Spikes Asia 2013 winners revealed

If you bet on "seven" as the number of Grand Prix that 'Dumb ways to die' would win at Spikes, you're buying the first round of drinks, because the virally sensational public-service announcement took the coveted award in the following seven categories: Branded Content & Entertainment, Digital, Film Craft, Film, Integrated, Promo & Activation and Radio. 

The campaign's success also led to McCann Melbourne winning Agency of the Year and McCann Worldgroup being named Network of the Year (see below for full results from the special award categories). 

The domination of the adorable cartoon about grisly deaths here tonight only adds to its legendary status, after it won an unprecedented five Grand Prix at Cannes this summer, as well as pencils of various colours at D&AD.

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“The Grand Prix is a Grand Prix because of its capacity to go viral,” Jose Miguel Sokoloff, chairman of Lowe SSP2 and jury president for the Direct and Promo & Activation juries, told Campaign Asia-Pacific earlier today. “And if there is a viral campaign in the world, it’s ‘Dumb ways to die’. I don’t think there’s a person in the English-speaking world who is not aware of it, and we need to celebrate that.”

But the night did not belong solely to 'Dumb ways'.

'TXTBKS', the DDB DM9JaymeSyfu project for Smart Communications of the Philippines, won two Grand Prix, in the Direct and Mobile categories. The project—also a Grand Prix winner at Cannes—involved converting heavy textbooks into SMS format and distributing them to schoolchildren on SIM cards. 

The other Spikes Grand Prix winners were:

• Creative Effectiveness: 'The 2012 Ikea Catalogue, A roommate worth having' for Ikea Western Australia by 303Lowe Subiaco
• Design: 'Keys are hard to find' for ATSS by McCann Worldgroup India Mumbai
• Media: 'Middle-Earth passport stamp' for Tourism New Zealand by Whybin\TBWA Auckland           
• Outdoor: 'Bridge of life' for Samsung Life Insurance by Cheil Worldwide Seoul
• PR: 'Driving dogs' for Mini and SPCA New Zealand by Draftfcb New Zealand Auckland

The juries for two categories, Print and Print & Poster Craft , did not award Grand Prix.

For the full list of Gold, SIlver and Bronze winners, please consult the Spikes Asia website.

Special awards

Here are the results in the special award categories.

Network of the Year:

• McCann Worldgroup
• BBDO
• DDB

Agency of the Year:

• McCann Melbourne
• Dentsu, Tokyo
• DDB Group New Zealand, Auckland

Independent Agency of the Year:

• Party, Tokyo
• Reactive Media, Sydney
• Tokyu Agency, Tokyo

Media Agency of the Year:

• Open, Auckland
• UM, Sydney
• OMD China, Shanghai

Spikes Palm:

• Exit Films, Melbourne
• Finch, Sydney
• Revolver, Sydney

Presidents' reactions

At least one jury president leaves the festival feeling confident about the region's creative output. "Asian work is very strong,” said Mike Cooper, PHD’s CEO and jury president in the Media category. “Years ago Asia used to be quite concerned whether or not it  was up to standard, and now it’s showing leadership.”

However, Tham Khai Meng, worldwide chief creative officer and chairman of the worldwide creative council for Ogilvy & Mather, who served as the jury president for Film, Print, Outdoor, Radio and Integrated, sounded a somewhat different tone. “Yes we saw great ideas, but not enough,” he said. “The work that has come out of this region is palpable. But it’s sporadic. You don’t see a surge.”

He added that there are pockets of great creativity. India stood out for him. “I shed a tear when I saw the Unilever campaign for Lifebuoy,” he said, adding that he was also impressed by certain work from China, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.