This Monday, our client Commercial Closet Association held their fourth annual Images in Advertising Awards. The event was attended by a theatre full of advertising and marketing professionals from nominated companies and advertising agencies.
Levi’s was the night’s big winner, taking home the award for “Outstanding Commercial.” Ben blogged about this commercial when it was first released but as a refresher – ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty produced the spot with two separate endings. The ad depicts a young male pulling on a pair of Levi’s jeans as the street below him comes crashing through his floor, leaving him face-to-face with an attractive stranger in a nearby telephone booth. In one version of the ad, the stranger in the phone booth is a woman; in a second version, the stranger is a man. In both versions, the two individuals smile flirtatiously at each other, then walk off into city side by side.
I’m very pleased with the winner this year – not only was the ad creative and visual, but Levi’s took risks. Robert Cameron, VP of Marketing at Levi’s, accepted the award and explained that while at first the spot was going to be used for gay broadcast outlets, Levi’s quickly broadened their ad buy to include national cable channels like Bravo.
Here’s the winning ad:
A personal and crowd favorite came from political action committee Garden State Equality and their two ad agencies (Kaplan Thaler and Blue Jersey) who took home the Outstanding Nonprofit Campaign award. Garden State Equality (LINK) released two spots that advocated for equal rights for New Jersey gay citizens.
The ‘Think Equal’ commercial mirrored the PC vs. Mac ads by having one woman represent “marriage” and a second represent a “civil union.” They are both equal until the “civil union” shares her frustration about not being allowed into a hospital when her partner was admitted.
The second ad, ‘Busy Family,’ shows a gay family eating dinner while President Bush described the American family. When Garden State Equality accepted the award, the winner noted that it was indeed him and his family in the spot.
Other highlights from the night included Frank DeCaro from Sirius OutQ Radio (pictured in this post with Executive Director of Commercial Closet Association Mike Wilke) who hosted the evening. Some media in attendance commented on DeCaro’s comical emcee skills including Ken Wheaton at Advertising Age who mentioned DeCaro’s admiration of the amount of chocolate consumed in Switzerland (winner of Outstanding Travel Campaign) in his event review and Hannah Wareham at The Advocate who included his jokes about being a "beige volkswagen."
While I was disappointed that I didn’t receive a new pair of Levi’s jeans in the gift bag, a wide variety of the nominated companies took advantage of the opportunity to get in front of the gay advertising community. The Philadelphia Tourism bag including a backpack from Showtime, sleeping mask from sponsor Tylenol PM, Hugo Boss cologne, L’Oreal Vive Pro for men, and a CD from jazz singer Marcus Goldhaber that is currently playing on my computer.
Be sure to look for features about the event on here! TV news and in the New York Blade in coming weeks.
*Photos by Brian M. Westbrook / photos.brianwestbrook.net
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