The annual Kancil Awards which took place last Thursday set a record with no less than 27 gold medals awarded. Last year, not a single gold medal was awarded and in 2009, only five golds were given out.

According to Kancil judges, however, the golds were merited as there was a big improvement in the quality of the work submitted.

“If you were in the judging room last year and had seen all the work, and were in the judging room this year and seen all the work, you’d know there was a big difference,” said Jeff Orr, creative council chairman of the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents (4As),  the body which awards the Kancils.

“If we get excellent work in one year, the gold medals proliferate. That’s because a print ad can also be entered as a poster and if that poster is recreated as an outdoor billboard — well, that’s three categories already from the same piece of work. Then it can also be entered for craft, art direction, illustration, photography, typography and things like that. So one piece of work can be entered for multiple awards and if won a gold in one, it is likely to win a gold in the other ones as well,” Orr told The Edge Financial Daily at the event last week in Kuala Lumpur.
There were 11 award categories for this year’s Kancils, the theme of which was “Stop the Ordinary”.

The international panel of judges had representatives from China, India, Singapore and Thailand as well as Malaysia.

Orr added that judges did not relax their standards this year. “They were tough but even in being tough, they managed to give away a few gold awards. The work was good enough.”

Jury chairman Gavin Simpson, who is also group executive creative director of Ogilvy & Mather, agreed that the work this year was a lot better than last year. He said: “This year, there were more golds because a lot of the work was quite good. And hopefully they’ll get recognised overseas. A couple of campaigns have already won awards overseas while a few of them have made their debut at the Kancils. And both local and foreign judges recognised them as good work.”

4As Council president Tony Savarimuthu, who is McCann Erickson CEO, agreed that the standard was a lot higher this year, with some agencies having already won international awards for their work.

One example was Ogilvy and Mather which won nine golds, most of them for its “Quick Draw Wins, Pictionary” campaign for Mattel (M) Sdn Bhd Ogilvy had already won a gold in the Cannes Lions 2011 festival for its Pictionary print ads.

Savarimuthu said he believed the jury had “done a tremendous job in rewarding talent and trying to encourage them to reach for the stars”.
McCann Erickson walked away with 11 golds and snagged the prestigious “Golden Kancil”, the top award for the industry with its “Anytime — Audrey, Freda” campaign for BFM, the business radio station. It was also voted “Agency of the Year”.

Ogilvy and Mather came in a close second to McCann Erickson with its nine golds.

The president of Commercial Radio Malaysia, Datuk Borhanuddin Osman, won this year’s Chairman’s Award.

All in, 49 silvers, 111 bronzes and 113 merit awards were given out to some 27 agencies. The three other agencies which won golds were Naga DDB Malaysia with three, and M&C Saatchi (M) Sdn Bhd and Bates Malaysia with two each.

The 11 main creative Kancil Awards categories were film, print, radio, cyber, outdoor, direct, design, integrated, craft, media and rebel.



This article appeared on the Media & Advertising page, The Edge Financial Daily, Dec 22, 2011.