Seen and noted

BEST TV
Winner: Partners Life 'The Last Performance'. Sometimes you craft and graft your way to creativity, sometimes you just have to stay alert to opportunities everyone else missed. And like most murder mysteries, the answer was under our noses all along: use dead people to advertise life insurance. This is so smart - product placement, branded content, media hijacking and good old-fashioned testimonial all in one. A straight-talking ad that doesn't look or behave like an ad, one that pays for media yet earns attention beyond the break.

Runner-up: Asda / Breast Cancer Now / CoppaFeel! 'The Real Self Checkout'. UK supermarket Asda have long supported breast cancer charities. "The real self checkout" is a smart premise to bring that to life. The melons is a pretty obvious gag, but the casting is good, the self-checkout robo-voice gives the piece an off beat comedy and the message is super clear.

BEST PRINT
Winner: Banza 'Common'. With the rise in fintech here are lots of ads out there for services that offer to democratise finance. This one is simple and inclusive. It's not the most original idea but it's accessible, like the product it's selling.

Runner-up: Toyota 'Don't Screen and Drive - Coffin'. We've had a lot of don't text / call and drive messages. But this is new to me - I look at GPS while driving so this is talking to me. It's clean and simple but not sure it's enough to make me change my behaviour.

BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: Griffiths Bros 'Griffiths Bros Was Here - Rock Posters 1'. Sometimes the best we can do is brand archaeology. This digs up a truth of the brand, then brings it up to date in a fresh punkish way. It has the coffee-roasted whiff of an agency initiative, but for the small community it is aimed at, it does its job.

Runner-up: Bubble 'Kiwi Head'. Ok this is way too busy for a poster and it should be a print ad, but the insight is spot on. As a father of young kids, it makes me want to hire in childcare to free up time for myself.



This week's Bestads judge is Toby Allen, executive creative director at The & Partnership, London.

Toby has been ECD at The & Partnership since November 2021. Before that he was deputy ECD at AMV BBDO leading the transformation of the Bodyform and Tena accounts with campaigns like BloodNormal, Viva La Vula and Wombstories. He was No 1 Creative Director in the Global Creative Rankings in 2019, and No 3 Creative Director at Cannes 2020/21; winning a career haul of 6 Grand Prix and 3 consecutive Titanium Lions at Cannes, 4 D&AD Black Pencils, One Show Best In Show, and over 40 Grands Prix around the world.