2022 PADC Skulls: Major coup for Anthologie taking out the Best in Show award for ‘Global Fishing Index’, Jaz Baker wins Diamond Skull

It was a wild night at Frasers for the 2022 PADC Skulls – a day of squalling winds and wild rain finally subsided in time for a calm (but chilly) evening on the grass in beautiful King’s Park/Kaarta Gar-up.

ATTENTION ATTENDEES – Those who used the concierge service can collect their awards from Marketforce now til 2.30pm.

Overall, the winners were very evenly distributed across a lot of work, agencies and individuals, with no single campaign or agency dominating the metal tallys. With smaller independents like Anthologie, Juicebox and Block Branding going toe-to-toe with the large network agencies of 303 Mullenlowe, The Brand Agency, Marketforce and Wunderman Thompson, it was hard to predict many of the winners as the night rolled on.

The Platinum Sponsor of the PADC and the Skulls is The Market Herald, who recently acquired Gumtree, Carsguide and Autotrader, making them one of the largest digital communities in Australia.

Fittingly for a venue with sprawling view over the Swan River waterways, the biggest winner of the night was Anthologie for its work on the ‘Global Fishing Index’ project with The Minderoo Foundation. The work took out the prestigious Gold Skull trophy in both Digital Tools & Apps and Digital For Good, as well as a third Gold Skull for Best in Show. The awards showed that digital and craft were the highlights of WA creativity this year, with all five Gold Skulls being presented in those two categories. The Global Fishing Index project aims to put a global spotlight on overfishing. Based on complex research and data spanning 142 countries and 1,465 fish stocks, the Index was created to highlight the shortfalls of nations, policy-makers and companies fishing practices. As the Anthologie case study demonstrated, the Index is a response from The Minderoo Foundation’s alarming report data on global overfishing – of the assessed stocks, 50% are overfished. Further, nearly 1 in 10 stocks have been driven to collapse. Most concerning though, is the lack of available data to measure and compare. The Global Fishing Index is the first attempt to give the worldwide scientific community, industry and policy-makers the clearest representation of the data. It even caught the attention of Sir David Attenborough who noted, “This is a most valuable ammunition in the fight for our ocean”.

In total, there were 31 finalists, 13 Bronze Skulls, 14 Silver Skulls, and five Gold Skulls.

Individual campaigns with high numbers of Skulls included The Brand Agency’s ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’ book for Foodbank (one finalist, one Bronze, four Silvers and a Gold Skull for Best Illustration), Marketforce’s ‘Stop Umpire Abuse’ radio campaign (four Silver Skulls) and 303 Mullenlowe, Sandbox and Panda Candy for South West Edge’s ‘Queens on the Edge’ (one finalist, one Bronze, three Silver).

In Film, there were two finalists for &Partners’ ‘Battle of the Fremantles’ and Significant Other’s SuprCuvr ‘Kills the Plague’ (Up to 60 sec – Single). Bronze Film awards went to Block Branding’s Dinosaurs of Patagonia ‘The Longleys’ and &Partners’ ‘Switch Off Duty’. 303 Mullenlowe won the only Film Silver for South West Edge’s ‘Queens on the Edge’ work.

In Digital Advertising & Design, there were five finalists; The Brand Agency’s Road Safety Commission ‘Moto Mannequin’ (Digital Advertising – Single) and Containers for Change ‘Empties Day’ (Use of Social Media), MITP Agency’s Gage Roads ‘The Longest Yeah Buoy Ever’ (Digital Advertising – Single), 303 Mullenlowe’s St John ‘GP Recruitment’ (Digital Advertising – Campaign) and Juicebox for Wesfarmers Arts UX Design (Use of Experience Design).

Juicebox also won the only Bronze in Digital Advertising & Design for NDS ‘This Bay is Someone’s Day Campaign” (Digital for Good), while 303 Mullenlowe won the only Silver for South West Edge ‘Queens on the Edge’ (Use of Social Media).

The big news on the night was then Anthologie’s two back-to-back Digital Advertising & Design Gold Skull wins for The Minderoo Foundation’s ‘Global Fishing Index’ website (Digital Tools & Apps and Digital for Good). Wunderman Thompson won the third Gold Skull of the category for the United Nations Development Programme ‘World of Excuses’ site (Digital for Good).

