Saatchi & Saatchi Australia and Cheil Hong Kong have won Grand Prix of the Year Awards at Ad Stars. Both agencies will take home a US$10,000 prize. Saatchi & Saatchi Australia win was for ‘Donation Dollar’, created for the Royal Australian Mint. The campaign also won three Grand Prix awards in the Brand Experience & Activation, Design, and Direct categories. Cheil Hong Kong has won the award for a campaign titled ‘The Cost of Bullying’.
Commenting on it, Ali Rez, Regional Executive Creative Director at Impact BBDO MENAP and an Executive Judge at Ad Stars 2021.“Donation Dollar stood out for me personally for its simplicity of thought – the idea changes the way we know the mechanics of charity, and influences behavior positively. It’s impossible to not be affected by this campaign. The craft is also sublime.”
Gabriela Scardaccione, Global Creative Director at Mother based in London and an Ad Stars 2021 Executive Judge discussed the strength of the idea behind the campaign and added, “Donation Dollar is an amazing example of a brilliant creative idea with purpose and longevity. Brilliant ideas for me are the ones that are so simple and rounded that you just can’t believe they haven’t been made yet. For me, the greatest design is the one that is at the service of the idea, almost invisible, the one that doesn’t overcome the message.”
Cheil Hong Kong is the winner of this year’s Grand Prix of the Year Award in the Public Service Advertising category for ‘The Cost of Bullying’, created for Samsung. This campaign also won a PSA Grand Prix.
“‘The Cost of Bullying’ is a masterful example of brilliant targeting and strategically going to the heart of the problem to fix it; I’ve seen plenty of work around bullying, but this is one of those few cases where the solve is highly effective in the very space where the problem exists,” said Rez.
Ad Stars also announced this year’s Special Award winners:
Network of the Year: dentsu
Agency of the Year: Dentsu Inc.
Advertiser of the Year: WWF
Production Company of the Year: Good Oil
“This year’s AD STARS showed that the industry has been busier than ever and always swift on adjusting to unforeseeable challenges. A considerable amount of the great work awarded was born out of new problems and fuelled by the latest tech. It was great to see that AD STARS continues to grow with the best work not only from the region but also from all over the world,” said Ricardo Adolfo, Executive Creative Director at TBWA\Media Arts Lab in Japan, a Final Judge.
The three-day Ad Stars 2021 Online Festival concludes today. All sessions will now be available to watch on-demand for 60 days until late October.
