Thursday, May 21, 2009

Listen To Some GREAT Radio (That Just Happens To Be Commercials)

You no doubt saw the PR today:
The finalists for the 2009 Radio Mercury Awards, which recognize and reward bold and effective commercials and campaigns exemplifying good Radio creative were announced today. The winners in the competition awarding a total of $125,000 in prizes will be announced at the annual gala on June 17th in New York City. The winner of this year's Grand Prize will receive a $100,000 award. In addition, two new awards were introduced this year; a $10,000 Integrated Radio Campaign Prize honoring the best use of Radio in an integrated multimedia plan, and the Marketer of the Year Award. The Marketer of the Year finalists, selected by a committee of industry-insiders, are: The Coca-Cola Company, GEICO, The Hershey's Company, McDonald's(R), Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the Barack Obama 2008 Presidential Campaign, chosen for their commitment to Radio as a creative medium.

Now, in a very cool touch, you can listen to some of radio's best spots of 2009 and even email them to a friend by clicking here.


Thank you RAB for doing something great for our medium, which we all - too often - take for granted. Like the press release on the finalists says: "The long-term goal of the Mercury Awards is to reposition Radio advertising as a showcase medium for the creative community," said Rick Boyko. "The winning spots will be smart and entertaining but, most importantly, they will forge an emotional connection with consumers."

4 comments:

Daniel Anstandig said...

These are outstanding! I also love great radio... less when the commercials get doubly!

Jaye Albright said...

Daniel: Thanks for the comment. It sounds like your presentation in DC yesterday was extremely well-received. Congrats on helping our medium cope with the future. My hope is that PPM will help our owners and managers realize the value of each unit of time and weed the garden. -J.

Mark Vanness said...

The "State Fair Of Virginia" spot is simply brilliant! I'm in awe ...That is so far out of the box that it has it's own solar system! Nice...

Steve Burgess said...

These are outstanding...

It's a shame, however, that awards for "Political, Public Service Announcement, Radio Station Produced, and Student Produced" will not be made this year. Apparently the judges felt that only ads that reached a certain level of production values should be considered.

Were they that bad? If we are trying to revitalize radio, giving encouragement to folks who are not part of major agency creative departments is imperative.

The closest thing we have in this batch to a "local" ad is the terrific "State Fair of Virginia" ad. All of the rest seem to be from major advertisers and/or major agencies.