Starcom wins Media Awards 2nd Year in a row

For the second consecutive year, Starcom NZ has walked away with the Best in Show Award at the CAANZ Media Awards, presented last night at Auckland’s SKYCITY Convention Centre. This year, it was for excellent use of traditional and non-traditional media to raise the profile of Sony Computer Entertainment NZ’s game, God of War: Chains of Olympus, moving to a portable format.

Winner of the supreme award, Starcom NZ’s campaign revolved aroundforming a partnership with Burger Fuel to deliver a unique brandexperience, which clearly delivered the message that the popularPlaystation game could now be played anywhere, anytime. Also securingtwo other gold awards in the Media, Entertainment, Travel & Leisureand Best Smart Media Idea categories, judges said Starcom NZ’s campaigndisplayed a very good understanding of the target audiences, and usedmedia in innovative ways to engage with gamers when they were taking abreak, to deliver an extremely successful campaign.

Media Agency of the Year was awarded to DraftFCB Media in recognitionof it overcoming some major challenges in the past year, while stilldelivering strong results for the business and its clients. With astrong record of growth for the three previous years, DraftFCB Media’sinitial plans were to continue along similar lines for 2008. However,the economic downturn and the challenges posed by a client realignmentsaw the agency rethink its approach mid-year. The winds of changeprovided the agency with the opportunity to review its business model,and focus on ways of  improving business performance. With a strongfocus on meeting the needs of clients and further developing itsinternal culture DraftFCB Media is ready for next year and beyond.

The Media Brand of the Year award went to TVNZ for its deep commitmentto future-proofing the organisation by moving from a television networkto a multi platform digital media company   

The Media Excellence Award was awarded to Joan Withers, CEO of FairfaxMedia for her longstanding career and achievements within the mediaindustry over the past 25 years. She started out as a cadet reporter inthe media industry and has ended up leading Fairfax Media. Under herstewardship, Fairfax Media has grown and diversified to meet thechallenges and opportunities of a rapidly changing media environment. She was also Chief Executive of The Radio Network.

This year’s CAANZ Media Awards drew 197 entries,- a 55% increase on2008. Judges commented that the standard of entries was high, whichresulted in a gold or silver award been given out in each category.  

The final round of judging resulted in 16 gold and 17 silvers being awarded.

CLICK HERE for the full list of winners.