Commercial communication innovation

"Despite the notorious conservatism of large advertisers, our business has a fascination with the new. This is a good thing.  

It allows new media tools to gain traction, even when their audiences are very low, and adds spice and enterprise to advertising thinking.

Even in these days of carefully measured accountability to procurement departments, I am a strong believer that advertisers should encourage wit, fun and innovation as component parts of a complete strategy.

The real skill is make these integral to an advertising proposition, not bolted on for a laugh."

Richard Eyre

The winner

Police Community Support Officers

Police Community Support Officers
Home Office
(Manning Gottlieb OMD & OMD Fuse)
For so long the butt of endless jokes about Hobby Bobbies and Plastic Policemen, this campaign gave the PCSO programme a much needed boost with the creation of an ad-funded television programme, following real-life PCSOs on the beat and showing how they interact with the public and regular police.

Runners up

KFC - Face from Space

KFC - Face from Space
Yum! Brands/KFC
(Weber Shandwick PR)
As well as generating a stack of PR coverage, the Face from Space campaign was also a genuine step forward in the physical technology of the communication. This was reinforced by the use of time lapse photography to demonstrate the construction of the face and the ability to zoom in on the ad from applications such as Google Earth.

Wasted Youth

Wasted Youth
Wasted Youth
(Unity)
Suicide is the biggest killer of young men in the UK, and the Wasted Youth project aimed to raise awareness and funds to fight what is often a taboo subject. Through a unique series of gigs in prisons featuring some of the top bands in the UK the project shone a spotlight on a tragic problem.

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