Seen and noted

BEST TV
Winner: BONDS 'A cabin for your crew deck'. Ok, full disclosure. I am an avid watcher of Below Deck: Down Under, and I am a lifetime fan of the Bonds brand. That aside, I felt this was classic Bonds - a bit of undie innuendo to highlight product features. But why this wins, is because of the added pop culture twist with Captain Jason. It made me laugh, it made me cringe, it made me roll my eyes; much like the show does every week. A clever blurring of the line between ad and content.

Runner Up: Heineken 'When You Drive, Never Drink'. There are a lot of ingredients to manage here... An F1 sponsorship, a celebrity ambassador, a product, a higher message about safety - and this brings them all together really well. By using one of the world's best drivers, I suspect this will get the attention of possibly a younger audience. And very simply land the message that in any social context, the best driver is always the person who hasn't had any alcohol. And cheers to that.

BEST PRINT
Winner: Colectivo Cabos '5g of microplastics'. Barbie is literally everywhere. So if an idea is going to use Barbie - as three of this category's entries did - to stand out, it has to be brilliant. And this ad for Colectivo Cabos is definitely up there. A good use of a plastic doll, to get us to think about microplastics from the ocean. That said, I need to know what to do with this. Do you want me to donate? Visit a site? I'm kind of left hanging with a Barbie sized stiletto beneath my skin.

Runner Up: To be honest, I couldn't pick a runner up here.

BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: Freeland Foundation 'Forests For Life'. The craft. The simplicity of the message. The brutal reality of the damage we're doing to the planet. This OOH wins because of the combination of all those things. Again, I'd love to see a way for me to help the issue, not just a beautifully crafted ad that makes me aware of it - but it would certainly get my attention.

Runner Up: Staut Beer Bar '6:36PM'. It's brutally simple. Work is over. Time for a beer. Enough said.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Winner: Scotts 'Lawnstream'. This just made me laugh. Creating a 24/7 content platform out of a patch of grass is an interesting twist on a product demonstration. And watching grass grow is clearly typically anything but interesting. What I like about this is the commitment to go all in, 24/7 - plus I can imagine the fun that the team would have adding other things in. Like getting viewers to name the baby deer that showed up. What that does, is turn something as passive as watching lawn into something you want to participate in. I like it.

Runner Up: Guinness 'Guinness Weather App'. I was happy to see this in interactive, because as an outdoor entry, it only really told a fraction of the story. Getting a push notification to head for a pint if the temp hits "Ireland-like" is nice and simple. And a good way to get more Guinness in the hands of fans, but also - people who might become fans. Though given that I'm coming at you live from Dublin, where the rainy 15 degree Summer days are coming in thick and fast - I'm not sure that even the winter temps in Aus will hit "Ireland-like" often enough for this to be a raging success, but great idea nonetheless.




This week's guest judge is Jen Speirs, executive creative director at Droga5, part of Accenture Song, Dublin.

Jen has created award-winning work for brands like Apple Music, McDonald's, Carefree, Arnott's, Berlei, Aer Lingus, Irish Rugby, Meta and UN Women. She has been on several award juries, including Cannes Lions, One Show, The Clios and The Caples - and been invited to speak at events, such as the Cannes Lions Festival and the inaugural Australian 3% Conference. Her work has been awarded at shows including Cannes, The Clios, NY Festivals, One Show, D&AD, AWARD and The Effies.

Throughout her career, Jen has had the privilege of working with some amazing people and has pitched for, won and run some of the world's most loved brands. Her passion is to create iconic, culturally-relevant brand experiences, in any media - and to do so in a diverse creative department.