Australia had a great year at this year’s Caples awards for direct and digital, with 21 Caples award wins – five firsts, five seconds and 11 thirds.
Douglas Nicol
country chair, Australia
International Caples Awards
For the past five years, Australia has been quietly moving up the world rankings at the Caples Awards for direct and digital creativity. This year’s winners, announced recently in New York, put Australia top place with 21 Caples Award wins: five firsts, five seconds, and 11 thirds. Hot on our heels was Germany with 20 Caples Awards: four firsts, 12 seconds, and six thirds.
This year was the 30th Anniversary Awards and was tinged with sadness due to recent death of Caples Awards founder Andi Emerson.
Andi Emerson has done more to raise the level of creativity in direct response advertising – on a global level – than anyone else in the direct marketing field. As founder and, for the past 30 years, board chair of the John Caples International Awards, she has been the world’s leading proponent of creative innovation in direct marketing. The Caples Awards survive and thrive in large part due to Andi’s dedication and sheer will.
In this feature, we showcase three of the top performing case studies
from Australia. <
Miscellaneous Non-Profit
First Place
Entry name Pimp Our Ads
Creative directors Marco Eychenne and Simon Lee
Copywriter Anna Karena
Art director Chris Perry
Agency Lavender*, Sydney, Australia
Client Roads & Traffic Authority NSW
0bjectives
Like any organisation with “authority” in its title, Australia’s NSW Roads & Traffic Authority has a hard time getting young people to listen to what it has to say. Hence, a young driver dies every six days on our roads. Our challenge was to find a way to get road safety messages across to a notoriously cynical and marketing-savvy Gen Y audience.
It doesn’t take a genius to realise that it doesn’t pay to “preach” to Gen Y. We didn’t preach, we created a user-generated content strategy that encouraged young people to keep their mates safe by creating their own hard-hitting road safety ads.
Campaign idea
Pimpourads.com features a suite of design tools and photos that allow even a design novice to create great-looking ads. The best road safety ad was run statewide in press and outdoor. The designer of the best ad won a Toyota Yaris.
To drive traffic, we bought blank full pages in press and “pimped” them with stickers bearing the slogan “Keep your mates safe”. We also dumped stickers in shops, cafes, and bars, recorded radio “live reads” and sent media kits to schools, colleges and motor registries.
Results
31,992 visits in six weeks by 19,947 people – that’s 6.3% of young drivers in NSW, and 7,900 ads created in total.
An impressive 1.4% of all 17 to 30-year-old drivers in NSW actually took the time to engage with the pimp our ads site, think about how best to convey a road safety message, and create an ad.
Collateral/Alternative Media: Consumer
First Place
Entry name There’s No “I” In Carriage
Creative director Jason Williams
Copywriter Andrew Woodhead
Art director Richard Walker
Production manager Gary Arnas
Agency Leo Burnett, Melbourne, Australia
Client Connex
Objectives
The objective of the campaign was to modify the behaviour of the modern commuter, an entity that has become loud, rude and obnoxious. Connex, the Melbourne train network, felt enough was enough and decided to do something about it by launching a campaign to improve passenger behaviour and future train journeys for everyone involved.
Campaign idea
Instead of telling passengers how to behave, the campaign idea was to create, publish and distribute a self-help book that would assist them in becoming more considerate commuters.
Enter Dr Martin Merton, America’s No 1 expert on train etiquette, a completely fictional character and author of the self-help book There’s No ‘I’ in Carriage: a self-help guide to becoming more considerate commuter.
The 100,000 copies of the book were handed out at train stations during peak hour. The “author” then held book signings at a number of Melbourne train stations so commuters could meet the man behind the book.
Results
The results of the campaign are as follows:
• Emails/contributions to the book: 822
• Hits on the site: 726,000
• Books distributed: 100,000
• Commuters cured: Too many to count
Direct Mail Dimensional: Business Non-Profit
/Under $5 Each
Second Place
Entry name Collar Pack
Creative director Dylan Taylor
Copywriter Tim Wood
Art director Jun Harada
Agency BMF, Sydney, Australia
Client Guide Dogs
Objectives
The cost of training and providing a guide dog is extremely expensive. Furthermore, as a not-for-profit organisation, Guide Dogs NSW/ACT receives no government assistance, relying on individual and corporate donations. Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, therefore, sought to tap into
the corporate sector for major donations to train and support a dog for two years ($26,000 each).
Campaign idea
With clear targeting, BMF profiled
C-suite decision-makers (CFOs, CEOs, etc) across metro Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.
The creative idea was driven by the simple truth that you could change a life by sponsoring a guide dog. The agency used a dog collar to symbolise the progression from puppy to guide dog. The creative cleverly demonstrated the journey a puppy makes through its training, connected to the costs of its tuition, and wrapped it up with an emotional attachment to the animal. Recip-ients also received a real collar that may end up on their own pet.
Results
BMF mailed just 170 packs and each requested a $26,000 investment. The goal was a response rate of two.
After only four hours (only the first 40 packs were in market), the first dog was sponsored. The next day, Guide Dogs received a second donation of $26,000 from a private individual that challenged her company to match it. The campaign’s target was achieved in less than 24 hours.
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