DDB SYDNEY'S NAPCAN SERIES WINS ROUND ONE OF 2008 SIREN AWARDS

A series of radio ads for the National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN), which aim to prevent child abuse, has won the overall and campaign categories for round one of the 2008 Siren Awards. The spots, 'Alcoholic', 'Football', 'Husband', 'Racist', and 'Traffic' were written by Simon Johnson, Charlie Cook, Ed James and Justin Carew from agency, DDB Sydney.
Judge and previous winner, Guy Lemberg from agency, Love Communications Sydney said: “The Napcan campaign’s clear insight and beautiful execution make it a worthy winner. It’s a very effective and memorable bit of work that stops you in your tracks.”
Writer, Charlie Cook from DDB Sydney said the campaign goes where people are scared to go and confronts the issue of child abuse head on.
Two entries were highly commended in the campaign category. “Scrunch or Fold” for Sorbent, written by Richard Williams and Ant Philips from Flagstaff Studios in Melbourne and “Emergency” for Foxtel’s Crime and Investigation Network, written by Vince Lagana and Jason Ross from Saatchi & Saatchi, Sydney.
Saatchi Sydney was also the winner of the single category with an ad for Foxtel's Crime and Investigation Network called “Stabbing”, written by Vince Lagana and Jason Ross. This ad won a Silver Radio Lion at Cannes last week, along with a second in the Foxtel campaign called “Girls”.
Two entries were highly commended in the single category. “Speaking for Everyone” for the Transport Accident Commission (TAC Victoria), written by Tom Martin and Julian Schreiber from Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and “Restaurant” for Commercial Radio Australia, written by Ralph van Dijk from Eardrum in Sydney.
Winner of the craft category was “Ageing Woman” for ANZ Financial Planning, written by Doogie Chapman from Risk Sound in Melbourne with sound engineer, Dylan Stephens.
Judge and previous winner, Ralph van Dijk from Eardrum, Sydney said about the craft winner: “This sort of idea is deceptively simple and often done badly. The execution here was seamless.”
Two ads were highly commended in the craft category. They were “Ageing Man” for ANZ Financial Planning, written by Doogie Chapman and produced by Dylan Stephens from Risk Sound in Melbourne and “Mutha’s Day” for the Indooroopilly Shopping Centre, written by Rem Bruijn and produced by Ross Batten from Cutting Edge in Brisbane.
The national Siren Awards are run by Commercial Radio Australia and are designed to recognise the best radio advertising in the country. The winner of the 2007 Gold Siren Award was recently judged the world’s best radio commercial and received the Cannes Radio Grand Prix at the prestigious awards in Cannes. The Siren awards promote the importance of creativity as a way to make radio advertising more effective. To hear the winning ads or for more information visit the website www.sirenawards.com.au.