WINNER
Britain Get Talking
by Uncommon Creative Studio, for ITV
ITV brought in Uncommon Creative for its mental health campaign, ‘Britain Get Talking’ which aimed to encourage people to talk about their mental health openly and with each other.
The work centred on a print campaign, which ran in the national newspapers, and played on the idea of a TV listing. In the advertisements, running across national newspapers and supplements, parts of a listing are ripped out, but instead
of information about television shows, more ‘significant’ copy is highlighted – stories about family members and friends speaking up about how they’re feeling.
The topics range from the relatively light- hearted to the more serious, tackling everything from teenage-parent relationships to workplace drama. A 7:30 show is entitled ‘Someone Nicked My Sarnie From The Staff Fridge’ with the description: “One father’s epic tale of workplace- based crime grips family for at least three and a half minutes”.
Each of the pages finishes with the line: “Tune back into the story in your living room.”
“To get people talking again, we had to be disruptive,” the studio says.
The judges said: “An amazing, original, and powerful piece, with a fantastic tone of voice and clever execution idea by way of TV listing. This is something fresh and innovative, I've not seen a campaign like this before.”
Everything’s Better on the Beach
by Uncommon Creative Studio, for On The Beach
For beach holiday retailers On the Beach, Uncommon Creative created a print campaign which spoke to the “power of that restful feeling” that only beaches can bring.
Unlike the usual holiday campaigns, the posters told stories of disaster, highlighting the “worst week” of people’s lives and showing the restorative effects of a beach holiday. After listing a series of disastrous events – putting a winning lottery ticket in the wash, for example – it ends with an image of a sleeping person, content that they’re on their “perfect holiday”. The writing for the campaign’s films was brought to life by the voice of rock star Iggy Pop.
WRITING
FOR DESIGN
The Chase Christmas Card 2019
by The Chase
Design studio The Chase has two offices in the UK; London and Manchester. For its 2019 Christmas card, it wanted to celebrate both locations while playing on festive topics through wordplay. ‘Reindeer’ was divided into ‘Rain’ (a reference to Manchester’s reputation as the rainiest city in the UK) and ‘Dear’ (a comment on London’s extortionate house prices). The wordplay extends to festive food; Mince pies has been split into ‘Mint’ (Mancunian slang for something that is well-liked) and ‘Spies’ (London is home to MI5’s headquarters at Thames House).
Hope is Power
by Uncommon Creative Studio, for The Guardian
In 2019, the Guardian reached a milestone in its financial strategy: it broke even. The paper, which has no paywall and therefore relies on financial donations, aims to double its supporter base to two million by 2022.
Uncommon Creative set out a campaign based around the idea of hope, inspired by editor-in-chief Kath Viner’s statement that the Guardian’s role is to “use clarity and imagination to build hope”.
The ‘Hope is Power’ campaign features butterfly visuals with appropriately optimistic writing. One post reads: “Change is possible. Hope is power.”
Other writing plays on the murkier trends within modern journalism: “Confused? Overwhelmed? Misled? That’s how they want you.”
Research
by Tom Sharp, for British Library
Outside the British Library in London, there’s a signage space in the main lobby. In the summer, between exhibitions, it’s available to greet visitors. For the second year in a row, the library commissioned Tom Sharp to fill the space. He maintained a “colourful typographical style” with this year’s banner. He also set himself a challenge, to create something “warm” out of one of the “coldest, most academic aspects” of the library’s mission: research. Sharp focused on the shareable nature of the design, hoping that visitors would take photographs and share them online. The copy plays with the idea of what research is, from “working with a friend on the science of lichen” to “scrolling through Twitter”. There’s even a joke about cats and a nod to French singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
Unforgettable stories
by Andy Rigden (with Rose Design), for English National Opera
Andy Rigden and Rose Design collaborated on a project for English National Opera, which sought to “make opera more accessible”.
To achieve this – and work against the idea that opera is elitist – a “succinct and emotive” poster campaign was designed, based around the season’s productions.
For the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, the poster asks: “How far would you go to rescue the one you love?” For the love story Carmen, the plot is evocatively summed up in the line: “She creates a hunger in men. But it will consume her.”
