DRAFTFCB crowned winners of the Adshel Creative Challenge 2013

The Adshel Creative Challenge, held last Thursday (October 4) saw a fresh new batch of creatives (and some determined challengers back from last year) battle it out to come up with a winning outdoor campaign for Surf Life Saving New Zealand (SLSNZ).

Adshel, in partnership with Stoppress and DPOD, hosted the event at The Generator in Britomart, Auckland to great success. Over 60 creatives in 15 teams turned up with their eyes firmly on the prize: a trip to Wellington with VIP tickets to attend Semi-Permanent 2013 and, of course, the Adshel Creative Challenge Trophy.

Fuelled by beer, wine and tacos the teams had just one hour to deliver up to two concepts in response to the brief given on the night by Surf Life Saving New Zealand Sponsorship and Marketing Manager Mike Keech- to produce a call-to-action outdoor campaign that will make people feel emotionally compelled to donate money to the charity's annual appeal.

The key focus for SLSNZ this year was to get across real life rescue stories that would give people a shot in the heart. The teams were encouraged to look at innovative ways of incorporating mobile into their campaigns and the winning concept also had to have the potential to reach across other media such as online and social media.

The breadth of ideas delivered in such a short space of time made the judging process a difficult one but there could only be one winner. After much deliberation, the judging panel, made up of Ben Fahy of Stoppress, Mike Keech of SLSNZ, Merran Anderson of IAG (State and AMI) and Nick Vile of Adshel crowned Kevin Walker, Ant Bell and Adam Taylor of DraftFCB victorious.

Nick Vile, General Manager of Adshel says "the winning campaign from DraftFCB met the requirements from the brief and the concept will work really well with our outdoor media. The message outtake was strong and the call to action direct and simple. The concept also has the flexibility to reach across other media and will tie in effectively with mobile and online. We are looking forward to seeing the campaign up on our panels in January."

There were plenty of fantastic ideas and the judges singled out a number of notable mentions on the night. All three team concepts from the Media Design School were featured including 'Don't you wish you had…' from Media Design School which featured underwater images of people desperately trying to donate before they drown. 'Save summer' which the judges thought would work really well with a social media component of the campaign and an innovative idea for an Adshel panorama.

Other favourites were Ogilvy who had the idea to fill Adshel panels with Jandals to show that without Surf Life Saving, this summer could be your last, Running with Scissors who incorporated Visa Pay Wave into their concept to add ease of donation, .99 who used strong visual imagery of a person drowning to evoke an emotive response and Clemenger BBDO produced a strong concept around 'Generations' which could have fantastic reach across all media.

Surf Life Saving New Zealand Sponsorship and Marketing Manager Mike Keech says he was incredibly impressed by the calibre of talent on the night. "The teams came prepared to work hard and think outside of the box to deliver us an engaging concept and that's exactly what they did. We look forward to working with Kevin Walker, Ant Bell and Adam Taylor from DraftFCB and seeing their winning campaign executed with the support of Adshel and their partners."

Surf Life Saving's National Appeal will be launched on December 6, 2013 and run through to February 2, 2014 and comprise of activities across the country involving clubs and our partner with the big national day set for January 31. The winning concept will run in Adshels around the country from January 13 - 27 2014.

For more information, please contact: 

Lisa Honeybone, Media & Communications Specialist, SLSNZ
Phone 0276-488-823 or email lisa.honeybone@surflifesaving.org.nz