SAATCHI SYDNEY LEADS AGENCY PACK AT SHORTLIST STAGE OF KODAK GONGS

130 commercials have made the cut for the second annual Kodak Gongs, judged from 681 entries received throughout the Asia Pacific region.
CB Agency of the Year Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney secured the highest number of finalists (13), followed by George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne (9), Grey Worldwide, Melbourne (9) and Creative Juice /G1, Bangkok (7).
The best of the Kiwis were CB Agency of the Year Saatchi & Saatchi NZ with four, followed by Colenso BBDO, Auckland and Clemenger BBDO, Wellington with two each, and one apiece for Auckland shops DDB and Publicis Mojo.
The Production Company with the highest finalists was Auckland based The Sweet Shop (13), closely followed by Sydney's Plaza Films (12), @radical.media (12), Filmgraphics (9) and Phenomena, Thailand (9).
The Kodak Gongs were judged in two rounds. The first round judging panel consisted of 72 industry leaders throughout Australia, NZ and Asia to confirm finalists, the second round to judge Gong and Best of Show winners comprised 27 international judges from outside of the region.
Given the number of finalists in 2006 (130, up from 88 in 2005), the consensus from both judging panels has been on how high the quality of work has been this year. This quality is spreading throughout the region with 14% of all finalists coming from outside of Australia and New Zealand.
The winners will be announced at the Awards Presentation and Industry Party to be held at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney on Friday 8th September 2006. The Presentation will reveal the 11 Best of the Best winners, culminating in the 2006 Best of Show. This sharp theatre-style presentation will be immediately followed by the “Party of the Year”, the Industry celebration for the craft and ideas of commercial moving images in the Asia Pacific Region.
Tickets cost $220+gst and are available by calling Two de Force on (02) 9281 8788 or by downloading a booking form at www.thegongs.org from Monday 31st July 2006.
All finalists will released online at the Gongs website from Monday 31st July.

The Kodak Gongs are supported by Principal Sponsors:
Kodak, AAV Regency, the LaB Sydney, FSM, Autodesk, Adstream,
Cutting Edge, Generator Interactive, Panavision, Song Zu and Vividas.