when the circus come to town.

Oh well. I didn't get into AWARD school this year, but I promise you I will die trying.

As a consolation prize, the Communications Council was offering all applicants free entry to the 3 day "Circus Festival of Commercial Creativity". Well to me, that is a pretty good trade-off. So, i decided it was a good way to get back on the bandwagon after a defeat, and took half a day off work to attend.

The sessions I decided to attend, were chosen for two prominent reasons:

1. Meat and Livestock Australia (Lamb)
2. Transport Accident Commission (TAC)

The structure of the talks involved the Agency and the Client, together discussing relationships and the process of creating a successful campaign.

First off, the Creative Director from BMF Sydney Dennis Koutoulogenis spoke, he being responsible for the Sam Kekovich's LAMB monologue we have all come to admire.

What was great to see from this guy, after feeling the my AWARD school application read like a comedy script, was that there is a place for satire and high irony in Australian advertising. I was worried for a second there wasn't.

Take for example the culture jamming prevalent in both below examples. Firstly, a direct pisstake of the annoying QANTAS white shirted underage choir, and secondly, a hilarious parody of a perfume commercial, directly jamming the Lancome logo.





A bonus was being able to ask the genius two questions at the end of the talk. I got handed the microphone and asked....
Q: "Was the 2008 Lamb Australia Week TVC referencing the Qantas Australian Children's Choir?"
A: "Yes it was"
Q: "Do you think there is a danger the consumer is going to expect Lamb campaigns to become more and more extravagant?"
A: "No not particularly"

Interestingly my question was deflected by the CD, but fair enough, he was standing next to the brand’s marketing manager. What did rock, was the next Agency CD to speak, from Grey Melbourne, touched on this point. He mentioned that the TAC campaigns he had championed for the last 13 years, are in the same boat as Lamb Australia’s. They have raised the bar so high, there are certain things that just become expected from them. That’s the thing, both of these agencies have created such great work, its like is there a glass ceiling that they have already shattered in Australia? There must be.

That brings me to the next Agency/Client duo. The Agency was Grey Melbourne, Creative Director Nigel Dawson, with Client the Transport Accident Commission. A you can imagine, the mood in the auditorium swiftly moved from silly to serious.

We were presented with a visual assault, flashing back on the last 23 years of TAC advertising. Gruesome as it was, we were left with an understanding that this stuff saves lives.

Nigel summarized the TAC campaign essence with the following:

• WORK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF
• THAT COULD BE ME
• BE AS EMOTIONAL AS POSSIBLE
• BE AS SHOCKING AS YOU LIKE
• THE FMD FACTOR (Fuck Me Dead Factor)

We were alerted to the fact that Victoria was the first place in the world to make seat belts compulsory. This gave the sense that perhaps Victorians really do get behind the cause to keep the road toll down. We were shown graphs indicating the road toll had dramatically dropped since the first TAC ad had aired and could be attributed to the use of effective advertising.

Nigel's Team and the TAC have the daily reminder of how successfully they are doing their job. All they need to do is open a tabloid newspaper and view the Road Death Toll, comparing today with this time last year. WO these guys must be commended for the heavy content they have to deal with.

On a lighter note, here is a delightful St.Patrick's Day special, using the Irish phonetic spelling of the TAC's catch call...