Why I like the British TV Ad Awards

This past Friday night I braved the little snow storm that welcomed the first weekend in December here in the Twin Cities to once again venture over to the Walker Art Center to view the British Telly Ad Awards.


I've attended this show for many years at the Walker and for the past five years we've went as a group - the Preston Kelly team to view them on opening night. It's fun to view the awards as a group and to get everyone's perspective after the show. We have account people, production people, designers, creatives, connections team members and importantly our two partners. So indeed a cross section of the PK team takes part in this annual event.



In recent years the show tended to be a little depressing due to economic themes and a lot of public service announcements. This year as a whole I walked out of the event feeling that the spots had more humor and some great story telling. And the production values were quite simple in some cases.



Anchor Free Range Butter used a very simple technique of a cow on a "velvet" type background - kind of like some stuff my daughter plays with. And Schweppes had a very simple - hard to describe format - very flat background with some human arms creating motion in a series of wonderfully crafted :15's. Some funny and very good writing.



And there was the annual Honda spot done very well and punctuated with the voice-over of one Minnesotan Mr. Garrison Keillor.



As more and more digital/viral videos come into the awards they in fact are retiring the name the British Television Ad Awards and renaming the program the British Arrow Ad Awards to recognize the broader spectrum of how and where ads run these days.



One spot that has really stuck with me was a 6 minute video for Johnnie Walker Whisky as it told the story of the man who walked around the world and did tell the story of how the brand came to be. Very, very well done.



I truly enjoyed the show and especially the humor this year. Making people feel good about a product/service is not a bad thing to do and humor can certainly capture your attention if done right and in the right tone.



So another year and some great work from across the Atlantic to admire. It's an inspiring show and makes you want to reach out and do better more inspiring work for our clients. So here we go as we start thinking about 2011 for our clients. And if you get a chance head over to the Walker to get inspired.