SuperNanny campaign picks up gold at the Crowbar Awards for MDS students
Media Design School students, Jennie Liddel and Laura Donnegan, picked up the Gold for copywriting at the Crowbar Awards for a campaign announcing the return of SuperNanny.
Organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore, the awards is an annual platform for young creatives to showcase their best works and learn from their peers.
“Last year’s winners of the Crowbar Gold for copywriting went on topick up a Young Guns Gold for the same campaign, so we’re particularlypleased to win that award again this year at the international CrowbarAwards,” says Kate Humphries who runs the course.
Topping last year’s success, the school also took out silver for ArtDirection – with Beth O’Brien and Tom Darlow’s campaign for theAuckland Zoo at Night – as well as winning a silver, a bronze and twofinalist places in the print category.
“The reason we put work into both the Crowbar and Young Guns awards isbecause we feel it is important to keep benchmarking the students workagainst both national and international students,” says Humphries.
Click here for a full list of winners.
15 Comments
Oh christ. Is this the next generation of copywriters? The only thing worse than Super Nanny is the emo poet heralding her return.
Emo gold. End of the copywriter.
But thank christ the previous poster isn’t a copywriter – incomprehensible or what?
Congrats all winners. Don’t listen to the first comment. There’s plenty of snakes in the pit that you’ll come to recognise, but ignore them. Instead enjoy your moment of glory and get a good book together for the end of the year.
cool. my job’s safe.
Agree with 5:52. Looking forward to seeing your book.
That thing is nasty.
And you should listen to critique here ’cause you obviously ain’t getting it at school.
It’s pretty low to slate students on the blog.
Agree with 9.19.
I’m a parent and I like it.
They’ve nailed why people watch SuperNanny.
I love that almost every comment critiquing the copy have grammatical errors in them.
Ever the diplomat, I see value in both stances here. There are a lot of ‘snakes in the pit’. It’s part of the business. Either learn how to deal with it, or give up. I hope you don’t give up.
10:10 brings up a great point though. There needs to be fair and honest critique. It’s easy to trash work anonymously in this blog. It’s equally ridiculous to say everything is awesome and hand out awards ‘because everyone’s a winner’. Fair, specific critique is necessary for growth.
I personally think this work could have been stronger. The copy could have been tighter, and the line “Yes, I may hold the rifle” doesn’t make sense. I’m getting lost in the narrative. It seems to switch from third person to first, and even second. It’s “he”, “he”, “I”, “you”. Too confusing. I know this won an award for copy, but I think many people are also reacting negatively to the art direction. The typography is horsey and poorly kerned. The layout could have been much more interesting.
Importantly though, I think the idea is strong, and you were on to something with preschool as battlefield. As a first comp to get the idea across I think you’ve done well. It just needs more refinement before it becomes a finished ad.
Congrats on the win, hopefully it will help you along to the next stage of your career. Work hard and keep making refinements to your craft. Don’t let some of the big talk on these sites fool you, we’re all still learning as we go.
Ads like this seem to be encouraged at the schools and do well in Crowbar.
But they’re not the best for your book. As witnessed by the blog reaction.
“Last year’s winners of the Crowbar Gold for copywriting went on to pick up a Young Guns Gold for the same campaign”. Yes, definitely don’t encourage “Ads like this”
2:45 makes a good point, especially regarding the line: “Yes, I may hold the rifle”.
It’s ambitious to incorporate poetry into a print ad. Poetry by its very nature can be polarising. I’m not so sure that advertising copy should be (unless that’s a strategic decision). This copy is not the easiest to follow.
That being said, it’s nice to see student creatives treating copy in a way that’s not often used. They’re not restricted by the same commercial realities as we are, and of course they should take the opportunity to experiment.
The idea has potential, and you get the feeling that’s what has been awarded here. Sure, the copy could be tighter, but maybe it deserves to be recognised for sheer ambition. It’s Crowbars, not Cannes.
I think it’s nice to see that students are being pushed to think beyond the obvious visual collisions etc.