One thing we learned from the amazing experience of being part of the jury, is the wonderful supportive people behind the awards themselves, a special thanks goes out to a truly ‘stand-up-guy’ Mark Tungate, who we interviewed, and there’s Operations Director, Nicolas Huvé, who was very helpful and of course Lucía Ongay, who was hugely helpful too.
Creativity is a very subjective thing, but it is a very universal vehicle that transcends all borders, and it is this initial spark of creative energy which we looked for in judging the myriad of entries.
Whether in music, film, print or animation, there has to be that creative explosion that startles the viewer for that single millisecond.
In advertising, the creatives behind each project are the spark bearers of the initial idea, that is then propelled into something bigger by the rest of the team, and that certain something that will hold the attention of the viewer to succinctly bring forth the necessary message conveyed.
This year’s winners in the Epica humour category were:
GOLD – “The line Up Song” EGYPT – Coca Cola – by FP7 agency, creative director – Maged Nassar
SILVER – “The Hovering Art Director” SWEDEN – Adobe – by mcgarrybowen Amsterdam agency, creative director – Daniel Sytsma
SILVER – “Capture” THAILAND – Sure – by McCANN Worldgroup agency, creative directors – Wichian Thongsuksiri, Supachai Toemtechatpong
SILVER – “Responsibly the beer” ITALY – Ubrew – by McCann Worldgroup agency, creative director – Alessandro Sabini
BRONZE – “Trump” SWITZERLAND by Wirz/BBDO agency, creative director – Thomas Kurzmeyer
GRAND PRIX
• DESIGN: “Living Logo” by KBS Canada for Innocence Canada
• DIGITAL: “Like My Addiction” by BETC (France) for Addict’Aide
• JOINT FILM WINNERS: “Evan” by BBDO New York for Sandy Hook Promise AND “English for Beginners” by Bardzo (Poland) for Allegro.pl
• PRESS: “Newspaper Stack –Trump” for Der Taggespiegel by Scholz & Friends (Germany)
• OUTDOOR: “Fearless Girl” for State Street Global Advisors by McCann New York
Stéphan eXiberras, executive creative officer at BETC Paris said:
“It is a great honour to win the Digital Epica Grand Prix this year and a great recognition of our work. It is particularly significant for us since the Like my addiction campaign partly owes its success to its massive international press coverage, which made it possible to turn this Instagram page into a global campaign, and most importantly, to raise awareness about the danger of addiction on a worldwide scale.”
Scholz & Friends from Germany won the Press Grand Prix with a simple yet powerful image that builds stacked newspapers into a visual pun featuring a bullying Donald Trump.
Matthias Spaetgens, chief creative officer of Scholz & Friends, said:
“Winning a Grand Prix for our campaign for the newspaper Der Tagesspiegel makes us feel extremely happy, especially when the creative work is not judged by the creative industry itself but by critical journalists.”
Rob Reilly, global creative chairman from McCann Worldgroup said:
“The Fearless Girl became a media sensation in a way we never anticipated, in a very organic way. What made it so powerful was the amount of support we received from people who recognized the importance of what she stands for and kept driving the conversation forward, during a time when people are striving to reshape existing norms to better reflect their moral values”.
KBS chief creative officer Matt Hassell said:
“We knew immediately that this design work needed to acknowledge the past exonerees, the current staff and donors. The logo itself was created to reclaim the typical prison tally marks to express both a human touch and progress towards overturning wrongful conviction. In this way, it serves as a measurement of success and a reminder that much work is still to be done.”
Bardzo’s founder, owner and creative director, Hubert Stadnicki said:
“As Epica is the only festival with a jury of marketing journalists,we can be sure our campaign was judged by people with a thorough, up to date and possibly the widest knowledge of the marketing world.” He added that the campaign was by no means created to win awards. “It was made for our client to a specific brief. It met all the marketing objectives and before being entered for festivals had been loved by millions of viewers around the world.”
Summing up the awards, Epica jury president Spencer Baim, chief strategic officer of Vice Media, said: “This year more than ever, brands have a responsibility to put a positive message out into the world. Our winners do that, while also representing the best of branding, messaging, storytelling and smart design.”
• Network of the Year: McCann Worldgroup
• Agency of the Year: BBDO New York
• Production Company of the Year (sponsored by GPN) : Great Guns
