The Monkeys’ win Round 5 of the Siren Awards; Marketforce’s Brandon Piggott and Justin Borromei Highly Commended for OZ Lotto

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The Monkeys’ win Round 5 of the Siren Awards; Marketforce’s Brandon Piggott and Justin Borromei Highly Commended for OZ Lotto

Creative agency The Monkeys is the overall winner of Round 5 of the 2020 Siren Awards and has taken top spot in the single category for the DrinkWise ad “www.PeteGotPissed.com.au.” The agency also secured first place in the campaign category for the series of related DrinkWise ads “www.TheInternetRemembers.com.au.”

 

In “www.PeteGotPissed.com.au”, creatives Hugh Gurney and Joe Sibley tell the story of Pete’s drunken mishap in order to convey the DrinkWise message of responsible drinking. The ad’s deviation from the typical use of a URL in radio commercials is a frank and funny way to show lingering consequences.

Gurney and Sibley said: “The best way to show how a drunken night can live permanently on the internet is by dedicating an entire website to someone’s night gone awry because of too much booze.

“So many radio ads finish with a URL. To demonstrate how evidence of drunken stupidity can live forever online, we turned this URL into our message.”

The www.TheInternetRemembers.com.au campaign further explores this idea with a message that targets young people who put an emphasis on reputation, which can be impacted by one embarrassing drunken act in a way that can easily spread and endure online. URLs used in the campaign all lead to live websites detailing responsible drinking information.

Sound engineer Liam Annert from Rumble Studios has been named winner of the craft category for the Carton Dry ad “It’s the Most Wonderful Time for a Beer.” The commercial pays homage to a classic Christmas carol with a parody reworking that finds humour in the frustrations and complications of the holiday season. The ad’s production involved a live band, a trained singer and backup vocals.

Says Joan Warner, chief executive officer of industry body Commercial Radio Australia: “Congratulations to all the winners and those who received highly commended honours. These innovative ads really affirm the power and versatility of radio advertising and the way it can deliver impactful messages directly to audiences.”

“It’s the Most Wonderful Time for a Beer”, from Mark Starmach and Alastair Flack at Special Group, has received a highly commended acknowledgement in the single ad category, along with commercials “www.AnnaGotHammered.com.au” and “www.EddieGotPlastered.com.au”, also from Gurney and Sibley from The Monkeys.

Highly commended campaign category acknowledgements were: Lotterywest “OZ Lotto Wins” by Brandon Piggott (pictured left) and Justin Borromei (right) from Marketforce; Australia Post “If it Packs, it Posts” by Robyn Bergmann and James Wills from VMLY&R Melbourne; and Menulog “Stay in Instead” by Ekin Gunes and Edwin Concubierta from McCann.

Sound Engineer Paul Le Couteur from Squeak E. Clean Studios has received highly commended acknowledgements in the craft category for the DrinkWise ads “www.PeteGotPissed.com.au”, “www.AnnaGotHammered.com.au” and “www.EddieGotPlastered.com.au.”

Final Call Round winners have also been selected, with entries now open for Round 1 2021. The Final Call Round entries that received the highest scores and the winners from all previous 2020 rounds will now enter a final judging stage with hopes of becoming one of the finalists who will compete to win the Gold Siren and Silver Sirens.

Listen to the Round 5 2020 winning ads here or at www.sirenawards.com.au/ and visit the Siren Awards on Facebook. Commercial Radio Australia is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.