Seen and noted

Richard Gorodecky is the executive creative director of Amsterdam Worldwide. He has spent the last 14 years creating international advertising campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world including Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Intel, Electronic Arts, Panasonic, Gore-Tex, Opel, Asics, Onitsuka Tiger, Pernod Ricard and Anheuser-Busch InBev.

He has won quite a few awards and nice things have been written about him in various books and magazines. There is little that scares him these days, apart from spiders. He doesn't like spiders. And crabs aren't too great either. But when it comes to big clients with big needs, he's fearless. Unless it was a big spider client. That could pose some serious problems.

Richard was born on the 19th of April 1971 in London, likes to dress like an extra out of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and is a great believer in the power of facial hair.

BEST TV
Dirty Fireman gets an insanity award this week. There isn't enough madness in advertising these days. We've all become a bit too grown up as of late. I can only hope this piece of work heralds a new dawn of things not really making any sense. I miss the good old days. I miss my lobster.
And the runner-up is Matteo the Online Romancer. I totally get what the product is and why I might want it and I'm charmed by the commercial. That's the three boxes ticked.

BEST PRINT
I don't know. The JFK Library tries to get you to go beyond a static print ad, which I applaud. I'm not crazy about how it looks which is, of course, a bit of an issue when it comes to print.
I like the way MTV looks. Do I believe it will stop people drinking and driving? Nope, not in the slightest. Do I believe it will make people consider the use of tinted B&W photography with nice bold coloured type. Yes. So if I can have the JFK Library in the style of the MTV ad, we have a winner.
As for a runner-up, I'll go for the MTV ad for the art direction, and the interactivity of the JFK Library ad.
As neither my winning ad nor my runner-up actually exist, I'd like to nominate the lost cat poster I saw on my way to work this morning. The cat in the picture had a bowtie on. This I found startling and memorable, which is of course everything we want from a print ad. My tip to my advertising brethren is this; whatever you're working on today, add a cat in a bowtie. Your client will thank you for it.

BEST OUTDOOR
There are some nice thoughts here but I'm not loving the executions. Burn Bag is a fun little thing but is that really outdoor? I like the Man Up message, but I'm pretty unconvinced by the ad-hijack trick. It was fun at first, but that was in the 90s. You know what, forget it. The best Outdoor also goes to the lost cat poster I saw this morning.
If only one of these ads had a cat in a bowtie. Think about it: Headline: Man Up. Nice bottle of Miller. Cat in a bowtie. See what I mean?

BEST INTERACTIVE
According to my daughter, the Equestrian Riding Academy is the best Interactive this week. She said, "It's just like having a real horse". It's also about twenty grand cheaper. So yes, based on that fact I'd have to agree it's a very good site indeed, but perhaps not the Best. I'd go for Wrangler. Atmospheric, immersive, and just plain cool. So how about Wrangler gets Best Interactive, and Riding Academy gets runner-up?