D&AD selects two judges from Wunderman

Both David Harris (ECD) and Nigel Edginton-Vigus (CD) were honoured to be asked to judge the prestigious D&AD Student Awards recently.

Held at the aptly named Grand Hall at Olympia, David and Nigel were on the juries for 'Open Brief - What Else Do You Do? jury sponsored by D&AD' and 'Advertising - Brand Channel jury sponsored by YouTube' respectively.

David enthused, "The freshness of ideas and the innovative use of multiple channels were an indicator of the creativity about to come into the industry. It was very impressive."

Nigel adds, "In terms of the categories we were selected to look at, it's great to see that D&AD recognises our credentials as a media neutral agency. And apart from the pleasure of viewing such high quality work, it's really exciting to see so many new and innovative channels for students to creatively express themselves in. Once again, I came away from the event inspired!"

All the award winners will appear online shortly. But in the meantime, check out the last year's brilliant winners.

Scrappage goes live - before the competition

As reported by brand republic, Wunderman and Ford were the first to launch a marketing campaign for scrappage, following Wednesday's Budget announcement.

In fact, the content about scrappage appeared on http://www.ford.co.uk/ within three hours of Alastair Darling's confirmation of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme.

The online advertising executions (for example, the banner below) were tweaked to reflect the finer details of the Scheme and were trafficked through Flashtalking before going live at 6.00pm on the same day. Our clients at Ford were impressed by our thinking and execution of this time-sensitive initiative.


The scrappage banner storyboard, live on http://www.ford.co.uk/

Conversations that Sell

There are only a few places left for this free seminar that shows how brands are converting conversations on social networks into sales – and how businesses can profit too.

Facebook, Twitter, forums, blogs... these are the new battlegrounds (and playgrounds) for brands. Social networks are where increasingly empowered consumers can make, or break, those brands.

So how do you find the right people to converse with and how do you talk to or influence them? Most importantly, how do you convert those conversations into sales? To find answers to these questions and more Wunderman will be running a free seminar on Thursday 30 April, 9:00am - 12:30pm, in Soho Hotel, London.

The expert speakers you can listen to – and converse with will be:
• Jess Greenwood. Deputy Editor, Contagious
• Molly Flatt. Word of Mouth evangelist, 1000 Heads
• David Sable. Global COO, Wunderman

They'll provide compelling case studies and each will demonstrate the power of marketing in this space and prove just how successful it can be – if you get it right. There'll also be an opportunity to question the panel in an open discussion.

Putting the work into workshop

People often associate D&AD with its renowned advertising awards programme, but the organisation also invests £2 million a year into education and professional development.

Given its charitable status, D&AD would struggle to deliver such a high calibre programme without industry involvement. Equally, Wunderman, the UK's largest direct agency, is proud to be on D&AD's roster to run Advertising Workshops; to nurture student and graduate talent, deepen industry knowledge, create opportunities to work on 'live' briefs and, ultimately, improve participants' job prospects.

Nigel Edginton-Vigus, Creative Director, who presented a recent session, explains Wunderman's contribution, "Helping students develop their skills and advertising careers whilst supporting a very worthy cause is why we're so delighted to contribute."

As Lydia Shaw, Education and Professional Development Executive, D&AD, adds, "Wunderman's support of D&AD Workshops is invaluable. By giving time, personal insight and building a fantastic rapport, the participants gain a realistic understanding of the craft and the culture of the agency."

The workshop feedback speaks for itself, as Christopher Godfree exclaims, "…genuinely enthused about the potential ideas that emerged…thoroughly entertaining and insightful."

So why not get involved? Visit the D&AD website to find out more or call 020 7840 1111.

Nigel Edginton-Vigus



Participants sharing ideas