2017 Sirens – Round 3

Melbourne agency Clemenger BBDO has won round three of the 2017 Siren Awards, taking out the single category and overall win with the ad “VB Knock-Off Clock” for Victoria Bitter beer. Take a listen.

It’s the second round win in 2017 for creatives Richard Shaw and Russell Fox who also won round one with the “Dog Breath Campaign” for PEDIGREE® DentaFlex™.

The round three winning ad “VB Knock-Off Clock” was created to remind tradies that knock-off time is beer o’clock.  Designed specifically to run only during ‘knock off time’ from 4.00 pm to 6 pm, the ad starts with the sound of a normal ticking clock.  Slowly the tick-tock of the clock transitions into the classic Victoria Bitter theme song to remind listeners that 4.00 pm really is time to crack a VB. 

The campaign winner was the series of ads “Time with Mum” from agency 303MullenLowe for the Road Safety Commission.  Joe Hawkins and Tommy Medalia, created three ads in the series to illustrate what happens when you lose your licence and you are at the mercy of your mum and friends to get lifts.  All three ads in the series; “Window”, “Pilates” and “Out of Options” were also highly commended in the craft category and were produced by sound engineer Brad Habib from sound studio, Soundbyte. 

Additional ads entered into this round were highly commended by judges.   Highly commended entries in the single ad category included the ad “Optus Real Olympic Calls from The Works for Optus, created by Guy Patrick and Nathan Bilton.  “Dead Air” for Sea Shepherd Australia from The Studio at Southern Cross Austereo by Matt Dickson and “Ant-Man” for Foxtel from TBWA Sydney created by Cameron Dowsett and Mark Tallis. 

Highly commended in the campaign category included; “Kitchen Confessions” for Ikea by Joe Hawkins and Tommy Medalia from agency 303MullenLowe.  “Passage to India Call Centre” for Passage to India from BWM Denstu created by Jake McLennan and Cam McMillian and “Ant-Man/Grand Designs/Cafe” for Foxtel from TBWA Sydney created by Cameron Dowsett and Mark Tallis.   

Joan Warner, CEO of Commercial Radio Australia said: “Outstanding entries keep coming through each round of Sirens, cleverly using audio to create ads that set themselves apart from others.” 

The Siren Awards, run by Commercial Radio Australia, celebrate the best in radio advertising and are judged over five rounds throughout the year by a panel of industry experts, made up of creative directors from leading ad agencies, known as the Siren Creative Council.

The 2017 Gold Siren winner will be announced in May 2017 and wins a trip to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.  The client of the winning 2016 Gold Siren Award also wins a ticket to Cannes.  Silver Sirens are awarded in each of the three categories: single, campaign and craft.  There is also a client-voted award, a $5000 cash prize, presented to the writers of the ad voted the best, by a panel of clients.

Round 4 of the 2017 Siren Awards is now open. Entries close November 10.