The future of advertising. This is what D&AD chief executive officer, Tim Lindsay and Unilever chief executive officer, Paul Polman, began to promote two years ago…
…And Australia’s Ben Akers and Unilever’s Walter Susini tried to rank last week as D&AD White Pencil judges.
D&AD White Pencil judging 2014: The laugher, the tears, and the cardboard desk. By Ben Akers.
So with White Pencil 2014, there are just 2 days of judging. On Day One, we watch all the films and work out a short list. Day two is when the hard job begins.
We all turned up slightly blurry eyed. Not because we were out drinking all night at the Judges Pub the Hand and Flower – admittedly one or two pints of London Pride were sampled when we tried to unwind after staring at a Screen for 10 hours. But I think it was more that we had such an international jury that jet lag… well, that was my excuse anyway.
Kristen [Beck] from Google in San Fran had just come in via China, Walter [Susini, VP of brand creative excellence, Unilever. And Anselmo [Ramos, CCO, Ogilvy & Mather Brazil] from Brazil; Christian [Haas, ECD & Partner, Goodby Silverstein & Partners] from New York – although, he was from Brazil as well. Andy [Goodman, MD, Fjord] came in from Madrid. Feh [Tarty, ECD, Mother] and Nat [Hunter, co-director of design, Royal Society of Arts] were the only ones London based (although Feh is West African who grew up in the States).
(l) Feh Tarty, Mother London (r) Anselmo Ramos David/O&M Brazil
You get it, right? It was fantastic. 6 men & 2 women from around the globe – all with very different perspectives and opinions on what White Pencil is.
The one immutable – it’s not easy to work that out.
Is it about sustainability? Is it brands with purpose? Is it thoughts that make the world a better place? Is it ideas that help or protect people? Is it ideas for a good cause? Or is it about global impact?
When you’re seeing a fantastic idea like “Sweetie” – a pro-active police idea to catch paedophiles that almost brought a tear to my eyes – how can you compare it to the beautiful Dove’s “Real Beauty Sketches” – a project about women’s view of themselves? Well, that’s what we tried to do. From laughing at “Hurricane Name Change” – for Climate Change, to being humbled by a simple sticker reading, “Share my Dabba” – to stop food waste and feed starving children in India.
(l) Christian Haas, Goodby & Walter Susini, Unilever
We debated. We laughed. We even fought. We brought our diverse backgrounds as advertising creatives, designers, product makers and even a client, to a small inflatable igloo for 5 hours. There was laughter, there were tears. There was standing on chairs to make a case, and 3 designers trying to put up a cardboard kids’ desk. It was one of the most interesting and inspiring juries I’ve ever been on. Our diversity inside the world of ideas made the discussions even better, and I even saw Walter Susini change his mind. I bet that doesn’t happen often.
There was one thing that disappointed me. There weren’t enough brands who had done good. I know they are out there. I work on a few of them. But they weren’t represented. These are the entries The White Pencil needs, to make a difference in the world of creativity. So I’ll be all over you for the next 12 months to make sure the next jury has an easier job than us. And let’s hope that one day the White Pencil is no longer needed – because all brands have sustainability at their core.
Oh…and one more thing. Don’t ask me who won. We don’t even know.
We all agreed on In-book and Nominations but the pencils were by closed vote. So I’ll be waiting with baited breath on the 22nd of May like the rest of you.
Ben Akers.
Creative Director, Republic of Everyone.
White Pencil Judge
Aussies (l) David Park, Maud [judge, Branding] and (r) Matty Burton, Whybin\TBWA [judge, TV & Cinema Adv]
“Someone entered a truck into Product Design.” [Ben Akers]
