John Withers (Art Director) and Theo Egbers (Copywriter) of The Jupiter Drawing Room have been selected by members of the Creative Circle as the recipients of the annual Street Pole Ads Cannes Award.

Their winning Ugly Betty campaign, submitted on behalf of Musica, secures them an all-expenses-paid trip to Cannes in June this year.

Presented annually by the ADreach Group, the Award recognises creative excellence and appropriate application of creative to Street Pole Ads as a unique outdoor medium. The 2009 competition received a record number of more than 300 entries, as South Africa’s top creatives vied for the coveted trip for two people to attend the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Withers and Egbers’ winning campaign was developed specifically for Street Pole Ads which, according to Egbers, is a medium that Musica has used quite effectively in the past. He elaborates: “Musica specialises in selling a wide range of CDs and DVDs. One of the hottest shows currently on our screens is Ugly Betty - a show about a less than pretty looking (and somewhat “unpolished”) woman in a world meant for beautiful people. The Ugly Betty Street Pole Ads execution advertises season 2, which is now available at Musica. We are able to specifically use the Street Pole Ads medium to highlight the shows humorous premise - the lead character’s looks - by hiding her from the public in two ways – behind the pole and by turning the cover of the DVD around, with fewer words for a bigger impact. It’s a clear and simple illustration of the show, which our creative directors (James Cloete and Jonathan Deeb) can now watch on the 42” Plasma TV which they will have to fight over!”

In addition to their trip to Cannes and a 42” Television for the winning creative director, this creative team have also secured R 100,000 free Street Pole Ads advertising for their Client, Musica.

Placed 2nd for its Kalahari.net campaign was Joe Public’s creative team (Copywriting: Clint Bechus & Antoinette Fourie; Art Direction: Simon Kelling & Fu’aad Kasu; Creative Director: Pepe Marais).

A special mention went to MGM Brand Construction & Advertising (Art Director: Jessica Marx, Copywriter: Conan Green, Creative Director: Tessa Weakley) for its campaign submitted on behalf of Supa Quick. Judges enjoyed the fact that this campaign capitalises on the captive commuting audience - people will look up and notice the creative, relating to the product benefit while in street context.

The top three campaigns (Musica, Kalahari.net and Supa Quick) will all be entered into the outdoor advertising category at Cannes.

The remaining finalists making up the top ten campaigns in the 2009 Street Pole Ads Cannes Award, in no particular order, are:

Agency: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris
Creative Team: Graeme Van Jaarsveld (AD) and Eva Murphy (CW)
Client: Unisa

Agency: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris
Creative Team: Charl Diener (CW)
Creative Director: Clive Litchfield
Client: Reach For a Dream

Agency: Morrisjones
Creative Team: Bernie Da Silva (AD) and Michelle Kreuiter (CW)
Client: Durex

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town
Creative Team: Freddie Isaacs (AD) and Giran Adams (CW)
Creative Director: Anton Crone
Account Director: Chris Vella
Client: VWS

Agency: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris
Creative Team: Michael Muller (AD) and Kamogelo Sesing (CW)
Client: Vega

Agency: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris
Creative Team: Natalie le Roux (AD) and Tracey Milne (CW)
Creative Director: Justin Wright
Client: Alzheimer’s South Africa

Agency: DDB
Creative Team: Greig Watt (AD) and Kenneth van Reenen (CW)
Creative Director: Julie Maunder
Executive Creative Director: Gareth Lessing
Special Mention: Glenn Jeffrey
Client: Mica

The ten finalists will all be featured in the March issue of Advantage Magazine.