FCB Chicago, TBWA\Media Arts Lab and BBDO Win Top Honors at ADC Awards

Awards shows have been all but canceled this year because of Covid-19, but that doesn’t mean agencies won’t receive accolades for their work. Most of the advertising and marketing industry’s organizations that annually dole out honors, including D&AD and the Clio Awards, are still forging ahead with awards—just sans the boozy galas that typically accompany them. The One Club has spent much of this week revealing the Best of Discipline winners of its 99th annual ADC Awards, albeit virtually. There are still more winners to come—including Agency of the Year, which TBWA\Hakuhodo in Tokyo snagged last year—but we’ve rounded up ones that have come out so far. "While for-profit shows like Cannes made financial decisions to cancel their in-person judging and festivals, we stepped up in our nonprofit role to support the creative community and quickly transitioned both judging and awards announcements online," said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO of The One Club. "This year isn’t business as usual for anyone, including us, but we’re committed to finding ways to make it work." Best of Motion/Film/Gaming Craft: Apple’s “Bounce” (TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Pulse Films and Framestore) [kickout id="3"] Apple’s playful “Bounce” ad, created by none other than its longtime agency TBWA\Media Arts Lab, stars a man whose morning commute is transformed when he puts his AirPods in. Seconds after he walks out the door, he realizes that the ordinary objects he passes by every day—bus shelters, stairs, discarded mattresses on the sidewalk—are now infused with a trampoline-like quality. The short film is made all the more fun with the addition of “I Learnt Some Jazz Today,” a song by Jamaican producer and songwriter Tessellated. Read more about how the ad came together here. Best of Experiential: ICHV’s “Most Dangerous Street” (FCB Chicago and its production unit, Lord + Thomas) [kickout id="1"] The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence is a nonprofit dedicated to reducing death and injury caused by firearms. According to the organization, nearly 40 people are shot on the streets of Chicago each week. To bring this startling statistic to life, the nonprofit put together an exhibit on one of Chicago’s streets that used lasers to represent the lives of those recently lost to gun violence. Each person’s gender, age and time of death were projected onto the walls of surrounding buildings to further drive home the point that too many lives are lost to gun violence, and more needs to be done to stop it. Best of Photography: “The King Becomes Her” by The New York Times Magazine [kickout id="2"] This year’s top photography honor went to The New York Times Magazine for its striking cover portrait of Glenda Jackson, who starred in the role of King Lear on Broadway last year. The black-and-white photo taken by Jack Davison, who shot a number of other stunning photos of the actress for the magazine’s cover story: “At 82, Glenda Jackson Commands the Most Powerful Role in Theater.” Best of Packaging Design: The Female Company’s “The Tampon Book” (Scholz & Friends Berlin) [kickout id="4"] The Female Company is a German startup that sells tampons made of organic cotton grown grown without chemicals and pesticides. Last year, it began selling a book complete with stories and illustrations about periods that doubles as packaging for its products. The reason? At the time, books were subject to a lower tax rate than tampons. It was the brand’s way of drawing attention to the absurdity of menstrual products being classified at “luxury goods.” The book quickly sold out and garnered media attention—and at the beginning of this year, German lawmakers started taxing tampons as “essential” items, not luxury ones. Best of Spatial Design: Theirworld’s “Infinity Classroom” (BBDO’s New York and Minneapolis offices) [kickout id="5"] Theirworld is a charity focused on “enforcing every child’s right to go to school.” According to the United Nations, 260 million children around the world do not attend school. Theirworld partnered with BBDO to highlight the global education crisis at the U.N. General Assembly last year in New York by unveiling an exhibition, the cornerstone of which was a mirrored room filled with empty rows of school desks. The mirrors had a multiplying effect on the desks, providing a visual representation of the many kids missing out on education. The exhibition was situated at the UN Plaza in New York. Best of Product Design: “Notpla” (Superunion London) [kickout id="6"] Skipping Rocks Lab is a London-based startup that develops biodegradable packaging made from plants and seaweed to reduce single-use plastics. The startup recently turned to Superunion London to give its unique, eco-friendly packaging its own name and branding. The result? Notpla, which—as you may have guessed—stems from “not plastic.” The branding colorfully shows how different liquids, ranging from ketchup to juice, can be packaged with Notpla. The startup now goes by Notpla as well. Best of Typography: “Making Impossible Possible” for Courtney Tulloch (Jones Knowles Ritchie London) [kickout id="7"] It’s not often that a gymnast gets their very own typeface, but it’s 2020 and anything goes. Jones Knowles Ritchie London recently worked with British gymnast Courtney Tulloch to “craft a custom typeface from scratch” for him. According to the agency, the typeface was “inspired by language of gymnastics rings.” The goal was to capture the athletes’ unique way of moving within each character. We’re also highlighting some of this year’s Gold Cube winners. All winners can be found on the ADC website. GS&P took home an experiential design Gold Cube for “Lessons in Herstory,” an augmented reality project created for Daughters of the Evolution, an organization formed by the agency’s partner and chief creative officer Margaret Johnson. No Fixed Address Toronto also won an experiential design Gold Cube for “Lolli: The Exhibit Nobody Wants to Talk About,” a PSA effort created in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. German agency Antoni Garage and production company Anorak won two motion/filming/gaming craft Gold Cubes for “Bertha Benz: The Journey That Changed Everything,” a spot for Mercedes-Benz. The film won in both the cinematography and editing categories. TBWA\Media Arts Lab and creative company Buck nabbed a motion/filming/gaming craft Gold Cube in the motion graphics category for “Wonderful Tools,” a short film created for Apple. Droga5, production company Furlined Los Angeles, post-production firm Final Cut and VFX shop Significant Others won a motion/filming/gaming craft Gold Cube in the editing category for “The Truth Is Worth It: Fearlessness (ISIS),” an ad for The New York Times.