- Creative Circle
-
The Creative Circle (also known as The Advertising Creative Circle and The Advertising Creative Circle of Great Britain) is an educational awards body dedicated to creativity in British advertising, and the oldest advertising and marketing awards body in Europe.[1] Their mission is to help promote creative excellence in advertising, while sharing knowledge and experience through educational programs and supporting young creative people.[2] The annual Creative Circle awards are highly regarded, and judged by the British advertising creative community themselves. Their main offices are in Fitzrovia, London.
Contents
Origins
After many months of preliminary discussions,[3] the Advertising Creative Circle of Great Britain was founded on 8 October 1945,[1] at a luncheon at The Trocadero Hotel, London.[1] The concept can be traced back to two forward-thinking ad men, H.F. Crowther (Director of Advertising Agency Rumble, Crowther & Nicholas) and G.R. Pope (Advertising Manager of The Times).[1]
At the time, Crowther and Pope felt there was no other advertising organisation concerned exclusively with the craft of visualising, writing and designing advertising,[4] and so decided to create an Advertising Creative Circle that could "not only provide a forum for such creative men, but [also] contribute to raising the status of advertising as a profession".[4]
Founding Principles
- To provide opportunities for interchange of ideas between those engaged in creative work in advertising.
- To encourage the good and, by united action, discourage the bad in contemporary copy and illustration, and so raise the general status of advertising.
- To create a wider knowledge and appreciation of the work of creative men in advertising.
- To foster pride among creative men in their crafts.[1]
The First Council
Title Name Position; Company President Mr. G. O. Nickalls[1] Director; Alfred Pemberton, Ltd Vice-President Mr H. F. Crowther[1] Director; Rumble, Crowther & Nicholas Ltd Hon. Secretary Mr Ernest Briggs[1] Director; London Press Exchange Ltd Hon. Treasurer Mr S. J. G. Chipperfield[1] Masius and Fergusson Ltd Council Member Mr G. Butler[1] Art Director; J. Walter Thompson Co. Ltd Council Member Mr G. H. Saxon Mills[1] Director; W. S. Crawford Ltd Council Member Mr G. J. Redgrove[1] Director; C. Vernon and Sons Ltd Council Member Mr G. Worledge[1] S. H. Benson Ltd This first council was responsible for determining subscriptions, membership control, copy vigilance, press relations and a programme of art exhibitions, publications and functions.[1] In addition, they were tasked with selecting 10 more honorary members and a further 50 ordinary members, to be made up of noteworthy people wholly engaged in creative work - copywriters, copy chiefs, artists, art directors, layout men, visualisers and more.[1]
Within its press relations functions, the Creative Circle hoped not only to keep the press informed about advertising matters generally, but also "take up the cudgels" whenever it was publicly attacked.[1]
List of Presidents
Term of Presidency Name 1945-46 G. O. "Gully" Nickalls 1946-47 H. F. Crowther 1947-48 George Worlege[5] 1948-49 Ernest J. Briggs 1949-50 C. D. Notley 1950-51 Harry Jones 1951-52 Philip Boydell 1952-53 Clifford Bloxham 1953-54 W. T. Stevens 1954-55 Ashley Havinden 1955-56 George Plante 1956-57 Jack Beddington 1957-58 Lindley Abbatt 1958-59 Philip Stobo 1960-61 Jean Currie 1961-62 Alan Kirby 1962-63 Norman Berry 1963-64 Peter Ryan 1964-66 Ronnie Kirkwood 1966-68 Brian Palmer 1968-69 Paul Best 1969-70 David Bernstein 1970-72 Maurice Smelt 1972-74 Dennis McDonald 1974-75 Dennis Auton 1975-76 Mike Isaacson 1976-78 Maurice Drake 1978-79 Reg Starkey 1979-81 Len Sugarman 1981-83 Len Weinreich 1983-85 Records Missing 1985-87 Don White 1987-89 Nick Da Costa 1989-92 Malcolm Gaskin 1992-94 Tim Mellors 1994-95 Nick Welch 1995-97 Dave Waters 1997-99 Chris O'Shea 1999-01 Dave Buonaguidi 2001-04 Mike McKenna 2004-07 Al Young 2007-09 Mark Denton 2009-11 Trevor Beattie 2011- Ed Morris [2] Honours (Awards)
The Creative Circle has awarded the very best of British advertising creativity since 1986.[6] There are several levels of awards presented on the Honours Evening. From commendations, through to Bronze, Silver, and Gold, and ultimately, to the Platinum award for the single best piece of work that year. The President also presents a personal award to the person or organisation that has had the greatest impact on advertising that year.
