BLOOD AND MERRIFIELD NAMED JOINT CREATIVES OF THE YEAR BY MEDIA

At the 2008 Agency of the Year Awards last week, MEDIA magazine named Andy Blood (left) and John Merrifield as joint winners of the Creative of the Year title.  This is the first time in the history of the awards two creatives have been jointly honoured.

Andy Blood, Group Executive Creative Director of TBWA\WHYBIN\Tequila in New Zealand was recognised for his role in the agency’s fourth year of groundbreaking work for a mixture of both big and boutique clients such as adidas, ASB Bank, Mercury Energy and Flossie.com, two of which went on to win the coveted Grand Prix at Cannes in 2007 in both the Promotions and Media categories.  Blood was also Media’s Creative of the Year Runner-Up in 2006 and 2007.

David Walden, CEO of the TBWA\Whybin\TEQUILA\, comments: “This accolade highlights the fact that New Zealand creative talent is world class and world beating. It’s a great way for our agency to finish the year”.

John Merrifield, Creative-at-large TBWA\Asia Pacific was recognised for his role in the development of the highly regarded adidas Olympics campaign which won China’s first ever Gold Lion at Cannes, and for his creative leadership of the LG “Scarlet” and Limitless “Human Thread” global campaigns.  He was also lauded for creating “The Book” for TBWA Asia-Pacific’s 10th Anniversary.  John previously won Media’s Creative of the Year in 2004.

2008 saw Blood and Merrifield appointed to the network’s global creative board, the “Band of Brothers” by John Hunt, TBWA’s Global Creative Director.  Both have also contributed greatly to the industry with Merrifield chairing the Citra Pariwara awards in Indonesia and the Young SPIKES competition for MEDIA, and both serving as a judge at numerous award shows around the world including Cannes, D&AD, AWARD, ADFEST, SPIKES and Young Guns.

TBWA\Asia Pacific was named Runner-Up Creative Agency of the Year.  The agency won the title in both 2004 and 2005.

The 2008 Agency of the Year Awards honour the very best the Asia-Pacific advertising industry has to offer, highlighting agencies, brands and individuals that set a new standard in communications strategy and execution in the region.