16th April 2010
The winners of the annual Institute of Creative Advertising and Design (ICAD) Awards were announced last night at an awards ceremony in the Liberty Hall Theatre in Dublin. The oldest creative organisation of its kind in Europe, ICAD presented a total of 55 awards across six main categories including radio, TV, print, digital, integrated and an overall design category.
The ICAD awards, known as ‘Bells’, are renowned as the penultimate honour to be bestowed for outstanding creativity in advertising and design in Ireland. 93 creative pieces were shortlisted out of 500 entries. 3 Gold, 11 Silver and 41 Bronze Bells were awarded on the night in front of an audience 300 members and guests. A full list of award winners can be downloaded here.
The awards also offer a unique insight into the state of the advertising industry as they act as a barometer for how the industry is evolving as media changes. There was a slight drop in overall entries but a doubling of entries for radio advertising showing the medium continues to thrive in difficult industry conditions. Furthermore Digital and Integrated campaigns had their own dedicated juries for the first time.
“With so many different advertising media now competing for the public’s attention imaginative creativity has become even more important. The level of inventiveness we have seen this year has never been higher,” said ICAD president David Joyce.
Some of the highlights from the 55 bells awarded included:
- A gold award for Bloom in the Ambient Media category for their Irish Tatler Cover Girl creative.
- Atelier David Smith won two gold awards in the design category for the design of Firestation Artists Studio’s Workshops and Master Classes Ten Year Retrospective and the Glen Park Project poster design
- Publicis QMP won 8 awards, the highest number of bells overall
- The information graphics / signage for Fr Collins Park by Detail. Design Studio won a bronze award, highlighting the importance of good graphic design in public spaces
- The Bulmers Pear TV Campaign won awards both for the creative by Young Euro RSCG and also for performance (Russell Curran Productions)
- Irish International BBDO won 2 silver awards for their work for Guinness, 1 for Guinness Hurling The Rise outdoor poster and the other for the Guinness Fridge Magnet TV ad
The jury members for the awards included a number of international judges of note including:
- Dave Birss, Digital Creative Head, OgilvyOne London
- Stephanie Green of Rocket.ie, director of the Academy Award nominated short film “New Boy” in 2009
- Paul Belford, founding partner at This is Real Art
A range of work, including the winning entries, will be published in the annual ICAD book and exhibited to the public later in the year in Dublin then Cork and Belfast. All ICAD award winners since 2003 are archived on the ICAD website www.icad.ie.
“This body of work represents the high quality of creative design produced in Ireland and so the exhibition is an important event not only for ICAD members but also to the general public. It’s an excellent opportunity for those familiar with the campaigns to appreciate the work for the art it is,” added Joyce.
Pictured left to right: ICAD board members Elaine McDevitt, Chris Gore, David Joyce, Carol Soutar, Iain Slater, Dara Ní Bheacáin and Eoghan Ryan.
