The campaign, dubbed “The Geekiest Promo in the Universe”, challenges listeners to translate offers spoken in Klingon (Star Trek), Elvish (the works of J.R.R. Tolkien) or Dothraki (Game of Thrones) to save $100 when they signed up to Internode.
Written by Pat Lennox, Ben Green, Guy Howlett and Neil Martin of Marketforce, it claimed the overall and campaign categories, while the ad, “Klingon”, from the same campaign, picked up the single category. The remaining “Elvish” and “Dothraki” ads were highly commended.
The winning writers said: “We admire the passion of geekdom. It takes a lot of dedication to learn a fictional language and we think people should be rewarded for it.” Round three judge, Mike Edmonds from Meerkats, said: “This is a smart, original, single-minded, campaignable idea… it sounds like someone smart is behind these ads and that there must be some ingenious Klingon wisdom being dispensed or some hilarious Elvish in-jokes going over my head.”
Clemenger BBDO’s Julian Schreiber, who also judged the campaign, added: “It’s great to see a campaign that knows its target so well that it actually speaks their language!”
“The Geekiest Promo in the Universe” 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.
The craft category was won by the ad, “Quality”, which was produced for Commercial Radio Australia by sound engineers Ralph Van Dijk (Eardrum) and Colin Simkins (Gusto Music). The “Quality/Loyalty/ Expert/United” campaign for Commercial Radio Australia, from which the ad was derived, was highly commended in the campaign category, along with “Breakage/Dinner/Revision”, also for Commercial Radio Australia by Ralph Van Dijk at Eardrum.
Two further ads were highly commended in the craft category; “Running Scared”, produced for Dreamworld by sound engineer Mike Lange at Cutting Edge, and “Home Business”, produced for APG Serviced Offices by Flagstaff Studios’ Paul Le Couteur.
Chief executive officer, Commercial Radio Australia, Joan Warner said: “The winners of this round have provided a great example of creative, innovative radio advertising that connects with listeners and excites clients.”
Round four of the 2014 Siren Awards is now open. Entries close for round four on 15 November.
Media contact: Melissa Fleming – 0417 499 529 or Robbie Keswick – 0424 951 910
Listen to Round 3 winning ads at www.sirenawards.com.au and find the Siren Awards on Facebook.