Seventeen commercials have been shortlisted for next week’s Aerial
Awards, the radio industry’s annual ceremony. However, the jury failed
to nominate any work in the automotive category, which provided last
year’s overall winner.
Between 40 and 50 automotive ads were entered this year - a ’relatively
small’ number according to the Radio Advertising Bureau’s Steve Cox.
However, none made it through to be judged on the awards night on 19
October.
This is in sharp contrast to last year when the Campaign of the Year
award was won by BMP DDB for its Volkswagen ads.
The 12 judges, chaired by the Duckworth Finn Grubb Waters creative
director, Dave Waters, looked at an initial list of 800 ads before
selecting a shortlist.
Brands making it through include Hamlet - whose three ads dominate the
’general’ category - the Army, Ikea, The Independent and London
Transport.
On the night of the awards, the shortlisted ads will be played and
attendees will be given an interactive handset on which to register
their vote.
In addition, the jury has voted for an overall Best Campaign and three
new production awards, which will be announced on the night.
’The automotive entries were disappointingly thin, given the spend in
the category this year,’ Waters said. ’The ads that really stood out
were the ones that had had a bit of money spent on the production. It
really is worth it.’