The campaign, called “Spending too much time with the wife?” is the next stage of Carlton
MID’s Stay a Little Longer campaign, which used humor to remind men about the need to spend time with
their mates and drink beer.
The writers said about the ad: “Worryingly, the inspiration for these ads came from our mates and their
significant others. We’ve seen them talk in sync with each other, finish each others sentences and we can
only assume they sing together in the shower.”
Winner of the single category was an ad for Broo Beer called “Bitter” written by John Skaro, Roger Nance,
Nick Weller and Phil Van Bruchem from agency McCann Melbourne, which promotes an Australian-owned
beer. This ad was also highly commended in the craft category.
Judges, and previous round winners, Andrew Woodhead and Eamonn Dixon from Leo Burnett said about
the winning ads: "Maybe we were just really thirsty while we were judging but we ended up picking four
beer spots. The Carlton Mid-Strength campaign took a very lateral approach to typical mid-strength beer
advertising. Each ad created a humorous visual and one that every bloke wants desperately to avoid. Broo
Bitter got points from us for taking a bold, no-holds-barred stab at one of Australia's favourite beer brands.
Okay it's a parody but it's topical and executed well."
Highly commended in the single category was “Duet” for Fosters, part of the winning campaign category
and also an ad for Volkswagen called “Chocolat”, written by Jon Austin, Rich Robson, Steve Wakelam and
Nick Pringle from agency, DDB Sydney.
Winner of the craft category was an ad for Austar called “The Lost Mummies”, promoting the channel’s
documentaries, produced by sound engineers, Ralph van Dijk from production studio, Eardrum Australia
and Paul Taylor from Sound Reservoir in Sydney. The same ad was part of a campaign, “Lost Mummies,
Time Travel, Elephant Seal”, which was highly commended in the campaign category. The ad “Elephant
Seal” was also highly commended in the craft category. The campaign was written by Benn Sutton and Jed
de Pyper from agency, The Monkeys in Sydney.
Judge, Nick Gallagher from Brainestorm said about the winning craft ad: “'The Lost Mummies' does a
fantastic job of placing the listener at the awards ceremony. You can so clearly imagine the way this would
play out on the screen. Each time I listen to this spot, I can't help but smile at the long drawn out gap as
the announcer waits for the Mummies. Simple but slick!
The national Siren Awards are run by Commercial Radio Australia and are designed to recognise the best
radio advertising in the country.