Ending the rumbling in ad jungle

By IRENE CHAPPLE

The advertising industry AXIS Awards have been revamped after last year's winners attracted controversy.

Competition categories have been broadened, a new client award introduced and charity and public services split for this year's awards.

Last year's judging criteria attracted flak after quirky small-scale advertising and charity campaigns dominated the stage.

Grumbling could be heard afterwards by those whose corporate branding campaigns were compared with advertising that used off-the-wall humour.

The dominance of charity advertising was also criticised, as it was seen as an easy creative run compared with campaigns that had to chug through layers of corporate analysis.

Colenso BBDO creative director Mike O'Sullivan, convener of the awards for the past two years, has handed the job to Saatchi & Saatchi creative director Andrew Tinning.

O'Sullivan simplified the categories to reflected the style of categories used in overseas awards such as D&AD and the ONE Show.

"There are two ways to set up an awards night," says O'Sullivan.

"One is by medium - so there is a category for 30-second television advertisements and anything from toiletries to toys goes into the same category."

That was adopted for last year's awards.

"The other way," says O'Sullivan, "is by the type of product ... so pharmaceuticals would get split from toys."

That was how AXIS used to be run, and is similar to how the Cannes advertising awards are judged.

However, the simpler way - of lumping dissimilar campaigns together under the medium they used - was seen as unfair to advertising such as ASB's Goldstein campaign, which took the People's Choice Award but missed out on other major awards.

"Goldstein was very good for banking but when you lump it with advertising for chips it doesn't actually judge the quality," says O'Sullivan. "It is fair that you judge the work in the context of the sort of category it is in."

And comparing LTSA work with Women's Refuge also came under criticism last year after they were lumped together in the public services category.

"One is a big corporate client and the other is desperate for your help and the work will be done free ... they will be easier with the concept side and [the agencies] can do something really shocking," says O'Sullivan.

Charity and public service are now two categories, with splits also between paid and unpaid work.

Making categories simpler seemed a good idea at the time, says O'Sullivan, but feedback from the industry after the awards night led to the changes.

Tinning says the extended categories may mean a longer awards night, but the results will be more satisfactory.

"You don't want to get to the situation which we got to last year where a certain type of work was winning one after the other.

"You've got clients sitting there thinking 'we've spent all this money and something that cost $10,000 to shoot on a video camera is seen as the best advertising in New Zealand'."

The addition of an Advertiser of the Year award has ben welcomed.

Chuck McBride, from TBWA/Chiat Day in San Francisco, will chair the judging panel and the jury is expected to be announced within a few weeks.

"It will be nice going along to the industry awards and getting the feeling a wide range of work will be celebrated," says Tinning.

"I think these categories will do that."