Brief 6 – Hybrid Cars (Dec–Jan 2005/2006)

This month’s challenge, to convince drivers to trade in their gas-guzzlers for environment-friendly hybrid vehicles, was greeted by a spectrum of ideas. The range of entries focused on environmental benefits surrounding the car, to relating the product to a timepiece, while the winners were simply inspired by an existing monument.

The judges this month included industry experts: Dianne Thompson, the CEO of Camelot, Polly Cochrane, the Director of Marketing at Channel 4, Greg Delaney, Chairman and Founder of DLKW, Peter Lewis, outgoing Head of Marketing at the Financial Times, Francis Brindle the new head of marketing at the FT, Tim Ashton, Creative Director of Antidote, Ford Ennals, Chief Executive of Digital UK. They were keen to see work that reflected positively on the car so not to undersell the product.
This month’s winning idea came from our first American winners, creative team Tim Siedell and Yayle Roncka, who were inspired by a landmark in Nebraska-CarHenge, a replica of Stonehenge built with vintage American saloon cars.

The team commented, “…We were hoping to find a simple, powerful, visual solution. Once we had landed on the Carhenge visual, we knew we had a winner. The key then was to get out of the way and keep the idea simple….”

Their proposed poster and television campaign would feature the line “Every idea has its time” alongside the image of the Carhenge monument and would direct people to a website where they could learn more about hybrid vehicles. The judges felt the campaign would have a stronger impact than those entries that focused solely on the worthy environmental credentials of hybrid vehicles and that it would also appeal to drivers who like to make a statement with their car.

Three runners-up who were also highly commended by the judges were: creative team Tudor Brândusoiun and Daria Brândusoiu for their TV idea titled 'It's All About Evolution', Andy Myers and the eCommies for their TV idea 'The Breakup' and creative team Alexey Fedoseev and Nick Penrake for their campaign titled 'Can't Tell The Difference'.

Winner

Tim Siedell and Yayle Roncka

Tim Siedell is creative director/principal at Fusebox in Lincoln, Nebraska USA. He is a 1991 graduate from the University of Nebraska. He is a Lincoln, Nebraska native.

Yayle Roncka is senior art director/principal at Fusebox in Lincoln, Nebraska USA. He is a 1991 graduate from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He is an Omaha, Nebraska native.

“We’re proud to be the first Americans to win a World’s Toughest Brief competition. Nebraska isn’t exactly in the middle of the advertising world. In fact, we’re as far from New York and Los Angeles as you can get at the same time. It’s gratifying to know that our idea was judged based on merit, not on who we are or where we’re located. We’ve been following the FT/OpenAd.net ‘World’s Toughest Briefs” over the last year, but this was the first and only idea we’ve entered so far.”

Runner-up

Tudor Brândusoiu and Daria Brândusoiu

Daria worked in the PR department of Daewoo Automobile for a couple of years, then for five years in the Communication department of Orange Romania. Tudor worked as a graphic designer and art director for Romanian subsidiaries of publishing houses like VNU-Hearst, Gong Verlag, Klambt.

In 2002 they decided the best way to continue is to marry each other and start a small creative studio, named SOHO SUITE. They work together for clients such as Rally Magazine, Bose.

”We believe that commercial campaigns should do more than just convince people to buy this or that, as the budgets and the exposure makes advertising the most powerful communication tool today. That’s why we loved working on the ‘Hybrid cars’ brief and we’re glad to see that the broader message we proposed was chosen as one of the runner-ups. The whole OpenAd system gave us a lot more creative freedom than any other everyday job. We’re sure that having this network of creatives spread all over the world, with so many different backgrounds, is to be preferred and will give far better results than those of a regular agency.”

Runner-up

Andrew Myers and The eCommies

By day, The eCommies (l to r: Howard Schwartz, Craig Lammes, Ricky Munks, Beth Santos, Andrew Myers, Jill MacNeice, Robert Content, Melanie Shintaku, Doug Hamman and, not pictured, Barney Kirby) masquerade as mild-mannered writers and designers for a major U.S. hotel Web site. By night, the eCommies come alive, morphing into ... mild-mannered subversives with relatively normal lives.

“We are honoured to be recognized by the Financial Times and OpenAd.net with its ‘World’s Toughest Brief- Hybrid Cars’ competition, especially coming from a country that consumes 25% of all the world’s oil. We’d just like you all to know some of us are listening. Viva El Hybrid!”

Runner-up

Alexey Fedoseev and Nick Penrake

Alexey and Nick, a freelance team with impeccable credentials, have only recently joined up. Alexey comes from Moscow and Nick comes from London.

“We picked up the brief late and had very little time on it, so it's gratifying to see that we could come up with the goods under tough circumstances. For Alexey coming runner-up in the OpenAd competition was actually a little frustrating - it's his third time in this position! - though he and I were both thrilled to be included in the top four. We enjoyed the brief, too - a first for us working on a car brief that's all about being good to the environment!”

