Ten entries have been Nominated for a Pencil in Digital.
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay commented, “Entries to D&AD have gone up over 10% this year, which is a refection of D&AD’s increasing popularity in maturing creative markets like Brazil and China. The main theme we’re seeing this year is one of convergence: the lines between categories are becoming more and more blurred, which means ideas have to be smarter and the execution more pristine than ever. We’ve also seen a massive increase in smaller design studios entering – which I hope indicates the creative industries are in rude health at every level.”
The list is at the bottom. Let’s look at three in depth:
Pharrell William’s 24 Hours of Happy has won a Nomination in Websites in Digital Design. The story behind this United Nations initiative for International Happiness Day is absolutely wonderful. Read it here.
Leo Burnett has won a Nomination in Apps for Run That Town.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics wanted people to know why the latest Census data matters to them. What you’re thinking now is the problem Leo Burnett faced.
So the agency thought, “The best way to understand the true value of the Census data is to use it.” It took the data from every one of Australia’s more than 2,500 postcodes and turned it into a game. Everyone wants to be king for a day, Leo Burnett let people run their home town – and they had to use real census data to do it.
Havas, Finch, Reactive and Red Agency have won a Nomination for Technical Innovation. The story behind this win is magnificent. Here it is:
Save Our Sons is a very small charity. Its cause, Duchenne muscular dystrophy only affects boys, and then just 1 in 3,500.
But it’s a horrid disease, a fatal muscle degenerating disease. The Most Powerful Arm Ever Invented was at once a big ad idea, an education and awareness tool, and a very cool metaphor for what the campaign was able to do for the cause.
The charity had raised $1.75 million in Australia towards funding clinical trials of a new treatment and needed government to provide the remaining funds needed. The government was not in the mood to be bugged for funds for a disease hardly anyone knew existed. The campaign needed first to get the public behind the cause.
The Most Powerful Arm Ever Invented is a world first robot arm that via its online hub, TheMostPowerfulArm.com, physically signs a petition for anyone wanting to help kids with DMD. Through a simple click, Australians could see their name signed in real time in support of the cause then posted to their Facebook page to spread the message.
TheMostPowerfulArm.com had zero budget for bought media. PR and social media were the only promotional tools it could use for awareness and action.
DMD sufferer, Jacob Lancaster, was appointed as the face and spokesperson, and he becamse the focus of the 6 minute video on the website. The font created for the robot arm was taken from the last piece of handwriting Jacob created before he lost the ability to write, a Mother’s Day card, strengthening the arm’s personal message and significance.
During the campaign, 193 media articles and 6 pieces of national television coverage, were achieved by Havas’ Red Agency, with a combined reach of 20+million, and an advertising value of nearly $2m. There were 1,130 mentions posts across blogs, Twitter and Facebook reaching an audience of 3+ million. 45,000 website views were received and the robot signed 32,000+ signatures.
Getting signatures was the aim of the campaign, but it also generated more than $24,000 in donations for the charity.
And the campaign achieved its goal. The Australian Government noticed. The petition was passed to Tanya Plibersik, Federal Minister for Health and Medical Research, in May 2013 and action is now pending.
The ten entries competing for a Yellow Pencil in Digital Design on May 22 are:
- 24 hours of Happy – Pharrell Williams by Iconoclast for Im Am Other Entertainment
- Box by Bot and Dolly
- First Tracks by Forsman & Bodenfors for Helly Hansen
- Hands On Search by HAKUHODO Kettle for Yahoo Japan
- iOS7 by Apple for Apple
- Magic of Flying by OgilvyOne Worldwide London for British Airways
- NS/ProRail – Improving safety and comfort on train platforms by Edenspiekermann for NS Dutch Railways, ProRail
- Recalling 1993 by Droga5 for New Museum
- Run That Town by Leo Burnett Sydney for Australian Bureau of Statistics
- The Most Powerful Arm by Finch for Save Our Sons, The Duchenne Foundation
Learn more about the results on the D&AD live-blog.
