The Chip Shop Awards
The Chip Shop Awards took place last month at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the Smirnoff Underbelly. The nominated work had previously been on display at Emwood’s Edinburgh office in the week prior to the awards. Over a hundred and fifty people mingled, ate chips and enjoyed the comedy of Tim Vine on the night before settling down for the main event - the awards ceremony.
Chester-based Sequoia topped the table of winners at this year’s Chip Shop Awards beating some of London’s top agency’s including Leo Burnett and Drugstore. The agency walked away with three Chips, including the Grand Prix for its Star Wars Trilogy work - winning praise from chairman of the judges, Trevor Beattie, who said; \"It’s exactly what the Chip Shop Awards are about. They didn’t have the client, and they used a medium that hadn’t been used before. Finally a Star Wars gag that I actually like.\". The work also won a Chip in the Ambient category, which was created for two entries that were declared too different to sit in their original categories.
Sequoia’s third Chip came in the Best Use of Shop Window Postcard Space category, for its work for Margaret’s Ironing Service. The judges thought the ad should win because \"if you were to actually do this in a window, you’d smile and if you needed an ironing service, you’d call her\". Beattie awarded his Chairman’s Award to copywriter Rick Kiesewetter, who also won freelance work from Beattie’s new agency, Beattie McGuinness Bungay, on the day of the judging. Kiesewetter’s sticker campaign also won a Chip in the Best Business-to-Business category. Commenting on the campaign, Beattie said; \"It would get a reaction from the very people it’s aimed at, who else would phone?\".
Another outstanding entry was Leo Burnett’s TV ad for Strongbow. Winning two Chips – one for Best TV Commercial and one in the Best Work For A Client You Have, But Haven’t A Hope Of Running category – its \"exceptionalist\" execution won praise from every judge. Deemed a great ad, \"it wouldn’t look out of place at all in an actual campaign\", said one judge. FPP’s entry for Hammerite prompted the creation of a new category, Best Ambient, with Beattie saying; \"that’ll be a nice surprise on the night\". Drugstore’s ad for Smith Kendal Travel Sweets divided the judges. Although it won a Chip for the Best Use Of Bad Taste, it was relegated to a Vinegar in the Best TV Commercial category, because although it was a \"nice idea\", the judges thought it was too long and could have benefited from being cut down.
The most surprising lack of winners were in the Best Knob Gag and Reject of the Year categories, where no nominations were given. The lack of decent entries prompted Beattie, to say; \"The gauntlet should be thrown down to the creative industry to improve their knob gags. And it’s quite something for all entries in the Reject category to be rejected.\"
The agency which soaked up all the Vinegars was Dulay Seymour for it’s Kit Kat work. It won a Vinegar in the Best Business-to-Business category and the Best Work For A Client You Have, But Haven’t A Hope Of Running. FPP’s ad for the NHS was not nominated in the Best Knob Gag category, but won a Vinegar in the Best Press ad category. Even though one of the judges had seen \"enough sperm/mouse gags to last him a lifetime\", another disagreed convincingly, saying \"if there’s one company and one place you can do it, this is it\". There were no nominations n the best Packaging Design category, but Principles Agency narrowly missed out on a Chip with its work in the Best Corporate Identity category for TV producer Sharon Gunnel. Ad One Ltd won two Vinegars for its work for Burger King and Rob Johnstone’s Barbers. The former – in the Best Consumer ad or Campaign category - was praised for being \"a very simple, transferable idea\". Rob Johnstone’s meanwhile, missed out on a Chip as the judges thought \"you could have had fun with this, but it didn’t go far enough\".
For a full rundown of the results go to the Chip Shop Awards website at www.chipshopawards.com