Marketforce was named the 2004 agency of the year in a closely run 10th annual Campaign Brief advertising awards held last week.
The judges said the choice of best agency was a tight race between Marketforce and 303, but in the end it was Marketforce’s creative performance that got it over the line.
Marketforce also won ‘best of year’ in four categories – television advertisement, television campaign, use of media, and out of home
In a further boost for the agency, recently retired Marketforce chairman Howard Read was named ‘ad person of the year’.
Marketforce chairman and chief executive John Driscoll said the company’s concerted effort to be creative had paid off.
“We have led creative advertising in Perth for the past 10 years and we have challenged our team to go outside the square and in a lot of instances our creative team have been proactive with their ideas,” he said.
Advertiser of the year award went to Marketforce client Brownes for a series of commercials including ‘Baby Teeth’ for calcium-plus milk.
Mr Driscoll said Brownes had several different products but the key element behind each ad was a simple idea. For example, the calcium plus ad shows a child with a piece of string tied around his tooth and a door knob hanging from the other end.
And for Brownes Skim milk, the ad shows a woman standing infront of a mirror which makes her look thin. Finalists of this award included Lotterywest (Marketforce), RAC and BankWest (The Brand Agency).
The Brand Agency’s advertising campaign for BankWest titled ‘Rebel’ won the best campaign effectiveness award ahead of Gatecrasher’s ‘Step Forward’ campaign for theWA Police Service.
Finalists for this category included TravelEasy by Gatecrasher, and ‘Go for 2 & 5’ phases three and four by 303.
Marketforce’s SMS-based campaign for Lotterywest’s Scratch ‘n’ Win won the best use of media award ahead of 303’s ‘Leave the car at home’ for the Office of Road Safety, Channel Ten’s ‘Sunday line-up’ by Marketforce, and Transperth ‘TravelEasy’ by Gatecrasher and Market United.
Best television advertisement and best television campaign of the year award were won by Marketforce for its Dare campaign for Scratch ‘n’ Win. Finalists included 303’s ‘John’s story’ for QUIT, Gatecrasher’s ‘can’t push pause’ for the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Linc’s ‘Umbrellas’ for WFI.
Gatecrasher’s ‘shoot the piano player’ for Parlapiano Ristorante Italiano won best radio advertisement and radio campaign ahead of The Brand Agency’s ‘heaven’ for RAC Rescue Helicopter, Marketforce’s ‘ATM’ for Lotterywest, and 303’s ‘new dad’ for the Health Department.
The awards are presented each year as part of the Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) Oasis Ball, which raises money for The Salvation Army.
