Wexley School for Girls won Best Of Show at the 2017 American Advertising Awards Seattle (still known as the ADDYs) for the following War Dragons spot.
Ads for adventure-focused video games tend to stay pretty straightforward, which is partially why the dark humor and unexpected twists of this spot work so well. It’s also a nice production achievement. As Ian Cohen of Wexley said when accepting the award, this spot was six months in the making because the blending of two different animation styles proved to be a challenge.
Perhaps this wouldn’t bring home the big prize in larger markets like San Francisco or New York whose agencies flood the market with humorous TV spots, but this one was refreshing to see in a tech-driven market like Seattle, where the weather is wet but the ad work is dry.
Other agencies taking home multiple awards included POSSIBLE, Wunderman, Cole & Weber, and Publicis. Amazon’s in-house D1 Studios made a splash by collecting multiple awards for TV & video spots as well.
Interestingly, no awards were given out for newspaper or magazine advertising. Nor were any awards given out for radio. A sign of the digital-focused times? A lack of focus on the craft of admaking? Judging issues? I find it hard to believe that in the Emerald City, the fundamentals of advertising are forever gone.