Out of Home was a finalist-only affair, with three entries by The Brand Agency including RAC’s ‘Rescue Helicopter Timeline’ (Outdoor Print – Single) and ‘Shadows of Summer’ (Outdoor Interactive, Installations or Experiential and Outdoor Ambient and/or Guerrilla Marketing).

In Radio, Streaming & Audio Advertising there were three finalists, all for Rare’s ‘Reading Can Take You Anywhere’ (Up to 30 sec – Single, Up to 30 sec – Campaign and Audio for Good – Campaign). Wunderman Thompson took out the only Bronze radio for West Australian Ballet’s ‘Music. Ballet. Side by Side’.

‘Reading Can Take You Anywhere’

Marketforce then took out a hat-trick of radio Silvers for the WA Football Commission’s ‘Stop Umpire Abuse’ work (Up to 30 sec – Single, Up to 30 sec – Campaign and Audio for Good – Campaign).

In Print, there was only a single award given, to 303 Mullenlowe’s St John ‘GP Recruitment’ (Magazine & Newspaper – Campaign).

The Brand Agency then took out the only award in Direct Marketing, a Silver for Foodbank’s ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’.

In Integrated Campaigns, there were two winners; 303 Mullenlowe for South West Edge’s ‘Queens on the Edge’ (Integrated Campaign – Brand) and Significant Other’s My Foodie Box ‘Disappointing Discount’ (Integrated for Good – Community/Charity).

Design had six finalists in a particularly competitive category; Block Branding had two for Place Lab Brand ID (Brand Scheme Above $20,000) and Montauk Lighting Co’s ‘Joy’ (Design for Good), TwoFromTwo had one for Bedfellows Mixers (Logo), Likeable Creative had one for Mine Spec’s ‘Dust Storm’ (Point-of-sale/Posters – Single), Moonsail had one for Bomback Pickle Gin (Packaging – Single) and Juicebox had one for Terra Forma Packaging (Packaging – Range).

Juicebox also had two Bronze winners for Valtari Brand (Brand Scheme Below $20,000) and Shelter Core Range Packaging (Packaging – Range), while Anthologie took out the third Bronze for Roy Hill Community Foundation’s ‘Jirntalpa Karnti (Nyiyaparli Flora)’ (Publications).

The Brand Agency collected Silver for Foodbank’s ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’ (Publications), while Block won Silver for Nanga Bush Camp’s Brand ID (Brand Scheme Above $20,000) – an event that Joel Creasey went to great lengths to say triggered some memories from him as a youngster.

There was just one finalist in Promotion – The Brand Agency’s Foodbank ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’ book (Best Product of Service Launch/Relaunch).

The Craft Categories were well-represented this year, with Gold Skulls each for The Brand Agency’s Foodbank ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’ book (Illustration) and AT Creative’s ‘Wines Beers & Independent Spirit’ for Liquor Barons (Best Writing). The finalists in the Craft Category included Rare’s ‘Reading Can Take You Anywhere’ (Best Writing), 303 Mullenlowe’s St John ‘GP Recruitment’ (Best Art Direction & Design), ‘Viet Hoa’ from Brett Layton and TwoFromTwo (Best Typography), ‘Two Sides of the Sun’ from Matt Pitcher and Gatecrasher (Best Direction), ‘A Devotion to the Extraordinary’ from Watches of Switzerland and Moonsail (Best Cinematography, Best Editing and Best Original Composition), Sandbox for ‘Roll Up for WA’ (Best Editing) and ‘Reading Challenge Pirate’ (Best Use of Sound – Radio) and ‘Queens on the Edge’ from Panda Candy (Best Original Composition).

Bronze Craft Awards went to The Brand Agency’s Foodbank ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’ book (Best Writing), Wunderman Thompson’s WA Ballet Season 2022 (Best Photography), Rhythm Films’ ‘The Path’ (Best Editing) and Panda Candy for ‘Don’t Feed the Fill’ and ‘Shooting Stars Theme Song’, both for Best Original Composition.

Silver Craft Awards went to Marketforce’s ‘Stop Umpire Abuse’ for WA Football Commission (Best Writing), The Brand Agency’s Foodbank ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’ book (Best Art Direction & Design), and Sandbox’s ‘Queens on the Edge – Episode 3’ (Best Direction).

