The “Metro Notify” campaign written by John Mescall & Pat Baron and produced by Ralph van Dijk at
Eardrum, was the overall winner of the round and also claimed the campaign category. The ad “Boss
Man”, from the same campaign, won the single category, with the other ads from the campaign, “Baby
Giraffe” and “Breakfast TV”, highly commended.
When asked what set this campaign apart, John Mescall said: “Compared to most ads on radio, these
have a reasonably unique tone of voice. Jean Kittson did a great job with the words we gave her. I also
give kudos to the guys at Metro, who don’t have a problem admitting that your train running late is actually
bad news. Honesty can be a rare commodity in advertising.”
Judge, Marty Braine from Brainestorm was full of praise for the campaign: “Nice way to turn a negative into
a positive... and good use of the product in the story. Great talent and use of music.”
The “Metro Notify” campaign is now in the running to win the Gold Siren for best radio ad of the year, which
will be announced in May 2014. Writers of the best radio ad for 2014 win airfares, accommodation, plus
automatic entry and tickets to the Cannes Advertising Lions Festival in June 2014. The client of the Gold
Siren winning ad also wins a trip to Cannes and the festival.
“Boss Man”, from the “Metro Notify” campaign, also won the craft category. This time, the plaudits went to
campaign director, Ralph van Dijk from Eardrum, and Myles Lowe from Song Zu. Both of the other “Notify”
ads were highly commended once again.
Three further series of ads were highly commended in the campaign category; the “Trust/Loyal
Advertiser/Listener/Friendship” campaign for Commercial Radio Australia, again by Eardrum’s Ralph van
Dijk, “Country people don’t like asking for help”, by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s Ben Keenan & Russ
Fox, and kwp! Advertising’s “Ultra Tune: Hyena doing Lamaze, Kookaburra with stutter, Octopus dribbling
basketballs” campaign for Ultra Tune, written by Corey Swaffer.
Chief executive officer, Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner said: “It’s another great win for McCann
Melbourne. The range of innovative ads entered into the Siren Awards, always impress with their
creativity, and demonstrate how effective radio can be for advertisers.”
Round three of the 2014 Siren Awards is now open. Entries close for round three on 13 September.
Media contact: Melissa Fleming – 0417 499 529 or Robbie Keswick – 0424 951 910
Listen to Round 2 winning ads at www.sirenawards.com.au and find the Siren Awards on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/sirenawards