Inside The Jury Room At D&AD
I was fortunate this week to serve on the Digital Advertising jury of the prestigious D&AD.
It was a thrill and an honor, made ever more so by the fact that this was the organization’s 50th show.
My fellow jurors comprised some of the finest minds and most passionate hearts in the communications business. We were a global bunch from places like Sao Paulo, Tokyo, London, Singapore, Madrid, Stockholm, New York and Los Angeles. (See them here - http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2012/juries/diga/digital-advertising)
Our jury foreman was digital advertising and techno icon Bob Greenberg, the Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of R/GA. With his combination of guru-ness and gentle humor, he encouraged us to look for important and smart work with great craft. Of course, this worked in perfect harmony with the clear and stringent D&AD judging criteria, which asked for us to award work that was “highly original and inspiring.” Along with being “exceptionally well executed.” And lastly, the work should be “relevant to its context.”
So how did it all happen?
After culling over a thousand entries prior to the show in London, our first day was all about culling and cutting even more. We were split into three groups to separate the wheat from the chaff. Or the quality from the merely coded. In numbers, this task had us cut roughly 350 pieces to fewer than 100 or so. We then had to whittle these case studies to a manageable and competitive 30. From there we judged 18 or so that were “worthy of being in the book.” And finally, we had great debate and discussion over which 10 or so pieces were worthy of nominations and, ultimately, the coveted and near-impossible-to-win Yellow and Black Pencils. See the results of the category here - http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2012/categories
I observed three trends.
1. Ideas that Do The pieces that really moved the judges were ideas like "American Express Small Business Saturday.” More than a mere promotion, this idea fundamentally changed people’s behavior. It was lauded for its smarts, bravery and overall powerful integration.
2. Funny We all know the phrase, “Funny is money.” In this case, a laugh was worth its weight in gold…or yellow, that is. Pieces like Skittles’s “Touch the Rainbow” and K-Swiss’s “MFCMO” had the room in stitches and our thumbs twitching to hit “in” on our iPod touches.
3. Data Visualization The proliferation of data is not only making our heads spin, it’s also starting to create a frenzy in the world of art direction. Several pieces were lighting the way on what is nothing short of design revolution. One particular favorite was IBM's “Smarter City” integrated offering. It took what could be a pretty dry subject and brought it to life with passion and flair.
A Talk About the Future
At the end of our judging, we had a spontaneous and inspiring good old-fashioned “rap session.” Led by foreman Bob Greenberg, it was a fascinating insight into what’s to come. Bob talked about moving beyond doing mere ads and campaigns and discussed something he called creating “ecosystems.” In other words, ideas mixed with products, artfully brought to life.
It was the perfect end to the 50th D&AD judging. After all, it pointed the way to the kinds of things we just might see in the next 50 years.
