AADC Awards wrap up 2019

You know how sometimes there’s two sides to every story… but six sides to a rubicks cube? And how sometimes there’s a boxing match that goes down to the wire and both boxers think they won and the judges are split and one person wins even though they got the shit kicked out of them? Well last night’s AADC awards were a bit like that and what does AADC stand for again because we can’t remember but one of the A’s probably doesn’t stand for ‘Awards’ because where the fuck did all the awards go?

We’re pretty sure there will be at least three companies claiming victory this morning and we’ll be fucked if we know which one of them is right. What we do know is if you look at the top five award winners (below) we can all play a pretty decent game of ‘one of these things is not like the others’, and don’t worry, we’re confused too.

First, the easy bit. The President’s Award went to Mark Evans who’s been shooting video and film since before they were even invented, having started off at Channel 7 as a cameraman in 1804, or possibly 1972, before creating his own company. If he hasn’t shot it over the years it probably can’t be shot, so was a pretty epic choice. Besides, we would never in a million years question the wisdom of a watering can winner. Again.

The Master’s Chair is an interesting one cause quite often it goes to someone who did something a bit random like make a fish noise on a radio ad or something. This year it went to an actual Art Director who art directed an actual advertising campaign. OK, we’re just being bastards now because crafts people are awesome and help make the magic happen, but it feels like an art director winning it is a bit different to usual and Kent O’Halloran from kwp! should be stoked. But not like a fire. Because… fire!

But it does remind us of the era when all the designers kept winning all the good awards so we changed the rules to fuck them over, and now they can’t even win a craft award partly because they don’t enter anymore because they’re too confused about what ‘AADC’ stands for, and partly because who cares. If anyone suggests we change the ‘C’ in AADC to stand for ‘Craft’ and make more categories for them to enter so the club can make more money and they can win the top award again like every other year, we’re gonna lose. our. shit.

Congrats to Kent though… not just for winning the award, but for not going back to the agency afterwards for a ciggy. At least we’re pretty sure he didn’t because we didn’t hear any fire engines. (Sorry Kent, someone had to say it and it was always going to be us. For those of you who don’t know the story, please ask someone because it is pretty epic. And possibly one of the all time greatest advertising stories ever.)

Then there’s who won the most actual awards and we know that’s the bit you really want to know almost as much as how were the entrées and did anyone punch James Rickard in the face this year like that other time a few years back and actually that’s also a pretty great story.

We’re gonna say the menage a trois (Yes, we know French because we’re sophisticated AF) of agencies who slugged it out for top spot were Showpony, kwp! and Rowdy Group. Although here’s where it gets kind of weird. Rowdy Group won the most awards, 7 in total, with 10 finalists, but Showpony won the Gold Chair, 3 awards and 16 finalists. So more finalists, less awards, but the Gold Chair. Then chuck kwp! into the mix with 11 finalists and the Master’s Chair.

I think we can all agree kwp! lose the Master’s Chair on a count back because it’s a pretend award and we don’t really care if you agree or not. Let’s be honest, it’s a craft award and knitting is also a craft and you see where we’re going with this and it’s like how Barbara Streisand technically qualifies as an EGOT – Emmy, Grammy, Academy Award and Tony – winner, but because the Tony was for ‘Star of the Decade’ and non-competitive, it’s kinda bullshit, right? Which leaves them with a big fat zero in the actual creative actual awards department, but hey, 11 finalists is a pretty sweet haul. An honourable mention must also go to Blacksheep Advertising who weren’t far behind them with eight finalists which is pretty rad as well. But eight is less than 11 last time we looked so no cigar.

Considering only 18 awards were given out all night those bastards were like hen’s teeth again this year, making finalists nothing to sneeze at and the fact we still call them ‘the AADC awards’ increasingly bewildering.

So we’re not sure who Angie Kent picked on the Bachelorette and also who gives a shit, but we’re picking the Rowdy Group as the overall winner for the night. And yes, those guys sure do know how to get rowdy. If there were rules like a seven of spades beats a three of hearts or however card games that aren’t actually ‘Snap!’ or ‘Uno’ work, seven actual proper awards and ten finalists takes the cake we reckon. And then who the fuck cares who came second cause we know that’s just the first loser. But it’s Showpony because two actual awards and 16 finalists definitely trumps kwp!’s 11 finalists.

It’s also nice to see a couple of places that, to be perfectly honest, who are they even, get a shout out on the night. And although we’ve done our absolute best to not saying anything about TBWA/Adelaide or their work for Tourism SA because we’ve been so mean to them this year, good on ‘em for picking up a few gongs and we love them all a lot and welcome to Adelaide and because one of us may actually need a job there one day we think they’re great and they were definitely robbed for not winning the top award for ‘old mate’ even if it wasn’t eligible to be entered this year because that didn’t stop kwp! winning an award for work they did for SATC a few years back that also wasn’t eligible and surely we weren’t the only ones who noticed that and maybe we’re still a bit worked up about the fact everyone just sort of turned a blind eye to that one and, well, nevermind. But what the actual fuck?

Actually, it was a pretty solid night. Unless you were waiting for a photographer to win an award. Or an audio place to win an award. Or a decent meal. Kidding. No one was expecting a decent meal. And what was in that dessert?

Agree? Disagree? Let us know but actually don’t, because we’re not all that interested in what you think.

Download a PDF of the Awards book here.

Full list of winners:

Showpony Advertising Gold Chair 2 Awards, 16 Finalists
KWP! Master’s Chair, 11 Finalists
The Rowdy Group 7 Awards, 10 Finalists
TBWA/Adelaide 3 Award, 3 Finalists
Heesom Casting 2 Awards, 3 Finalists
KOJO 1 Award, 10 Finalists
Simple Integrated Marketing 1 Award, 7 Finalists
Influx Creative 1 Award, 1 Finalist
Scott Illingworth 1 Award, 1 Finalist
Blacksheep Advertising 8 Finalists
Floodlight/Faction Co 6 Finalists
Welbourn O’Brien 4 Finalists
The Audio Embassy 3 Finalists
Fuller Brand Communication 3 Finalists
Culture Crop 3 Finalists
Matin Jafari 2 Finalists
Astrbury Audio 2 Finalists
Klik 1 Finalist
Passel Media 1 Finalist
Richards Rose 1 Finalist