Seen and noted

BEST TV
Winner: Pet Refuge 'The Escape'. This one really got me in the feels. This ad puts a visceral spotlight on those that fall through the shelter cracks because of pet ownership. The quick cuts that take through this woman's (and her pets') cyclical, almost unending pleas for help really give you a vivid picture of their struggle. It's nice to know there are folks out there doing this amazing work.

Runner-up: Lululemon 'Being Well is a Journey'. If you asked me if I'd ever see the day a brand would be bold enough to drop an Oscar Wilde story into an ad, I'd say, "Hell no!"-but that's what Lululemon did. And a great one at that, The Selfish Giant is about about loving yourself and it plays so well with the visuals of this man's path of personal growth.

BEST PRINT
Winner: DIRECTV 'Reflections'. What a simple way to say so much. What I love so much is that this ad not only celebrates pride month but does it in a way that doesn't pander to the audience. A simple reflection of all the colors in our visual spectrum will suffice. Well done.

Runner-up: McDonald's Canada 'Fry Chair'. Pretty, pretty clever. This is one those ad puzzles every Art Director loves to create.

BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: Bombay Sapphire/Design Museum 'Supermarket'. I love a good loophole, especially when it involves art. What a great way to keep peoples' minds stimulated during the pandemic AND help shine a light on upcoming artists.

Runner-up: Dettol 'Social Distancing Prayer Mat'. What's great about this idea is that it doesn't try to create an ad but instead give worshipers a safer experience during the pandemic. The idea to extend prayer mats to match health guidelines is pretty smart and helpful, especially during one of the biggest holidays in Islam.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Winner: Interac 'Sound of Spending'. Talking to people about finances can be boring and/or awkward. Creating a soundtrack to your own spending is a great way to get people to understand how they spend their money. Using high notes to connote higher levels of spending can help gauge one's spending habits. The beats aren't bad either.

Runner-up: Louis Vuitton 'Louis The Game'. Most branded games are usually lackluster but when Louis Vuitton does it, you can't help but give it a download. And the experience doesn't disappoint-the beautiful visuals paired with a pretty great soundtrack make the gameplay worth playing. Oh, and along the way you learn about the fashion brand's storied history.

BEST RADIO
Winner: Think! Road Safety 'Selfish Prick'. What's great about this ad isn't the use of "prick" over the radio but that it's saying what all of us think of drunk drivers. Well, I guess, maybe...yeah and because they said it over the radio ;)

Runner-up: The Beer Spot 'What's the Craic?'. Huh? I love this one because it really makes you work for that "bottle of gold" on St. Patrick's Day.




This week's guest judge is Rikesh Lal, executive creative director and partner at Camp + King, San Francisco.

ECD Rikesh Lal has been an instrumental part of creative agency Camp + King since it set out its shingle in San Francisco's Presidio nine years ago. He began his advertising career many moons ago as an Art Director at Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners and has since worked at AKQA, DDB Amsterdam and Publicis & Hal Riney, where he met Camp + King founders Roger Camp (the creative) and Jamie King (the strategist). He has worked with brands such as Nike, Converse, MINI, Sprite, Philips Electronics, and Microsoft over the course of his career.

Lal has been responsible for all of Camp + King's creative output and he continues to run its core clients, which include Del Taco, RXBAR, Nature's Path, and RE/MAX. He is a junior partner at the agency.

Lal also led new business wins and the subsequent creative output for prAna, UGG, Papa John's, YouTube, Bacardi, and others. His work has led the agency to win five Ad Age Small Agency awards, including a Gold distinction among West Coast agencies and a Silver overall for 2020. He's also received recognition from Cannes, One Show, and Clio, and coverage in Fast Company, Forbes, USA Today, ESPN and Esquire.

While the pandemic may have slowed some creatives down, Lal used this "down" time to thrive. He led creative efforts and built a first-of-its-kind digital tool for client RE/MAX that allows real estate agents to create personalized videos across social channels that resemble the brand's national broadcast campaign. More than 250,000 video assets have been built with the tool, and it has helped RE/MAX become the world's most-recognized real estate brand.

He also led the launch of Camp + King's breakthrough campaign utilizing business partner Shaquille O'Neal across all media channels for beleaguered Papa John's to help the pizza company rebound from the scandal caused by its since-fired founder. Despite both the campaign and our relationship with the chain being relatively young, Lal has helped Papa John's increase its brand index score (impressions, reputation, buzz, etc.) by +4.0% during the campaign period according to YouGov, the highest gains in the category. And more importantly, comp store sales increased for the first time in two years in Q4 2019 (1%) and even more in Q1 2020 (5%).

Lal also made quite an impact when he led creative efforts on the "Day Job to Dream Job" promotion for prAna, which offered the winner $100,000 to quit their day gig and pursue a dream job that could effect "positive change." Outside, Forbes, BuzzFeed, Men's Journal and Mashable, among others, covered the promotion, which helped it garner more than 50 million earned media impressions.

He's even helped build an agency culture that led to Camp + King placing on Outside's "Best Places to Work" list.