List of President's Award Winners
Year Winner 1986 --- 1987 Watford College (College)[7] 1988 Central Office of Information (Client)[8] 1989 Tony Cox (Creative)[9] 1990 Tony Kaye (Director)[10] 1991 Tim Delaney (Creative)[11] 1992 Roger Woodburn (Director)[12] 1993 Barbara Nokes (creative)[13] 1994 Chris Palmer and Mark Denton (Creatives)[14] 1995 --- 1996 Tom Carty and Walter Campbell (Creatives)[15] 1997 Paul Weinburger (Creative)[16] 1998 Richard Flintham and Andy Mcleod (Creatives)[17] 1999 The men and women of the Creative Services Departments[18] 2000 Paddy Easton and The Computer Film Company (Production Company)[19] 2001 Dave Waters (Creative)[20] 2002 Roger Kennedy (Typographer)[21] 2003 Paul Silburn (Creative)[22] 2004 Steve Henry (Creative)[3] 2005 Daniel Kleinman (Director)[23] 2006 --- 2007 Ed Morris (Creative)[24] 2008 Juan Cabral (Creative)[25] 2009 No Award Given[26] 2010 Malcolm Gaskin (Creative)[27] 2011 Graham Fink (Creative)[4] List of Platinum Award Winners
Established in 1989 as 'The Big One',[9] the Creative Circle Platinum Award is given to the single best advertising creative idea of the year (the only exception being 2008, when it was felt advertising agency Fallon deserved the award, having produced both the Cadbury Gorilla commercial and the Skoda Fabia Cake commercial in the same year [5]).
Year Winning Work Client Agency 1989 Relax[9] British Rail Saatchi & Saatchi 1990 Into the Valley/Israelites[10] Maxell Hutchins Film Company / Howell Henry Chaldecott Lury 1991 Club/Bar[11] Red Rock Cider GGT 1992 Shoes In Action[12] Reebok Lowe Howard Spink 1993 Reg on...[13] Regal, Imperial Tobacco Lowe Howard Spink 1994 Unexpected[14] Dunlop AMV BBDO / Tony Kaye Films 1995 --- --- --- 1996 Twister[15] Volvo AMV BBDO 1997 St George[6] Blackcurrant Tango HHCL & Partners 1998 Hiccups/Dentist/Chair/Guard/Tennis/Lamppost[16] Volkswagen UK BMP DDB 1999 --- --- --- 2000 --- --- --- 2001 Bear[19] John West Salmon Leo Burnett 2002 Sofa[20] Reebok Lowe 2003 Ball Skills/Mum/Diving/Babies/Monsters [7] John Smiths TBWA\London 2004 Cog[8] Honda Partizan / Wieden + Kennedy 2005 Grrr[9] Honda Wieden + Kennedy 2006 Balls[10] Sony Fallon 2007 No Award Given [11] N/A N/A 2008 Fallon[24] Fallon Fallon 2009 Wallace & Gromit[25] Harvey Nichols DDB 2010 Knife Crime[26] Metropolitan Police AMV BBDO 2011 Straight/Catch [12] Magners Red Brick Road Advertising Hall of Heroes
Established in 2007, The Creative Circle's Hall of Heroes celebrates the most influential people and businesses in the UK's Creative Communications Industry.
