Seen and noted

BEST TV
Winner: Visit Oslo 'Is It Even A City'. What a coup to take such an opposite approach to selling people on the appeal of a city by giving it a spokesperson that's sh*tting on it at every turn, YET STILL MAKING YOU WANT TO GO. The ingredients all had to be perfect, so the craft of this one nails it. The casting is flawless, this skeptical spokesman is perfectly low key and authentic feeling in his dismissal of the city. The cinematography is a great choice - the movement and intimacy of a handheld feel makes it feel like you're there with him, while the framing is also capturing incredibly appealing shots of the places he goes and the vistas in the city. Booking my trip.

Runner Up: O2 'Walk Ad - Dua Lipa'. It's almost like Southern Comfort's "Whatever's comfortable" meets MTV. O2's "Walk Ads" have a long and lustrous legacy, and in this one Daniel Wolfe's direction makes you feel compelled to watch Dua Lipa the way the rest of the characters in the film do. Harry Wheeler's cinematography captures the colorful life happening along this beachy boardwalk in a Sexy Beast kind of way (someone doing flips? Sure!) reflecting ingredients from Dua Lipa's life, while the skillful editing is perfectly timed to the music. A great addition to the O2 walk ads that's weirdly compelling.

BEST PRINT
Winner: SiderPeru 'Strongest Cities'. Making a compelling print ad about steel rebar is hard. They did it. They get first prize for that. It's a classically great print ad in that what you see at first isn't what the ad is really selling - and yet is exactly what that product is integral to building. Simple, and well done.

Runner Up: Australia Marine Conservation Society 'Defend Themselves - Numbat'. An important message conveyed through a memorable visual device that you don't see everyday. A woodland creature wielding nunchucks is just arresting enough to pull you in, while the message of defending wildlife pays off your attention.

BEST OUTDOOR
Winner: IKEA 'Here Comes the Sun'. Damn you, IKEA, always with the brilliantly engaging ideas. Such a simple and effective execution to bring sun to the places where people want to enjoy it, with a mirror IKEA wants to sell. It seemed maybe overly bright, but just wear your darkest shades.

Runner Up: The Singleton 'Foldable Bar'. A clever way to have an outdoor ad and an opportunity to engage with the brand/product all in one. Great show of design cleverness to transform a box into a full-on outdoor bar that serves your brand to people wherever it goes. Targeting glamping seemed oddly specific, but the idea of a top notch bar serving The Singleton whiskey in the middle of the forest sounds not bad at all.

BEST INTERACTIVE
Winner: Cracker Barrel 'Invisible Cookbook'. Love an idea that's solving a real problem in the world, with a simple and universally relatable idea. The idea gives Cracker Barrel an integral role in creating recipes off the scraps of other recipes, to solve food waste. The executional thoughtfulness of pulling in chefs to partner with and creating "invisible dust covers" for their cookbooks elevated the idea even further. Honestly, every cookbook should come with a recipe for the rest of the stuff left over after you make the first recipe. Can we make that a new rule?

Runner Up: LG 'Menopause Mode'. Interactive work that's built off a real innovation that can effect a real and positive change in people's lives is always exciting. The idea of a wearable that can trigger the AC is relatively simple - but could solve a real problem that has a knock on effect for women struggling with night sweats. Curious how the beta turns out.




This week's guest judge is Juliana Cobb, head of creative at 72andSunny, New York.

Juliana is a creative leader based in New York with roots in California, Canada and - if you join her in the way-way back machine - even India and Nepal. (We'll get to that.) She's currently Head of Creative at 72andSunny New York, after making a mark at storied New York agencies BBDO and Droga5.

Her unconventional upbringing carried over into an unconventional entry into advertising, which began in the digital world of San Francisco where she developed an appetite for innovative thinking that's never left her. Her first award - and pride and joy - was from the FWA, for a Microsoft for Office digital campaign in 2007. Since then, her work has earned recognition from a full range of creative and effectiveness awards shows, including Cannes Lions, One Show, D&AD, AICP, ADC, Effie, NY Festival, CICLOPE, and the Webby's, among others.

Blending innovative thinking with meaningful storytelling, Juliana aims for work that moves people and moves the needle at the same time. A simple recipe that's led to award winning work among a long list of top brands that includes Starbucks, GE, AT&T, Prudential, Pinterest, Blue Apron, Chase, and the multi-award winning global platform "We Got You Baby," for Huggies. But Juliana lives by the rule that great work and great outcomes only happen with great collaboration. It takes partnership and a shared vision.

Growing up as an outsider (told you we'd get to this) turned out to be a gift: you learn to see things from other perspectives and develop an almost bottomless empathy. Two things she's leaned on nearly every day of her colorful 20+ year career.

Now, Manhattan is home, with a furry roommate named Bean.