'Elect the Jury' is electing jury you expected

Everyone in advertising bemoans that it isn't as relevant in the culture anymore. The Clios used to be televised! Well, it turns out the industry is pretty insular itself. The grand "Elect the Jury" experiment to democratize and broaden the jury for the Andy Awards has come to a close. The jury will be announced this Friday, but take a look at the top 25 vote getters (sort the people by "Most Votes"), and try to find surprises. Mark Tutssel? Tony Granger? Bob Moore? Not exactly the standard bearers from whom you'd expect the cry of revolution. Shepard Fairey is the only judge not directly in the ad industry. Intriguing outsiders who did well in voting, like Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau and designer Marc Jacobs, said they weren't interested. Ben Malbon of BBH has made just this point: "Elect the Jury" is a nice experiment, but the results are fairly conventional. The jury is comprised of big agency executive creative directors, overwhelmingly American, with some favorite digital types sprinkled in for variety. At least the creatives can now stop begging for votes on social-media sites.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Previously on AdFreak:
Egos claw and scratch for Andys-jury votes

Published on November 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Andy Awards, Morrissey

Egos claw and scratch for Andys-jury votes

The idea of electing the jury for the 2010 Andy Awards is commendable: Instead of picking the same creatives who judge all the awards shows, open up the process to new voices. But come on, this is advertising. It means egos are at stake. While some ad guys are playing it cool, other heavy hitters are taking to social media to drum up votes among the faithful. Will McGuinness of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners put it this way to his Facebook network: "I was nominated for the Andy's jury. If you really value our friendship you'll vote for me." Ogilvy chief digital creative officer Lars Bastholm has urged his 2,200 Twitter followers not once, not twice but three times to vote for him. He even promised that, if elected, he wouldn't blow up the moon. Not to be outdone, TBWA\Chiat\Day chief creative officer Rob Schwartz is Twittering for votes and has set up a Posterous site, Andy Potential, to collect work he feels might be worthy, to show his serious side. Arnold's Twitter account is pushing executive creative director Pete Favat. But the best campaigns so far have to be the dueling text-to-voice animations from Crispin Porter + Bogusky ecd Andrew Keller and R/GA North America cco Nick Law. (See below.) Bastholm has also done one. It's all in good fun, although the end result will probably be a jury that's not that different from years past. Still, early returns hold out some hope for non-advertising people. Graffitti artist Banksy, former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, designer Marc Jacobs and graphic artist Shepard Fairey have cracked the top 20.

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

Published on October 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under Andy Awards, Award shows, Morrissey

No one with talent wants to be your friend

Mother London has created an amusing call-for-entries campaign for the Andy Awards, in which you can send bogus friend-requests to your buddies from top ad-industry creatives. When the recipients of the friend-requests click on the link, they get ridiculed for even thinking that Jeff Goodby (or whoever) knows who they are. Of course, whether or not you'd actually want to be friends with some of these people is another matter.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on December 10, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Andy Awards, Award shows, Mother, Nudd

Your creative work makes Gerry Graf vomit

The Andy Awards has set up a call-for-entries Web site called the Instacritique. You’re invited to upload your work and get various reactions from five well-known creative directors, as well as a guy on the street. As you can see above, Gerry Graf does not respond well to ads that aren’t up to snuff. (Feel free to skip the upload step, and click on a motivation instead, as the site doesn’t seem to do anything with the images.)

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on October 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under Andy Awards, Award shows

Elderly creatives jazzed about ‘Ego Bingo’

Here’s an ad (click to enlarge) from Leo Burnett promoting The Advertising Club’s 2007 International Andy Awards. The whole campaign has a lottery theme, the idea being that the Andys are so competitive, you might have a better chance of winning the lotto (or other games of chance) than the Grandy Award. Wrinkly creatives who are nearing retirement age (if there are any in this business) may appreciate the bingo theme here.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on November 28, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (5)
Filed under Andy Awards, Award shows

Andy judges and the photos they love

Bob Scarpelli of DDB is transfixed by this photo of a young man mourning the death of John Lennon. “Twenty-five years after his death, it is easy to say that I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news,” Scarpelli writes. “It is not as easy to say what one man’s most honest ideas, feelings and passion meant to me and my generation.” Scarpelli’s musings are part of a collective contribution from Andy Awards judges to an online charity initiative called “Change Me,” created by Getty Images. Scarpelli, Mark Tutssel, Tony Granger, Jeff Goodby and other judges each selected an image that inspires them and wrote about it for the “Change Me” Web site. (To find the ad folks’ entries, click on “Join the worldwide discussion” and then scroll through the “Icons” section at the top.) The photos are hugely diverse, and include entries from celebrities far and wide (William Hurt, Jessica Alba, Claudia Schiffer, Matt Damon, etc.). The idea is to emphasize that imagery has an overwhelming power to create change. (Sometimes the images are so good that the words get in the way. Writing about a mug shot of Vincent Gigante, Jeff Goodby refers to the late mobster as Tony Gigante.) Ordinary people can also send in entries; for each one selected for the project, Getty is giving $10 to Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on April 17, 2006 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Andy Awards, Award shows

Not quite the last judgment, but close

Artist Fred Stonehouse channels Hieronymus Bosch in his (and Leo Burnett’s) cool call-for-entries poster for the 2006 International Andy Awards. (Click on the image to see a big version.) Judges are gods; midlevel creatives (including “ass kissers”) are in purgatory; “hacks” are relegated to hell. Sounds about right. Stonehouse kept the original 6-foot-tall painting, but keep checking eBay—you never know when it might show up.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on October 17, 2005 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Andy Awards, Award shows