CANNES WINNER TAKES OUT ROUND THREE OF SIREN AWARDS

The first Australian radio commercial to win a Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival this year is the overall and single category winner of round three of the 2006 Siren Awards for creative excellence in radio advertising.

“Killed by a Car”, written for the United Nation’s World Environment Day, by Luke Chess (right) and Vince Lagana (left) from Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, also won a Bronze Lion at Cannes this year.

Judge of round three of the Siren Awards and previous winner, Brendon Guthrie from Grey Worldwide, Melbourne said the writers of the winning advertisement resisted the temptation to say too much and played to the medium’s greatest strength - the ability of radio to involve and surprise.

“It’s a simple truth, simply told. A couple of the ads in this round had great ideas at their heart, but were either under or over cooked during the writing and/or production stages. And that’s one of the reasons why, for us, the World Environment Day ad stood out so strongly,” said Guthrie.

Highly commended for the Single Category was “Jingle” for Sensis, created by Doogie Chapman from Young & Rubicam, Melbourne.

Chapman also won the Campaign Category for the Leyland Brothers Campaign, of which “Jingle” was a part. The campaign involves Mike and Mal Leyland coming out of retirement to ask Australia to stop “asking the Leyland brothers and ask Sensis 1234 instead.”

The winner of the new craft category in Round 3, which recognises the important role of sound engineers in creating good advertisements for radio, was sound engineer, Paul Le Couteur, from Flagstaff Studios for “Berri Asterisk" and "Change Room". Creative Directors were Tony Leishman and Christine Isaac from The Campaign Palace, Melbourne.

Judge of the craft category, and previous winner, Sam Hopgood of Gasinc said both the Berri ads did a great job of immersing listeners in the environment of the commercial.

“Paul used excellent mic technique and equalisation to give the girls in the ad perspective and position. I also thought the background sound effects provided a level of realism without overpowering the voice over,” Mr Hopgood said.

Paul Le Couteur also won Highly Commended in the craft category for his work on “Berri Asterisk – Girls Night.” Creative Directors were again Tony Leishman and Christine Isaac from The Campaign Palace in Melbourne.

The Siren Awards were established to help promote radio advertising and encourage excellence and creativity within the medium. Winners are announced every two months and the annual winner, announced in May next year, will be automatically entered into the inaugural Cannes Radio Lions in June 2006 and receive a free trip for two people to the event.

Entries for Round 4 of the Siren Awards are now open and will be received until January 23, 2006. The next award will be presented for material that has aired between March 1 2005 and January 23, 2006. Entry is free and judges base their decision on creativity, originality and impact.

Commercials can be entered into three categories - Radio Single, Radio Campaign and Craft. A Radio Campaign consists of no less than three different commercials.

To enter the awards or listen to the winning commercials visit the Siren Awards website at www.sirenawards.com.au. A new dedicated Cannes section has also been added to the Siren Awards website, where you can listen to all of the winning advertisements from the 2005 Cannes Radio Lions.