective campaigns of recent years, judges felt that the campaign was not strong enough creatively.