Year Winner 2007 Paul Arden[24] 2008 David Abbott[25] 2009 Dave Trott[26] 2010 Cadbury[27] 2011 Campaign Magazine[13] Role Reversal Seminar
The Creative Circle Role Reversal Seminar was created in 1968[28] by Sam Rothenstein - a copywriter who believed that creative standards don’t just depend on advertising agencies but on clients too.[28]
The concept of the course is simple: one of the best ways to understand someone is to put yourself in their shoes.[29] So, a group of middleweight marketers take on the role of an advertising agency creative department. While agency Creative Directors take on the role of the clients.[30]
The marketers are grouped into "Agency" teams and made to pitch against each other for a piece of business (as happens in the real world).[28] The "Agencies" are given a creative brief from a fictional client simultaneously. They then have just 72 hours to conceive and produce a pitch-winning idea. This includes deciding upon a strategy and slogan, then creating and designing ad executions, across all media - they're even expected to film, edit, and present a television commercial in that time.[31]
Each "Agency" is assisted by a real Creative Director, to keep them on track, and an Art Director (known as a "Tutor" or a "Wrist") to help them turn their ideas into visuals and storyboards. A film crew and production team are also on hand to help with the filming and editing of the commercial.[28]
After the 72 hours are up, the "Agency" teams pitch their ideas to the fictional clients - a consortium of real Creative Directors - who then select a winner.[31]
The course is designed to give marketers the opportunity to see things from the point of view of their agency - learning through doing - which often gives them a completely new perspective on that relationship.[28] It's also renowned throughout the industry for incredibly late nights and much drunken bonding, giving clients and agencies an insight into each others' worlds.[32] It's even been known to influence real-world client/agency relationships, with one story speculating that many years ago, Guinness switched its multi-million pound advertising account to J. Walter Thompson as a result of one such seminar.[30]
The Role Reversal Seminar ran unbroken for precisely 40 years, always taking place in one of the UK's top universities - including Cambridge and St Andrew's[33] - before settling for the last 20 years at Trinity College, Oxford. Over those 40 years, the course attracted thousands of marketers, but was closed in 2008 due to financial constraints.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Advertiser's Weekly, "Advertising Creative Circle Will Raise Status of Profession", 18 October 1945
- ^ [1] About Us
- ^ World's Press News, "Advertising Creative Circle Formed to Foster Pride in the Craft", 18 October 1945
- ^ a b The Newspaper World, "ADVERTISING REVIEW: Formation of an Advertising Creative Circle", 20 October 1945
- ^ Advertiser's Weekly, "Wortledge Creative Circle President", 16 October 1947
- ^ The Annual of the Advertising Creative Circle, The Advertising Creative Circle, 1986
- ^ The Second Annual of the Advertising Creative Circle, The Advertising Creative Circle, 1987
- ^ The Third Annual of the Advertising Creative Circle, The Advertising Creative Circle, 1988
- ^ a b c The Fourth Annual of the Advertising Creative Circle, The Advertising Creative Circle, 1989
- ^ a b The Fifth Annual of the Advertising Creative Circle, Trigon Press, 1990. ISBN 0 904929 26 4
- ^ a b The Sixth Awards Annual of the Advertising Creative Circle, Trigon Press, 1991. ISBN 0 904929 29 9
- ^ a b The 7th Creative Circle Annual, Trigon Press, 1992. ISBN 0 904929 36 1
- ^ a b Volume 8 of the Creative Circle Honours, Trigon Press, 1993. ISBN 0 904929 38 8
- ^ a b Volume 9 of the Creative Circle Honours, Trigon Press, 1994. ISBN 0 904929 44 2
- ^ a b Campaign Magazine, "Twister dominates awards", 8 March 1996
- ^ a b Volume 13 of the Creative Circle Honours, Trigon Press, 1992. ISBN 0 904929 53 1
- ^ The 1998 Creative Circle Honours, Trigon Press, 1992. ISBN 0 904929 54 X
- ^ The Creative Circle Honours 1999, The Advertising Creative Circle, 2000
- ^ a b The Creative Circle Honours 2000, The Advertising Creative Circle, 2001
- ^ a b The Creative Circle Honours 2001, The Advertising Creative Circle, 2002
- ^ The Creative Circle Honours Winners 2002, The Advertising Creative Circle, 2003
- ^ The Creative Circle Honours 2003, The Advertising Creative Circle, 2004
- ^ The Creative Circle Honours 2005, The Advertising Creative Circle, 2006
- ^ a b c Creative Circle Annual 2007, The Creative Circle Ltd, 2007. ISBN 978 0 9557983 0 6
- ^ a b c The Bumper Book Of British Advertising - Creative Circle Annual 2008, The Creative Circle Ltd, 2008. ISBN 978 0 9557983 1 3
- ^ a b c Adland - Creative Circle Annual 2009, The Creative Circle Ltd, 2010. ISBN 978 0 9557983 2 0
- ^ a b Nautical But Nice - Creative Circle Annual 2010, The Creative Circle Ltd, 2011
- ^ a b c d e Marketing Magazine, "Trading places: clients and creatives don’t always see eye to eye", 15 October 1998
- ^ A blob of ink or a fish juggling cantaloupes?, Creative Circle, 11 September 2008
- ^ a b The Financial Times, "Brain Storming in Oxford", 17 September 1981
- ^ a b Brand Strategy (Newspaper), "Trading places teaches clients a lesson", 01 October 2000
- ^ Marketing Week, "How a Circle got its roles in a twist", 12 September 1980
- ^ Creative Review, "The Client is Always Right", Autumn 1980
External links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
