Special Group wins Grand Axis, gets Chuck Porter seal of approval

Spare a thought for the blokes at Special this morning, who – as you read this with your soy macchiato and brush your toast crumbs off your keyboard – are probably nursing the gnarliest hangover of their lives.

The agency came up trumps last night at the Axis Awards, winning the Grand Axis as well as Interactive, Integrated and Titanium. It took out a total of eight golds, all for “Iggy + Orcon = Together Incredible”.

Nobody in the industry begrudges them the success and the Special blokes were popular winners on the night.

CAANZ president David Walden told NBR he was pleased to see the Orcon campaign do well.

“It’s a brave idea, a fantastic idea, and an idea for a real client. And it’s not a scam ad, which we all hate.

“We debated long and hard [over the entries] because I don’t think the Rodney District Council is a real client.” [Saatchi & Saatchi won metal for its “Grenade” campaign for RDC.]

Mr Walden said he believes the winners list overall is fair and good.

“It reflects the year we’ve all had.”

He said it would be interesting to look at agency conversion rates from entries to metal. (While a finalist list is public knowledge, an entry list is typically not released by CAANZ.) The pricey nature of awards means the bigger your budget, the better your chances. Small, independent agencies typically don't get much profile at awards shows.

“You know, DDB has a $250,000 budget for awards, which is two and a half times [what TBWA has].” (UPDATED: DDB disputes Mr Walden's claim, saying its budget is nowhere near that figure.)

The agency’s gone from strength to strength in the two years since it began.

A little known secret is that Special’s been working with advertising legend Chuck Porter in recent times. In a situation that’s eerily reminiscent of ASB’s Goldstein storyline, Chuck Porter heard about Special and came to New Zealand to find out what sort of adverlollies these guys were on.

He hooked them up with a major project that’ll run across the USA.

It’s all part of the agency’s long-term goal of living in New Zealand but working in the world. Special’s also done project work for agencies in Singapore, Scotland and London.

The agency, aside from dominating at Axis, has scored a lineup of clients in recent times, including TSB Bank and V Australia. Work for the latter ran in South Africa, the US, Australia and Fiji.

The Special guys have also just launched their own vodka brand, Mr Vodka, in a partnership with distiller Neat Spirits. Each batch has its own original artwork and the brand has also won a gong at Axis.

Special’s also done its bit for the awards industry landscape. At last year’s Axis Awards, the agency wasn’t allowed to enter its work for the Green Party (“Vote for me”), due to a rule that political ads weren’t eligible.

The agency argued the case – based on Obama’s election campaign winning two top awards at Cannes – and opened up the political ad path for future Axis contenders.

Exactly why the rule against political ads was ever in place is unclear. CAANZ CEO Rick Osborne said it was before his time and other industry minds say it’s in the dim distant past.

Mr Walden said his recollection of the ruling is likewise fuzzy but believes it was probably due to the cyclical nature of the political beast.

“It comes up once every three years and you can’t have a category for a product that only exists every three years.

“And the decision was probably pre-MMP and there were so few brands, that to have a whole section dedicated to it was ludicrous.”

Mr Walden said many overseas awards shows had a similar ruling.

“Someone said the idea of agencies being creative in the political space was somehow not a real test of the idea. And it was so specialized it became a distraction. But to be honest I can’t f***ing remember.”

What’s next? Special has plans to double its size over the next year and has taken over an adjacent office space.

Maybe a few more gongs at this year’s Effies wouldn’t go astray, either.

Special: Paving the way for political ads and avoiding getting run over.