BBC, Scottish Government, Greenpeace, Irn-Bru, Huawei: The Drum Roses Awards 2020 winners

Taking home the coveted Grand Prix was BBC One and BBC Creative for ‘Clearing The Air‘, heralding the return of Alan Partridge. Meanwhile, The Leith Agency and the Scottish Government snapped up the Chair‘s Award for ‘Drive like Gran‘s in the Car‘.

Other gold winners this year included Aardman and Greenpeace for Illustration/Animation and TBWA\MCR for David Lloyd Clubs‘ ‘Wimbledon Over Too Soon‘.

Meanwhile, Irn-Bru, Almond Board of California, Huawei, Shelter Cymru, Volkswagen, Tarmac Blue Circle, Avantex, John Angerson, Ecclesiastical, Joseph Holt, Pizza Hut, Parlophone, Roche, St Basil‘s, Opening Up Cricket, The Trussell Trust, and Greggs, were also among this year's victors.

Check out some of the winners below:

Grand Prix/Copywriting/Low Budget/Most Creative Use of Media

Campaign: Clearing The Air

Agency: BBC Creative

Client: BBC One

With zero spend available, BBC Creative had to be clever about how they would announce Alan Partridge’s return to the broadcaster.

On February 25 2019, more than 20,000 BBC staff received an email from their new colleague, ahead of his return to the Beeb after almost a quarter of a century away.

The email cleverly captures the tone of the man himself, laced with his typical passive aggressiveness and egotistical personality. The message was sent to employees on the morning of the show’s first episode and quickly spread beyond, creating loads of chatter ahead of Partridge’s debut that evening.

Juror's thoughts: “This was a superbly written, funny, great use of media and was full of brilliant touches that we all wish we'd done. Its clever use of the staff to create a huge amount of buzz – knowing that the audience would share it, was brilliantly executed and great use of free media.“

Chair’s Award/TV-Cinema Campaign/Radio Campaign

Campaign: Drive like Gran's in the car

Agency: The Leith Agency

Client: The Scottish Government

12 months before this campaign launched, over 2,000 men between 20 and 29 were involved in collisions, with 314 killed or seriously injured on Scottish roads.

The campaign was developed following research that saw young drivers change their driving behaviours depending on who is in the car with them. And from those who were questioned who is ‘precious cargo’, the answer was their gran.

‘Drive like Gran's in the car‘, features a series of humorous ads in which grannies talk to their grand sons about unsafe driving including scenarios about mobile phone usage, passenger distraction and driving too fast.

This year's chair of the jury, Emma De La Fosse, chief creative officer at Digitas UK discusses her reasons for choosing the campaign in the interview below:

Radio Commercial

Campaign: Wimbledon: Over Too Soon

Agency: TBWA\MCR

Client: David Lloyd Clubs

Wimbledon, the biggest tennis competition on the calandar and it gets people excited take out the old raquet and give it a swing – until it’s all over.

British multinational sports, health and leisure business, David Lloyd Clubs wanted to remind tennis fans that they can still enjoy the exhilaration of Wimbledon on their 943 tennis courts, whenever they liked. Using tennis grunts and allowing listeners’ minds to wander, TBWA\MCR created a radio ad that put David Lloyd front of mind as the place to play 365 days of the year.

Juror's thought's: “A simple idea with a cheeky execution, we thought that this would have great cut through on radio.“

Ashika Chauhan, digital creative director, Krow Group

Identity Design

Campaign: Remembering D-Day at Bletchley Park

Agency: Rose

Client: Bletchley Park

During World War Two, Bletchley Park was the top-secret home the British code breaking effort and the birthplace of modern information technology.

Rose was asked to create an iconic identity for Bletchley Park’s new immersive D-Day exhibition, commemorating the vital work the code breakers did.

Juror's thoughts: “The D Day design work for Bletchley Park had it all for us. Simple, smart, relevant, perfect. The ticker tape, the folded, hole-punched typography, the consistency of execution across multiple mediums and materials. A real stand out piece of work.“

Raymond Swan, creative director, Rothco

Illustration/Animation

Campaign: Turtle Journey

Agency: Aardman

Client: Greenpeace

From the animation studios of Wallace and Gromit, ’Turtle Journey’ tells the heart-wrenching tale of a family heading home under extreme pressures. In this case, a family of turtles who must make their way through an ocean entrapped by climate change, plastic pollution, oil drilling and overfishing.

With the mixture of CGI and stop-frame animation, Aardman uses storytelling, humour and creativity to communicate Greenpeace’s urgent message with the voice talents of Olivia Colman, Dame Helen Mirren, Bella Ramsey, David Harbour, Jim Carter and Ahir Shah.

Juror's thoughts: "Who knew the tears of a plasticine turtle could invoke and incite so much? A sumptuously submersive visual feast, all the usual deft touches of Aardman’s stop-motion wizardry, coupled with a visceral gut-punch of a payoff. Worthy winner for a worthy cause."

Tom Bedwell, managing director, Above and Beyond

For a full rundown of the winners, visit The Drum Roses Awards website.