Staff Reporters
Jun 13, 2013

McCann's 'Dumb ways to die' wins D&AD Black Pencil, five Yellows

GLOBAL - McCann's 'Dumb ways to die' campaign for Metro Trains Melbourne has won a Black Pencil and five Yellow Pencils in the 2013 D&AD Awards, amid a strong showing by agencies from Australia, Japan and New Zealand.

McCann's 'Dumb ways to die' wins D&AD Black Pencil, five Yellows

In addition to its Black Pencil, the 'Dumb ways to die' campaign won Yellow in the categories of Art Direction, Earned Media Campaigns, Digital Advertising, TV & Cinema Advertising and Writing for Film Advertising. 

D&AD CEO Tim Lindsey called Australia's total of 50 awards "spectacular".

“It’s also particularly encouraging to see more Asian work coming to the fore," he added. "Japan continues to lead the charge, but we also saw a doubling in the number of entries from China this year, which is testament to the country’s thriving creative scene." 

In addition to McCann, the following Asia-Pacific agencies also won Yellow Pencils:

Agency Campaign Client Category Country
The Monkeys Mixionary Diageo Art Direction for Poster Advertising Australia
Revolver Moreing Kraft, Boost Production Design for Film Advertising Australia
Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai #CokeHands The Coca-Cola Company, Coca-Cola Illustration for Advertising China
Colenso BBDO Donation Glasses Mars NZ, Pedigree Adoption Drive Direct Response/TV & Cinema Advertising New Zealand
Draft Call Girl Prime Television Radio Advertising over 30 seconds New Zealand
6D-K JA Minds Minds Agricultural Cooperative Branding Schemes/Medium Business Japan
Party Inc. Kanji City Cafe Company, Cog Moving Image (Graphic Design) Japan
Work Louis Vuitton – Yayoi Kusama Fine Book (2012) Louis Vuitton Japan Brand Expression in Print Singapore

Three other agencies, all from the UK, won Black Pencils:

  • 4creative’s 'Meet the Superhumans' for Channel 4 (TV & Cinema Communications)
  • Heatherwick Studio’s 'Olympic Cauldron' for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Spatial Design/Installations)
  • GOV.UK’s website for Her Majesty's Government (Writing for Websites & Digital Design)

For the first time, a White Pencil was awarded, to US-based Droga5 for 'Help! I want to Save a Life' for Help Remedies.

In all, the organisation gave out 618 awards, including 51 Yellow Pencils (coincidentally, in its 51st year). The UK ran away with the overall award total, with 202, including three Black Pencils and 17 Yellow Pencils, followed by the US with a total of 113 including the White Pencil and 13 Yellow Pencils.

The following table summarises all the D&AD awards for Asia-Pacific agencies.

Country In-Book Nomination Yellow Black Total
Australia 31 11 7 1 50
China 5 1 1   7
Hong Kong 2 - - - 2
India 2 - - - 2
Indonesia 1 - - - 1
Japan 19 5 2 - 26
Korea 4 - - - 4
Malaysia 1 - - - 1
New Zealand 11 2 2 - 15
Philippines 2 - - - 2
Singapore 15 - 1 - 16
Thailand 5 - - - 5

More information is available at the D&AD website.

Source:
Campaign Asia
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