Seen and noted

BEST TV
There are several really nice spots to choose from in this bunch but I'd have to say my favorite was the GettyImages. spot. The spot is a wonderfully simple idea, technically complex, yet does a great job of demonstrating what Getty has to offer. Going all the way to bingo might have been too far, but nice nonetheless. Runner up was a tossup between the Nike spot and the YDA spot. I have to give the nod to the Young Director spot though. Fun idea and well-cast.

BEST PRINT
I've got to go with the Travel Counselors: Mumbai on this one. It's a nice graphic solve of what can happen if your trip mandates a stopover. And being a sucker for simplicity, this gets the point across without all the usual wordy trappings of most airfare ads. Runner up for me was the Australian Defense Force ad. The spot is visually arresting, powerful and just plain cool to look at.

BEST OUTDOOR
Much of this group I felt was great, but since I'm duty bound to pick one, I'd say the Cerveza Salta: Rugbeer rose to the top for me. The spot was a fun idea, simply executed and anytime you can induce people to willingly try and dislocate their shoulders in the name of marketing you've done something special. I'm going to say the runner up is Security Service mainly because it gets your attention. And by "gets your attention" I mean it creeped me out.

BEST INTERACTIVE
I liked the Intouch: Car vs. Piano quite a bit. The spot had a very nice use of multiple media to twist a Russian catchphrase and bring it to life. Plus it was something cool for an insurance company and that’s got to be worth extra credit, right? Runner up is VW's Electric Cafe. They made good use of a captive audience by having fun with AR, which beats talking to a salesman any day.


This week's guest judge is Tripp Westbrook, Partner/Executive Creative Director, Firehouse.

Partner and Executive Creative Director Tripp Westbrook strongly believes that clients who adopt a “challenger” way of thinking are far more dangerous to their competitors and can accomplish more with less by leveraging big ideas and a scrappy, media-agnostic plan.

Utilizing this approach to make a brand’s promise and point of view salient and resonant with consumers has been a hallmark of Tripp’s work for the past 20 years. Since his early days as a writer at The Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia, to Hal Riney and Partners, Fallon and GSD&M, his creative efforts have been rewarded with awards in every major national and international show – from gold at Cannes and the Effies, to Clios, D&AD, The One Show and CA.

Brands that have benefited from his ability to take a complex business problem and boil it down to one, crystal-clear proposition that a consumer can see the value in are McDonald’s, Saturn, Holiday Inn, Georgia-Pacific, United Airlines, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Nikon, Mercedes-Benz, American Legacy Foundation, SBC and Pennzoil, among others. Tripp studied broadcast communications at Virginia Tech.