STEEMSON AND SWINBURNE WIN GRANDE ORCA
The 13th Grande ORCA ceremony took place today at the Living Room in Ponsonby, Auckland as The Radio Bureau announced the winners of the People’s Choice, Grande ORCA and a special ‘Excellence Since Ages Ago’ award.
Creative guru and guest speaker, Ralph van Dijk from Eardrum, Sydney was on hand to present this year’s Grande ORCA to Helen Steemson and Matt Swinburne of Saatchi & Saatchi (pictured) for their TVNZ spot ‘World’s Fastest Indian’. The judges loved it’s pure simplicity and said it was “unpretentious and easy to listen to – pure radio!”
As Grande ORCA winners, both will be flying off to the Cannes Lions to see their ad judged on an international stage and as the winning client, TVNZ won a $50,000 radio schedule.
Stacey Daniels and Nathan Rarere MC’d the event which also saw the Ogilvy duo of Tom Paine and James Bowman take the People’s Choice award and a $1,000 prize for their latest addition to the popular L&P campaign. The pair also walked away with a special one-off award for ‘Excellence Since Ages Ago’ in acknowledgement of the lasting popularity of their iconic Kiwi L&P creative.
You can listen to the winning ads at www.trb.co.nz – just follow the Grande ORCA link from the home page.
posted by CB at 3/11/2008 07:38:00 pm
27 Comments:
tell me if i'm wrong, but shouldn't j&j have gotten that 'special awqard'?
11:26 am NZDT
Well done Hatt and Melen!
The Indian guy had a better accent than Anthony Hopkins.
2:36 pm NZDT
yeah but J & J aren't arrogant coat-tail riding private school boys or dead-horse flogging hax, so I guess they're not special enough to get the award. Better luck next time guys.
4:14 pm NZDT
a racially dubious pun? judges you should be ashamed. Sure the execution was amusing, but the idea? so addy, so old and so small.
5:16 pm NZDT
I liked it. You must be having a bad week 5:16pm.
5:36 pm NZDT
Racially dubious pun? Are you mad 5.16? Well done guys. Enjoy Cannes, unlike 'Mr So Addy' there who will probably not be attending.
6:00 pm NZDT
Jealous.
6:12 pm NZDT
I'm not an indian but i am in a hurry so i will make this fast.
5.16, you are a bitter and twisted old fart. Go away.
6:53 pm NZDT
11.26 You still have to write a bloody good ad even if the idea already exists.
7:27 pm NZDT
yawn.
10:56 pm NZDT
Welcome to the world where awards are now a big joke. First idea stuff me thinks.
10:57 pm NZDT
How embarrassing. If that's the best radio ad of the year then the NZ ad scene is in a sad and sorry state.
TWFI is a fantastic film about a humble, principled New Zealander who took on all the odds to beat the world. This juvenile piece of communication reduces his Hillary-esque feats to that of a cheap irrelevant pun.
To make matters worse, the amusement factor relies on racism, because (and be honest with yourself here...) us whiteys think Indians sound funny.
The Simpsons can get away with it with Apu because they belittle all racial stereotypes, but this ad doesn't poke fun at anyone except Indians. Therefore it is inherently racist.
It should never have been approved to run, let alone win an award, let alone win the Grand Orca.
I guarantee that no Indians had anything to do with the creation or judging of this commercial. Everybody who did, on the other hand, should hang their heads in shame.
11:03 pm NZDT
Well cry me a tedious politically correct river.
How is it racist, exactly, to have an Indian talking fast in his native (English)accent? Get down off your high horses why don't you - if the script had had him talking rapidly about the daily travails of running a dairy, or dealing with pissed-up rugbyheads in the back of his taxi THAT could be construed as racial stereotyping. However, the ad is simply a very literal interpretation of the film's title, and not in the least bit offensive - I played it to a friend of mine from Kolkata, and he found it most amusing. So there.
9:44 am NZDT
Look at the end of the day these judges shouldn't be the judges who determine what is the best radio ad of the country. Because they wouldn't be asked to judge anywhere else. Certainly not out of NZ anyway. And that's basically because their fingers just aren't on the pulse of where advertising is at these days.
And nor is an ORCA a good messure of a great radio ad.
But the award did go to a young team who would be thrilled with the win and will be going to Cannes which will be a freaking great experieince for them. So, good on them and I hope they have an awesome time.
While there they'll even get to go to the awards nights and hear the best of the best radio ads from around the world.
Have fun.
11:16 am NZDT
Come on guys. You got to admit this is the best radio New Zealand has seen in years. Personally I think the judges are bang on. Mark my words, The World's Fastest Indian idea has legs and will be the next L&P winning award after award year after year.
It'll keep M&C Saatchi's at the top where they rightfully belong. Ollie Maisey must be spewing that he left. Well done Helen and Matt.
11:49 am NZDT
It's obvious, and not original. But still funny.
No bolt of lightning, just a linear thought that S&S pays youngsters little to spend loads of time on.
6:08 pm NZDT
Hey 4:14,
If you were at the Orcas you would have seen me publicly give Jamie and Josh props. If you're gonna have a go at me, please call me and do it to my face.
Tom Paine
021 646481
7:10 pm NZDT
Hey everyone, let's slag off a talented jr team for having the audacity to write an ad, have it run, enter it and ... win.
Bon voyage, Helen and Matt, et au revoir!
7:38 pm NZDT
I thought it was funny.
Good on ya.
SK.
2:02 pm NZDT
Well done guys. And thanks for not inviting me to lunch. I was busy anyway :P
Robbie
2:24 pm NZDT
Just heard the Indian ad for the first time. Made me laugh out loud. Great radio. 11:03 PM NZDT is a weasel. Oops, are you allowed to say that about weasels?
5:05 pm NZDT
I'm on the periphery of agency life these days and to be honest I've never won any significant award but blow me if I can work out how this one even got approved by Mike. It's just an obvious pun - like someone said earlier: first idea stuff. These awards MUST BE politically motivated. The judges should be seriously reviewed.
gee-sus
1:33 pm NZDT
To Matt and Helen, congratulations on an ad that genuinely made me laugh.
And to all the haters on this site, get a life.
If these things were easy to win, then you'd have a stuffed cabinet, yes?
This junior team has been working its guts out for a few years now, and they deserve every hideously expensive glass of bubbly they get comped at Cannes.
Keep going, guys! Neck a couple for me.
Anton, Sydney.
1:59 pm NZDT
I agree with Anton. I can't believe the whining on this site. ...you're truly living up to your tall poppy reputation, NZ.
3:18 pm NZDT
If it was called 'The world's fastest Australian' and had a typical Aussie accent talking fast, would you haters call it racist?
I suggest you go discuss it amongst yourselves outside Verona cafe with your fair trade, soy milk, decaf lattes.
3:53 am NZDT
Well done guys, much deserved. Funny ad, when it started, i turned the radio up.
Keep up the solid work, and have a fun time at Cannes, so jealous!
Danny
10:21 am NZDT
"Solid" mean 'Go-to', which means 'Reliable' which means unremarkable, which means a 'Trip back home.'
Ahh, advertising. So reliable.
8:48 pm NZDT
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