The Communications Agency has won the CBS Outdoor ‘Underground Writer’ competition.
The competition challenged agency creatives to design and communicate an engaging story on London Underground’s Tube Car Panels (TCPs). The entries were based on a current client brief, with the prize of a London-wide TCP campaign showcasing the winning creative and a holiday for two for the creative team. Alan Curson and Shaun Patchett at The Communications Agency submitted an entry on behalf of their client, The Prostate Cancer Research Foundation. The winning entry was picked from over 200 others from some of the best and well known industry creatives.
Tube Car Panels, the advertising sites inside the carriages, offer 13 minutes of exposure to the adverts per journey and the chance to have a one-on-one dialogue with a predominately affluent audience. The long dwell time spent with this format and welcome distraction it provides offers an excellent opportunity to present detailed and personal messages, telling a brand story in a way few other media channels can.
The winning Tube Car Panel ad is an extension of the recent TV campaign where Bob Monkhouse addresses a male audience from the grave about his illness, wishing he had done something about it before it was too late and advising them to go to the doctors if they experience symptoms. The ad relays this serious message in a very entertaining way, utilising the Underground’s unique ability to capture the attention and engage commuters on the move.
A total of 212 campaigns were reviewed by a panel of five judges, including Nik Studinski, Creative Director of Mother, Malcolm Gaskin, representative of Creative Circle, Ian Darby, Media Editor of Campaign, CBS Outdoor Marketing Director, Carol Wolrich and National Sales Director, Peter Charlton. The winner was announced last night at La Galleria in Pall Mall from a shortlist of forty campaigns, all of which can be viewed at www.underground-writer.com from today.
The winning campaign impressed all five judges unanimously - no mean feat when submissions include campaigns from Saatchi and Saatchi for Head and Shoulders, Lowe London for John Lewis, BBH for Audi, Grey for Goldfish credit car, Ogilvy for DHL amongst many other top brands and advertising agencies.
Carol Wolrich, Marketing Director at CBS Outdoor added, “Tube Cards are a great place to have a one to one conversation with people. People enjoy reading them, finding them a welcome distraction from their journey and from having to look at other commuters! The aim of the competition was to encourage creatives to make the most of this relationship using Tube Cards to tell a story about their brand.”
This follows on from the “Copywriting Goes Underground” competition, launched in 2005 to highlight the 3 minute dwell time of cross-track formats.