After lighting up the far north for Tropicana, the awards spotlight was on BBDO Toronto last week as its “Arctic Sun” spot for Pepsi-QTG Canada won Best of Show Single at the 2010 Bessies, while Taxi‘s long-lasting relationship with Pfizer paid off yet again, winning Best of Show Campaign for its series of Viagra confessions, “Strolling,” “Antiquing” and “Reading.”
The annual awards for Canadian Television advertising are organized by the Television Bureau of Canada with the Broadcast Executives Society.
The awards ceremony, held at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, was headlined by Oscar-nominated Precious director Lee Daniels.
Awards chair and Dentsu creative vice-president, Deborah Prenger took the opportunity to remind people that even with the rapid growth of various media platforms, television is far from a decline.
“Television will live next to these new mediums and they’ll complement one another,” she said. “It may come in a different box or distribution system some day but it’s clear that TV isn’t going away.”
Gold Bessies winners included Sport BC‘s “Dunk Slam” by DDB Vancouver, Lowe Roche‘s “The Race” for Inbev/Stella Artois, A&W‘s “Balloon Boy” by Rethink Communications, and TBWAVancouver spot for the Vancouver International Film Festival, “Sexuality.”
All of the winners can be seen here and a gallery of Bessies Gold winners is included with the June 21 issue of Marketing, on streets June 14.
Veteran commercial director Derek Vanlint, whose created spots for brands like IKEA, Ford, Kellogg’s, Bell Canada, Renault, Pepsi and Panasonic, was awarded the Spiess Award for furthering the excellence of TV advertising in Canada over the course of his career.
The Bob Mann Post Production Award, given to those with a long-standing dedication and continuing contribution to their craft, and the overall excellence of commercial post-production, was awarded to editor Michelle Czukar.
