Entries from September 2010 ↓

WONGDOODY scored top honors at the Radio Mercury Awards last night for its documentary-style campaign for the Washington State Department of Health titled, “Dear Me.” As the co-Grand Prize winner, WONGDOODY takes home half of the $100,000 prize.

WONGDOODY’s “Dear Me” campaign targets Washington’s working poor, among whom smoking rates are the highest. Traditional efforts to convince this group to quit have failed. Compounding the challenge, the agency was tasked with this during the current down economy, which has been among the most stressful times in recent history for this group.

To urge these smokers to quit without triggering a defensive reaction, WONGDOODY created opportunities for them to convince themselves. The agency asked real smokers to write “Dear Me” letters to themselves about how they feel about their habit and read their letters aloud. The raw recordings of these readings were used for radio PSAs, as well as a TV campaign, with the end line, “No one can make me quit but me.”

For many people who make ads for a living, industry awards are catnip. But not this one–Consumerist.com has named the Worst Ad in America in its first annual celebration of out ability to annoy.

More than 100,000 consumer votes were tallied up in Consumerist.com’s first annual Worst Ad in America Awards. Six perpetually obnoxious ads rose to the top of the 30 nominees in six categories with Staples’ “Wow! That’s a Low Price!” guys claiming the top honor of “Absolute Worst Ad in America.”

“It seems like ages ago that we first asked our readers which commercials get under their skin, and we were thrilled to see them respond by the thousands,” said Meghann Marco, Executive Editor of Consumerist.com. “There were definitely some surprise upsets in the results, but the one thing all the winners had in common was their ability to get on viewers’ last nerves.”

As part of its Advertising Week coverage, Adweek thrust critic Barbara Lippert in front of a camera to explain disintermediation and how it’s relevant to the agency business.

Speaking of Advertising Week, Dan Goldgeier made a great point about the industry schmooze fest when he said, “I’m not in New York City. For the last two days, I’ve written for print, broadcast, interactive & promotions #EveryWeekIsAdvertisingWeek.”