Just announced: the winners of The Drum Roses Awards 2021

The entries were judged by a panel of senior creatives who work for brands and agencies around country, including Dyson, Harris Tweed Hebrides, MediaMonks, The Chase and Kindred.

The jury was led by Richard Denney, executive creative director at St Luke’s, who chose the Havas Lynx campaign ‘Andi Goes’ for Dyslexia Specialist Teachers.

The Grand Prix was awarded to a joint entry from Diva Agency, Red Consultancy, MediaCom, TfL, AJ Wells and Links Signs, a campaign for PlayStation UK that took home three other gold awards.

We announced the gold, silver and bronze award winners at a virtual ceremony. If you missed it, you can catch up below.

Grand Prix/Outdoor Campaign/Unusual Size or Special Build/Ambient Media and Stunts

Agencies: Diva Agency/Red Consultancy/MediaCom/TfL/AJ Wells/Links Signs

Client: PlayStation UK

Campaign: PlayStation 5 Launch – TfL Takeover

What the judges said: It’s a stroke of genius. A lot of creatives at some point have the idea to do something as standout as this, but they almost never happen. To see a partnership like this, with all the teams involved, actually make it a success – hats off to them! This happened in lockdown, so not that many people got to see it in real life. But the strength of brilliant idea means it will be shared, and we all saw it on our screens. It was different – and put a smile on our faces.

Chair’s Award/Charity and Not for Profit Advert

Agency: Havas Lynx Group

Client: Dyslexia Specialist Teachers

Campaign: Andi Goes

What the chair said: It’s an unbelievable piece of work. There have been some great awareness campaigns over the years, but now we need more than awareness – we want action. People demand change. Andi Goes is an anagram of diagnose, and it was so clever and inventive to bring out something that spots dyslexia at an early age – a book! It’s such simple tool that leaves us wondering why this wasn’t done before. Born of lockdown, it can really help parents, but the story also helps children know that it’s OK to be different. I wish I’d thought of it – it’s making a change.

Public Sector

Agency: BBC Creative

Client: BBC One

Campaign: The History Lessons You Never Had

Steve McQueen’s ground breaking anthology of films ‘Small Axe’ portrayed empowering and inspiring stories from Black British history. With the Black Lives Matter movement gaining momentum, BBC Creative felt the series needed a legacy beyond its broadcast.

Knowing that Black history is not mandatory on the national curriculum, the team collaborated with BBC Teach and Steve McQueen to create a series of teaching resources, bringing to life the historical background of each film.

Featuring both actors and the real people that inspired the stories, and each accompanied by teacher notes, these resources were made available on BBC Teach, a platform accessed by a third of all teachers in the UK every week. The team hopes these films will become a vital part of the curriculum, helping to change the way Black history is taught in schools forever.

What the judges said: This piece took hard-hitting subject matter, not merely abstract history but something that continues to affect people today, and turned it into something teachable. The fact that it had real people from the stories added such gravitas. We know that Black history is underrepresented in the British curriculum, and hope this is the start of genuine change – something that organizations like the BBC can spearhead.

Art Direction

Agency: Principles

Client: Seabrook Crisps

Campaign: Brilliant by the Bagful

Seabrook is an iconic Northern brand that isn’t well known elsewhere. Principles was tasked with creating brand awareness, in a category with little brand loyalty that is dominated by a handful of key players.

This campaign embraces the fact that the best things in life aren’t always the great or grand, but the little and the everyday. A delightfully upbeat and feel-good ad designed to put a smile on your face, this colorful slice of life is layered with spirit and charm, featuring real and relatable characters enjoying their favorite flavor.

Each flavor has its own personality: every frame was carefully designed and considered to give depth and texture to create a piece with bags of charm and personality. Using bold color palettes that took inspiration from the Seabrook flavors, the strong symmetry and seamless transitions give a real richness to the ad.

What the judges said: This entry showed great attention to detail, with stylish, fun and well-thought-out art direction, which fits the brand.

Direct Mail

Agency: CheethamBell

Campaign: The Commemorative plate we want you to smash

How do you create an agency Christmas card for a year most people would rather forget? This unusual direct mail campaign is a deeply original solution. CheethamBell designed a plate to commemorate 2020 – not one to be collected and kept, but to be destroyed.

Calling it ‘an awful plate, for an awful year’, they sent it by mail to 20 clients and suppliers and invited them to smash it. This, naturally, led to plenty of organic shares. Others were able to pulverize the plate digitally via the agency’s Instagram stories.

CheethamBell also won a gold award in the Charity/Not For Profit category, alongside Havas Lynx Group, for its campaign for Swizzels and the NHS.

What the judges said: We really liked this piece. It made us smile. It’s great to see some humor and something that’s relevant for this past year. We loved the kitsch plate – a great British format to play around with.

To see the full list of winners and find out more about their work, visit the website.