Spikes Asia announces big wins for DDB, RUN and Special

The 2023 Spikes Asia Awards have revealed that DDB Group Aotearoa and Special are recipients of Grand Prix and Special Awards, respectively, for their contributions Aotearoa’s advertising industry.

Last night it was announced that DDB Group Aotearoa had taken out New Zealand Agency of the Year, along with the integrated Grand Prix, in addition to three Gold Spikes, five Silver Spikes and five Bronze Spikes. Partner’s Life ‘Last Performance’ campaign, brought to life by Special, was named best piece of work in the Entertainment category across the Asia Pacific region. 

DDB shares its Grand Prix with Māori-owned, female-led creative agency Run (K Rd) and also won the coveted Grand Prix award for Tourism New Zealand, DDB Group Aotearoa and RUN’s IF YOU SEEK campaign.

Speaking on the DDB Group’s performance, Gary Steele, Chief Creative Officer at DDB Aotearoa says winning the Agency of the Year title is recognition of  “the incredible work of many”.

“We’re so proud to have been awarded in so many categories this year and across a spread of our wonderful clients. Tourism New Zealand, McDonald’s, Rail Safety and Lion are brilliant brands and partners to work with. A huge congratulations to the other agencies in Aotearoa, it’s such a pleasure to see so much Kiwi work being celebrated across APAC.”

He adds that receiving the Grand Prix Award for Tourism New Zealand’s IF YOU SEEK campaign is recognition of a piece of work DDB is proud to have been involved with.

“We’re so excited to be enticing others to seek out more of our land through gifting the world a little piece of Aotearoa in the campaign.” 

Brodie Reid, Director, Marketing at Tourism New Zealand says: “IF YOU SEEK is Tourism New Zealand’s first global campaign since 2019 and a chance for us to welcome our visitors again as Aotearoa New Zealand reopened to the world. It is fantastic to see it recognised at the Spikes.”

Raymond Otene McKay, RUN Aotearoa Co-Founder and CCO commented: “It is humbling as an Indigenous creative agency to work on a campaign with such a strong te ao Māori lens. A huge mihi to Tourism New Zealand for entrusting us with the responsibility of merging creativity and culture in this work alongside DDB. I am proud as a Māori leader in this space to be acknowledged alongside my RUN team at this level.” 

DDB Group’s Gold Spikes included one Integrated Spike with RUN for Tourism New Zealand’s ‘IF YOU SEEK’ campaign, one for KiwiRail’s ‘The Rail Ritual’ in Social Behaviour and a third for Steinlager “We Believe” in Print & Publishing. 

Five Silvers were also awarded to the agency. Tourism New Zealand’s ‘IF YOU SEEK’ campaign was recognised with two Silver Spikes for Brand Experience & Activation and Digital Craft while “We Speak Late Night” for McDonald’s achieved three Silver Spikes for Outdoor and five Bronze Spikes all for copywriting in Industry Craft. 

It was a big night for Special as well, which came out on top for its work with New Zealand’s Partners Life on the ‘Last Performance’ campaign. 

This innovative content partnership with TVNZ and New Zealand’s favourite murder mystery show ‘Brokenwood Mysteries’ saw Special bring back to life the characters that died in each episode, to explain the need for Kiwis to get life insurance.

Using the same actors, director, crew and set the films appeared before the end credits for each episode, in what became the standout piece of work in the ‘Brand Integration & Sponsorships / Partnerships for Branded Content’ category. The campaign also struck Gold in the Film category.

Special Executive Creative Director, Lisa Fedyszyn says: “We’re so proud that our Partners Life campaign has taken out the Spikes Entertainment Grand Prix. It’s the result of working with a collaborative, ambitious and creative client and brand that pushes to elevate the category to new levels. Not to mention South Pacific Pictures and their willingness to embrace this unique collaboration.”

Chief Customer Officer at Partners Life, Kris Ballantyne added that ‘The Last Performance’ was challenging conventions and “disrupted standard advertising in the insurance industry and encouraged people to engage with life insurance, while also positively supporting our adviser network”.

Earlier this week, it was announced that Colenso BBDO and DDB Aotearoa had emerged as the leading Kiwi agencies, having secured an impressive collection of three Gold Spikes awards each.

Colenso BBDO distinguished itself by capturing two Gold Spikes for its groundbreaking work on Skinny’s ‘Phone It In’ campaign, as well as a further one for their creative efforts on Spark’s ‘Beyond Binary Code’.

Meanwhile, DDB Aotearoa demonstrated its creative prowess with a trio of Gold Spike wins for KiwiRail’s ‘The Rail Ritual’, Steinlager’s ‘We Believe’ and RUN’s exceptional work on Tourism New Zealand’s ‘If You Seek’ campaign.

Rounding out the impressive list of winners, Special New Zealand also earned two Gold Spikes for their outstanding work on Partners Life’s ‘Last Performance’ campaign.

For the full list of winners at the Spikes Asia 2023 visit www.lovethework.com/en-GB/spikes-asia

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