Andy Awards Main | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Well, the end is here. The results are in.

And you would be proud of your industry.

For starters, there was a ton of great work. An incredible year. It was truly inspiring and humbling to see the advertising world rising to every sort of challenge. Finding new ways to brand and sell. It’s obvious that more and more companies are turning to their agencies to help with everything and anything. And the insight that comes with that is making for better work.

Also, there wasn’t that much debate. No posturing, no arguing. Mostly love. Waites ran the proceedings with authority and fairness. Which made it easy to discuss, vote and move on.

My only insight is that it’s getting more and more difficult to award a TV spot as the GRANDY. Or as the centerpiece of any show. Not to say that we didn’t. But the innovative ideas and integrated ideas are feeling so powerful and generate so much seeming business success that it’s hard to argue with their presentations.

I will conclude with a warning. Most of the judges I spoke to were very inspired by the work. And could be tough to deal with when they arrive back at the agency. Be ready.

And finally, a farewell to Sydney. A beautiful city that showed us every side of her: Sun, rain, heat, cold. And people that are some of the most friendly I’ve met in the world. As we leave, just down the beach, The Iron Man Race is being completed. It seems somehow fitting. We have a whole year ahead of us till the next ANDYs, to sprint and swim and generally kick some ass. Good luck.

Mark Tutssel, Leo Burnett Worldwide; David Droga, Droga5

Andrew Keller
Executive Creative Director, Crispin, Porter & Bogusky

Today was probably the most impressive. The bronzes, silvers, golds, the O’ Reilly and the Grandy have been awarded. And I must say that I am very proud to be part of the industry responsible for all this work. It’s really nice to see a lot of big ideas rise to the forefront in all mediums. Print, outdoor, television, integrated, interactive, etc. Some of my favourite moments were us trying to figure out categories to place things. Andrew Keller put it best when questioning one of the submissions, “So, is this non-interactive interactive?” That’s a clear sign of this industry evolving. It has been a moving target that Tivo nor the dotcom crash could kill because everyday we struggle to find new ways to engage our audience. Instead of marketers searching for their target, their target is searching for them.

Back in school, I remember reading about the early days of radio and television - when networks and marketers didn’t quite know how to use these new mediums. How exciting it must’ve been for those creatives during that time. Well, the thing is, we’re living that right now. For the past few years, some of us have marvelled at the technology of the internet. Gravitated towards sites simply because they were cool. Now that “cool for the sake of cool” is out of our system, you’ll be seeing a lot more “big ideas for the sake of big ideas” in interactive and any other medium suitable for that “big idea.” I can’t wait for you all to see the show.

Feh Tarty
Wieden & Kennedy, London

Andy Awards Main | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

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