Santosh Padhi on the judging and the work at the London International Awards

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Santosh Padhi.jpgSantosh Padhi, Co-Founder and CCO of Taproot India this year sat on the Print, Poster + Billboard jury at this year’s London International Awards. Here’s Padhi’s comment on his 5 days of judging experience at The Encore Hotel in Las Vegas.

Initially there was a feeling that we are seeing lots of not so inspiring work but, after the second round everything started sparkling (which is true to most award shows) the quality of work winning last two years is of real high caliber, some of the work that has won in other award shows are getting tough time climbing the ladder, as there was a huge degree of discussion that happened post the second round with different juries wearing different hats at times before it was awarded any metal, good part about the composition of my jury was there was a mix of heads, some guys with real big nose who were smelling the doggy ads from a distance, some were in search of great human insight, some purpose, some behaving like consumers and here were guys with the third eye for the craft as well.

Yes, it’s a lot of fun because you are judging in Las Vegas but i think there is great credibility in the results due to the tough judging procedures. As they say “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, same goes with the judging as well. “What happens outside the jury room never got in or any sign of it”, judges knew very well of this mantra, but I did see the other way around, as during our breaks and dinner juries were talking about work, work and work.

When you are interacting with the work you are with the work it doesn’t matter if you are in the heaven or hell, as you are with the work.

I think this award show is mature enough that they know why they are doing the judging for the fifth year in a row in Vegas – and so are the jury members.  They are all responsible creative people who drive their own agencies and lead some of the biggest clients in the world. Each is capable of shifting gears as in when needed.

My favourite pieces of work from the judging are:

 

Front Row.jpgI loved the Google+ Front Row, it’s such a new age idea using technology to engage consumer/fans, that’s so relevant, to do it for such an important match where thousands and thousands of fans are dying to watch the match live, to put them on a piece of instadium billboard in the front row is a great idea, not only creatively but also a great PR idea, unfortunately it did not win the way it should have been 🙁

Miyabi_1.jpgMiyabi_2.jpgMiyabi by Zwilling knife campaign – is simply a great piece of print work, without trying too hard they have made the point loud and clear, two pieces of sliced product were overlapped in such a way that it optically forms a knife form with a help of a body copy, a great product demo, smart, intelligent and fresh in the category, I personally feel it deserved more than what it has won 🙁

Depaul UK (Street Stories Campaign for homeless kids) – was beautifully art directed with 4 different style of illustration that was so different than each other and so strong in nature that you will never miss them, there were big bold lines around the illustration that captured the spirit of each stories with the campaign line, “don’t let their stories end on the street”, and a call of action leading to donate, I loved the way used the street wall to convey the message for street kids, the insight was very truthful and simple, apart from being a great piece of outdoor the illustration too stood out in the show

Tennis_2.jpgUS open – ambient creative, created with hundreds of tennis balls around tennis courts using the net as the medium, though this is one of the oldest form of art (something made out of something) but what you make out of it with lots of love and relevance will always going to make a cut above the rest, this was a great example of outdoor really stood out in the clutter, have not seen before in any other award shows, (it’s a myth that if it’s won in other award show will automatically win, and not seen before won’t).

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