The Diamond Skulls continued to be an incredibly exciting and competitive category, with 46 entries from across the spectrum of WA creativity and craft. The newly-launched Client Service Person of the Year was a popular entrant category this year, with 7 talented Client Service creative champions vying for the top spot.

Eloise Cribb from 303 Mullenlowe was the inaugural winner of the Diamond Skull for Client Service Person of the Year. The roar that came up from the room at her announcement, not just from the 303 Mullenlowe, showed that this particular award was a very welcome addition to the Diamond Skull line-up. “We were extremely gratified to see the high quality of entrants in this year’s Client Service award,” said Josh Edge. “It was a bit of an experiment for all of us, but it has been very positively received in the industry anecdotally, and we’ll definitely be bringing it back for 2023.”

Cribb won for her contribution to some of 303 Mullenlowe’s most creative campaigns of the year, including Lotterywest’s ‘Lotterée’, St John ‘Land of Legends’ and St John ‘GP Recruitment’ work.

The Brand Agency’s Ellen Treharne won the Diamond Skull Art Director of the Year for Foodbank’s ‘The Day That Hunger Ended’, RAC’s Rescue Helicopter’ OOH and The Perth Mint’s ‘Crafted to Collect’ work.

The Brand Agency’s Dan Debuf won Copywriter of the Year for RAC Insurance’s ‘On The Ground’ radio, Containers for Change ‘Don’t Feed the Fill’ and Foodbank’s ‘The Sound of Hunger’ work.

Tim Count from MDS Audio won Composer of the Year for his work with Xero Go, Kitchen Warehouse, Qintis and the feature film ‘Facing Monsters’.

Sam Price from What’s This? Studio continued his run of winning Digital Talent of the Year with a strong mix of interactive, animation, generative artwork and motion graphics across Argye Diamonds ‘Journey Beyond’, Karrinyup’s ‘WA on Stage’ and Nike ‘It’s Yours for the Taking’ work.

Block Branding’s Gabi Fountain took out Designer of the Year with powerful design work including the City of Perth Brand Design, ‘Fragments’ rebrand, and Minty Diamonds new Brand ID. Last week also saw Fountain take out the Australian Emerging Designer of the Year award at the 2022 AGDA Awards.

Matsu, from Beautiful Pictures, won Director of the Year with a mix of advertising and music video film work including Watches of Switzerland, Karrinyup’s ‘WA on Stage’ and rapper MDMC’s single ‘ITCH’.

Wunderman Thompson’s Jaz Baker won Young Talent of the Year for some beautiful design work for Carbon Farming Foundation, Synergy and West Australian Ballet. Baker also won the coveted Diamond Skull award for best overall folio among the Diamond Skull entrants.

John McGovarin won Editor of the Year for his work on Shooting Stars, RBC Olympics Promotion and ‘The Path’ with olympian Liz Parnov.

Finlay MacKay won Photographer of the Year for his work on Lotterywest’s ‘That’s the Ticket’ and ‘Lotterée’ campaigns, and Kailis Jewellery.

Nick Gallagher won Sound Designer of the Year for his audio work on Kleenheat ‘Tennis’, WA Ballet radio and ‘Stop Umpire Abuse’ for WA Football Commission.

In the Student Skulls categories there was a great spread of work across the categories, with 28 entries in Digital Design, 25 entries in Graphic Design, 10 entries in Photography. Even though the Student Advertising entries were down this year, there was still some solid work including ex-ECU student Maxwell Dawson’s ‘Take a Shot’ campaign, which won the Student Skulls Advertising award.

Curtin University’s Kate Hinson won the Graphic Design Student Skull for her ‘Mural Pathways’ campaign, while North Metropolitan TAFE had two Student Skull winners with Sara Morrison winning Student Digital Design for ‘Longer Life’, and Simon Haynes winning Student Photography for ‘Scars’.

The full case studies of the work and winners will be uploaded across the PADC’s Commune, Facebook, Youtube and Instagram sites over the next few days.

You can read the complete list of PADC Skull Awards and finalists here. Please note that only current PADC members are listed in the awards credits.