\ WORLD'S TOUGHEST BRIEFS
Introduction Brief 7: Healthy Eating Brief 6: Hybrid Cars Brief 5: Pensions Brief 4: National Lottery Brief 3: Digital TV Brief 2: Switching Banks Brief 1: Make Poverty History Judges Terms of participation	Brief 6 – Hybrid Cars (Dec–Jan 2005/2006) This month’s challenge, to convince drivers to trade in their gas-guzzlers for environment-friendly hybrid vehicles, was greeted by a spectrum of ideas. The range of entries focused on environmental benefits surrounding the car, to relating the product to a timepiece, while the winners were simply inspired by an existing monument. The judges this month included industry experts: Dianne Thompson, the CEO of Camelot, Polly Cochrane, the Director of Marketing at Channel 4, Greg Delaney, Chairman and Founder of DLKW, Peter Lewis, outgoing Head of Marketing at the Financial Times, Francis Brindle the new head of marketing at the FT, Tim Ashton, Creative Director of Antidote, Ford Ennals, Chief Executive of Digital UK. They were keen to see work that reflected positively on the car so not to undersell the product. This month’s winning idea came from our first American winners, creative team Tim Siedell and Yayle Roncka, who were inspired by a landmark in Nebraska-CarHenge, a replica of Stonehenge built with vintage American saloon cars. The team commented, “…We were hoping to find a simple, powerful, visual solution. Once we had landed on the Carhenge visual, we knew we had a winner. The key then was to get out of the way and keep the idea simple….” Their proposed poster and television campaign would feature the line “Every idea has its time” alongside the image of the Carhenge monument and would direct people to a website where they could learn more about hybrid vehicles. The judges felt the campaign would have a stronger impact than those entries that focused solely on the worthy environmental credentials of hybrid vehicles and that it would also appeal to drivers who like to make a statement with their car. Three runners-up who were also highly commended by the judges were: creative team Tudor Brândusoiun and Daria Brândusoiu for their TV idea titled 'It's All About Evolution', Andy Myers and the eCommies for their TV idea 'The Breakup' and creative team Alexey Fedoseev and Nick Penrake for their campaign titled 'Can't Tell The Difference'. Winner Tim Siedell and Yayle Roncka Tim Siedell is creative director/principal at Fusebox in Lincoln, Nebraska USA. He is a 1991 graduate from the University of Nebraska. He is a Lincoln, Nebraska native. Yayle Roncka is senior art director/principal at Fusebox in Lincoln, Nebraska USA. He is a 1991 graduate from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He is an Omaha, Nebraska native. “We’re proud to be the first Americans to win a World’s Toughest Brief competition. Nebraska isn’t exactly in the middle of the advertising world. In fact, we’re as far from New York and Los Angeles as you can get at the same time. It’s gratifying to know that our idea was judged based on merit, not on who we are or where we’re located. We’ve been following the FT/OpenAd.net ‘World’s Toughest Briefs” over the last year, but this was the first and only idea we’ve entered so far.” Runner-up Tudor Brândusoiu and Daria Brândusoiu Daria worked in the PR department of Daewoo Automobile for a couple of years, then for five years in the Communication department of Orange Romania. Tudor worked as a graphic designer and art director for Romanian subsidiaries of publishing houses like VNU-Hearst, Gong Verlag, Klambt. In 2002 they decided the best way to continue is to marry each other and start a small creative studio, named SOHO SUITE. They work together for clients such as Rally Magazine, Bose. ”We believe that commercial campaigns should do more than just convince people to buy this or that, as the budgets and the exposure makes advertising the most powerful communication tool today. That’s why we loved working on the ‘Hybrid cars’ brief and we’re glad to see that the broader message we proposed was chosen as one of the runner-ups. The whole OpenAd system gave us a lot more creative freedom than any other everyday job. We’re sure that having this network of creatives spread all over the world, with so many different backgrounds, is to be preferred and will give far better results than those of a regular agency.” Runner-up Andrew Myers and The eCommies By day, The eCommies (l to r: Howard Schwartz, Craig Lammes, Ricky Munks, Beth Santos, Andrew Myers, Jill MacNeice, Robert Content, Melanie Shintaku, Doug Hamman and, not pictured, Barney Kirby) masquerade as mild-mannered writers and designers for a major U.S. hotel Web site. By night, the eCommies come alive, morphing into ... mild-mannered subversives with relatively normal lives. “We are honoured to be recognized by the Financial Times and OpenAd.net with its ‘World’s Toughest Brief- Hybrid Cars’ competition, especially coming from a country that consumes 25% of all the world’s oil. We’d just like you all to know some of us are listening. Viva El Hybrid!” Runner-up Alexey Fedoseev and Nick Penrake Alexey and Nick, a freelance team with impeccable credentials, have only recently joined up. Alexey comes from Moscow and Nick comes from London. “We picked up the brief late and had very little time on it, so it's gratifying to see that we could come up with the goods under tough circumstances. For Alexey coming runner-up in the OpenAd competition was actually a little frustrating - it's his third time in this position! - though he and I were both thrilled to be included in the top four. We enjoyed the brief, too - a first for us working on a car brief that's all about being good to the environment!”

\ WORLD'S TOUGHEST BRIEFS