Like most of you, I’m sick of the discouraging, depressing, downer news we’ve been getting all week. As much as it is possible, this is a good news edition.
GSD&M Idea City Gets Worldwide BMW Biz
There were yahoos, yippee’s, hoot’s and hollers in Austin, Texas on Thursday when word was received that GSD&M Idea City, part of the Omnicon Group, had been given the assignment as the lead global advertising agency for BMW AG in Munich Germany.
Duff Stewart, president and COO of GSD&M described the agency selection process to me in a telephone conversation this morning. Winning the account was based on a three week creative shoot-out with four other BMW agencies from around the world.
Duff noted, “The other BMW agencies were Ireland & Davenport of South Africa, WCRS of UK, MAB from Germany and Interone of China. For GSD&M Idea City to be selected, as an agency located in Austin, Texas is wonderful. Austin has never been known as the Mecca of advertising in the U.S. It does demonstrate that ideas can come from anywhere and says a lot about the creative community in Austin, Texas. We are honored to have the opportunity to expand and grow our partnership with BMW.”
At the present time there are no plans to open offices in Germany, but Duff said team members have a monthly meeting in Germany already. The BMW team at GSD&M is headed by David Matathia, vp-idea team leader who runs the business and Jay Russell, the group creative director. No billings numbers were given, which is not unusual. When asked about hiring additional people for the business, the response was vague – bottom line: don’t send resumes or books just yet.
BMW’s first global work via GSD&M will use the central theme “Joy,” now used in the new Z4 campaign covered below. It will be introduced this summer and in the U.S. next year. Stay tuned for sneak previews when they become available.
What Might Chrysler’s New Advertising Look Like?
As Chrysler’s ill conceived corporate campaign continues — I’m calling it the un-campaign – unpersuasive, unimpressive and unimaginative ads, a thought crossed my mind: what might the new Chrysler ads look like? A review of You Tube’s listing produced a variety of different creative approaches. Here are a few I liked. First is a Fiat Bravo Commercial, then a history of the Fiat 500 car and brand. Not so enjoyable is a video of a crash test between the Fiat 500 and an Audi Q5
Automotive Clio Award Winners Announced
Winning a Clio (pronounced kleo) is the advertising version of an Oscar, Emmy or Tony Award. It is easily the world’s most recognized awards competition for advertising, design and interactive.
The 50th Anniversary event just concluded in Las Vegas with Volkswagen being declared “Advertiser of the Year,” a most prestigious accolade, but when I called this morning for more information I did not receive a reply. Must assume they’re just being modest or shy.
There were a bunch of auto ads winning awards, oddly though none for VW, but I digress. Here are a few of my favorites. The speed of your Internet connection will affect download time, but the wait will be worth the viewing. Some are just wonderful. Enjoy:
Audi TDI, Gold — ethereal; Mercedes Presence, Silver — status in ones own eyes; Audi Unboxed, Bronze – wonderfully clever building a box into a Q5; VW Golf – Fight,Bronze – kung fu in a factory great pay off; Toyota iQ, campaign of 3; VW Dogfish, Bronze – oddest, but very interesting.
CLIO’s iconic statue is the most widely recognized and coveted symbol of the industry’s creative accomplishments. The CLIO Awards are produced by Nielsen Business Media, a part of The Nielsen Company, a global information and media company.
The Golden Award Winners
I’ve not heard of this ad competition, it’s only ten years old with limited entries, but the auto entries were very interesting. Unfortunately not all were available for download, but here’s a Golden Winner from Ford in Argentina that’s part of series of three … each very, very different … but then it is Argentina. A few years ago I visited JWT in Buenos Aries and was impressed with some of their creative efforts, which were transmitted to the U.S. for use by the Mother Ship very effectively. And sans attribution I might add.