ANDYs Blog: Nick Worthington, ECD, Colenso BBDO

Part 1 of our ANDY Awards blog series featuring the jury’s real time thoughts and insights from final judging in Shanghai. 

February 19, 2014

By Nick Worthington, ECD, Colenso BBDO 

So some surprises.

First, the city. You can see the sun…the air is clean and crisp…the old part of the city is a shrine to the decadent 1920’s and 30’s. At least the Fairmont Peace Hotel is. Pre Mao, very evocative of a bygone era of luxury, sin and seduction. Not at all what I imagined. The Mandarin Oriental, where we will be buried beneath a ton of work in the basement for the next five days, is nine months old and a shiny example of Shanghai today. They get sh*t done. 

To the work. It’s early days, and we’re seeing ordinary work, but I know by the end of the week we’ll have uncovered some gems and we’ll all be congratulating ourselves on what a bright, creative bunch we are. Just another four days to go.

It seems in a lot of categories one planner has written the strategy for the whole world and almost every piece of work is conforming to the category norms. So the stuff that zigs while the world zags stands out like you wouldn’t believe. 

The Aussies clearly haven’t read the rulebook. Their work seems fresh, original, funny.

It would be worth every planner and creative having a good look at what the category they are about to invest their client money in is doing right now…and avoiding it like the plague. 

If you want to stand out that is.