The 54th D&AD Professional Awards Ceremony took place Thursday night (19 May) in London, where two Black Pencils were awarded; the highest accolade in the creative industry. As well as being the most awarded design agency at the Ceremony, UK technology startup what3words claimed a Black Pencil for “The World Addressed,” their pioneering method of communicating precise locations around the world. A Black Pencil was also awarded to iyamadesign for their spatial design of the “mt expo 2015” in Japan, on behalf of masking tape brand Kamoi Kakoshi.
what3words – The World Addressed
Christian Davies, FITCH Americas, Foreman for Spatial and Experiential Design, and D&AD jury member, said of the judging process: “We talked a lot about work that we viewed as game changing. We talked about the responsibility of sending a message to the design community to say this (a Black Pencil winner) will change the way we look at design. We also talked about the iconic work that had won in the past, and how you remember the impact it had. The mt expo 2015 work was beautiful in its simplicity. I thought it was a piece of work that inspired wonder in the people that experienced it. There was a common theme that was to discuss the backlash against ‘digital for digital’s sake’. So I voted for something that was beautifully simple.”
iyamadesign – mt expo 2015
Three White Pencils were also awarded, recognising work which demonstrates outstanding creativity for social good. Ogilvy Brasil took one for their “Security Moms” work for Sport Clube do Recife, and seymourpowell took one for their “Fairphone 2” work for Fairphone. The Creativity for Good (White Pencil) category launched as a standalone awards show in April this year in partnership with Advertising Week parent company Stillwell Partners, under the new name, D&AD Impact.
Seymourpowell – Fairphone 2
In total, 747 Pencils were awarded during D&AD Judging 2016. The number of Pencils awarded by level were as follows:
- Black Pencil - 2
- White Pencil - 3
- Yellow Pencil - 61
- Graphite Pencil - 149
- Wood Pencil – 532
Ogilvy Brasil – Security Moms
D&AD CEO Tim Lindsay, said: “We've seen a record number of entries and some truly wonderful work, including stand-out pieces of creative thinking in our new Media and PR categories. Equally pleasing is that putting purpose alongside profit and seeking to 'do well by doing good' is driving increasing numbers of incredibly high quality work for some very big brands. We love it when the commercial agenda and the sustainability agenda begin to intersect.”
Most awarded
Y&R New Zealand was crowned the Most Awarded Advertising Agency of 2016, winning 10 Pencils in total, including 6 Yellow Pencils, 1 Graphite Pencil and 1 Wood Pencil for its work with the Burger King Corporation on the “McWhopper” campaign. Josh Moore, Y&R NZ CEO & CCO, and Tom Paine, Y&R Creative Director, said of their monumental win: “To be named D&AD’s Most Awarded Agency is an outstanding achievement and huge recognition for the work accomplished by the talented Y&R NZ crew, our loyal partners and an enormous credit to the bravery, trust and faith shown by our clients over the past year.”
Y&R New Zealand and their bumper awards haul!
On the design, production and client fronts, what3words added to their Black Pencil win by claiming the title of Most Awarded Design Agency, whilst DIVISION was recognised as Most Awarded Production Company and Burger King was the Most Awarded Client.
Giles Rhys Jones from what3words
Most Awarded Advertising Agency:
- Y&R New Zealand
- Droga5 and AMVBBDO
- Grey London
Most Awarded Design Agency:
- what3words
- seymourpowell
- johnson banks and The Partners
Most Awarded Production Company:
- DIVISION
- The Mill
- 4Creative
Most Awarded Client:
- Burger King
- Sky
- Volvo
Results by country
The UK topped the rankings again with a total of 217 Pencils, including 14 Yellow Pencils, 1 White Pencil and 1 Black Pencil. The US followed in second place, with 143 Pencils overall, of which 12 were Yellow, with France in third place, winning 6 Yellow Pencils and 48 Pencils in total. Japan led the way in Asia, with 1 Black Pencil and 4 Yellow Pencils amongst their haul of 42 Pencils overall, whilst Brazil topped the table for Latin America, with a total of 30 Pencils, including 1 White Pencil. New Zealand, who came in joint fifth position with Brazil (with 30 Pencils), claimed the third highest number of Yellow Pencils by country, with 11.
President’s Award
2016 President's Award Winner 2016: Steve Henry
This year the President’s Award went to Steve Henry, Co-founder of Decoded and one of the founders and creative partner of the world-renowned advertising agency HHCL. Working as part of the team that netted HHCL Campaign’s “Agency of the Decade”, Steve’s work is iconic. He is perhaps most renowned for his “You’ve Been Tango’d” commercials, alongside other well-known catchphrases such as Ronseal’s “Does what it says on the tin.” D&AD President Andy Sandoz, said of Henry's win: “Steve Henry’s work and approach has inspired, shaken and awoken a generation of today’s Creative Directors. Populist TV, diversity, tech start-up, purpose and education - it’s all here. As engaged today as ever, he’s the person I most enjoy trying to reimagine the industry with over a cup of tea.”
Next Photographer and Next Director Awards
Winners for two awards, separate to the Professional Awards, were also announced at the Ceremony last week. The Next Photographer Award, in partnership with Getty Images, sets out to find the best new photographers and promote them back to the creative industry. This year’s winner was Hong Kong-Chinese photographer Tam Hoi Ying.
Tam Hoi Ying
James Day, Foreman of the jury, said: “The overall standard of submissions for the Next Photographer award was very high but the Jury was unanimous in its decision to award the work of Tam Hoi Ying. We were all extremely impressed with the level of thought and execution which Tam brought to the subject matter and we all wish them the best of luck in what I’m sure will be a very successful career.”
Daisy Jacobs
Finally, the Next Director Award, which aims to unearth the best new directorial talent, was given to British animation director Daisy Jacobs. Director, Dougal Wilson, one the Next Director judges, said about the winning work: “A beautifully innovative animation technique that expressed the film’s story in a deeply emotional and affecting way.”
D&AD Awards Ceremony 2016
The title sequence for the ceremony was created by the Mill+ production company, who continued their ongoing collaboration with the awards this year, creating the concept, design, art direction and animation for the 2016 opening title sequence and ceremony teaser. The team, led by Mill+ Creative Director Carl Addy and Director Ivo Sousa, worked to bring the project to life from initial creative concept to the final execution, ensuring that the ideas worked across multiple touch points in an intriguing and striking way. Every year, the awards highlight original thinking and inspirational work, which reverberates through the creative industry, so the concept was based on an insight into the power of industry trends and fashions. The team set out to depict this culture through graphic patterns that move in a harmonious shared direction; a uniform visual landscape.
