D&AD celebrates its Golden Jubilee

D&AD celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, so the work that has made it into the 2012 Annual has secured a special place in the history of advertising and design. The Annual will be out in time for our 50th birthday dinner in September, at which this year's black Pencils will be announced. This year was the first time that the yellow Pencils have been announced immediately after judging, so the news is still sinking in for many of the winners.

D&AD remains the toughest awards show on the planet. It is now a truly global event, and gives out a fraction of the awards that Cannes does, so to be "in the book" is a major achievement. It is that restless quest for excellence that maintains D&AD as the advertising and design worlds' equivalent of the Oscars.

Much of the strong work was from the UK, but we've seen incredible international work too this year: first-time yellows for Malaysia and Colombia, for example.

My overwhelming feeling is that the industry and clients have adopted a more socially responsible and sustainable approach to the world and work. Pleasingly, it seems that new technology and communication channels are being used for good. D&AD recently announced a long-term partnership with Unilever in support of the white Pencil: the first new award in our history is aimed at celebrating work that improves people's lives. White Pencils will be even rarer than black ones: agencies that want one can log on to www.dandad.org to enter.

I am sure I will look back on my time as president as a highlight in my professional life and I feel honoured and privileged to count myself as a president of D&AD.

Rosie Arnold is the president of D&AD and the deputy executive creative director of Bartle Bogle Hegarty.

CATEGORIES: TV Commercials 61-120 Seconds; Direction for Film Advertising; Editing for Film Advertising; Special Effects for Film Advertising

Title: The bear

Client: Canal+

Agency: BETC Euro RSCG

Country: France

This is a brilliantly executed campaign that goes from strength to strength, building on the success of last year's "wardrobe" spots. Great film-making craft - a worthy winner of four yellows.

CATEGORY: Integrated

Title: American Rom

Client: Kandia Dulce Agency McCann Erickson Bucharest

Country: Romania

This is a really inventive, clever piece of marketing. Aggressively changing the identity of a national brand by turning it into the Stars and Stripes to challenge Romanian youth is a master stroke. Imagine what would happen if someone did this to Kit Kat!

CATEGORIES: Press Advertising; Poster Advertising/Existing Sites; Art Direction for Press Advertising

Title: Heaven and hell

Client: Samsonite Suitcase Agency JWT Shanghai

Country: China

I am disappointed more press work didn't get in the Annual, but, of the work that did, the JWT Samsonite campaign really shines. A worthy triple Pencil winner. A simple idea told in a new way, the 3D modelling uses religious iconography to demonstrate the durability of the product. Genius.

CATEGORY: Packaging Design

Title: Love

Client: Diageo Johnnie Walker

Agency: McCann Erickson Bucharest

Country: UK

These were beautifully designed; every member of the jury wanted to walk away with one in their pockets.

CATEGORY: Ambient

Title Operation Christmas

Client Ministry of Defence, PAHD

Agency Lowe/SSP3

Country Colombia

The second yellow Pencil for the campaign came for Operation Christmas. Government soldiers dropped on to paths known to be used by the guerrillas and decorated a tree with sparkling blue lights.

CATEGORY: Direct Response/Ambient

Title: Rivers of light

Client: Ministry of Defence, PAHD

Agency: Lowe/SSP3 Country Colombia

"Rivers of light" won the judges over with its powerful insight into the behaviour of Farc operatives in the jungles of Colombia. The idea was to encourage the guerrillas to demobilise for Christmas by sending family messages down the rivers - Columbia's highways - in pods of light. The resulting imagery is incredible.

CATEGORY: TV Commercials 61-120 Seconds

Title: Life story

Client: Barnardo's

Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Country: UK

A cheeky nod to BBH, but worth highlighting as this spot was made by a director at the top of his game. It's brought to life by a moving story and it avoids cliches or film-making trickery. There would have been a temptation to use special effects on this, but the lack of gimmicks makes it a classic.

CATEGORY: Digital Design

Title: Connecting lifelines Client Honda Motor, Internavi

Agency: Dentsu Tokyo

Country: Japan

A really forward-thinking project - the brand stepped into the earthquake crisis by opening up its GPS system to identify the roads that remained intact based on 3G network traffic analysis, enabling rescue workers and supplies to reach the places that needed help.

CATEGORY: Interface and Navigation for Websites and Digital Design

Title: A new Warrior

Client: Greenpeace

Agency: DDB Paris

Country: France

The campaign shows brilliance and craft of execution. Greenpeace crowd-sourced funds to refurbish its flagship, and the user experience is superb.

CATEGORY: Direction for Film Advertising

Title: Desperado

Client: Doritos, Dips, PepsiCo

Agency: Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO Country UK

This is beautifully made, seamless, hysterical film-making - an irreverent play on the spaghetti-western genre - and the craft involved in making it so good has been duly rewarded.

CATEGORY: Websites

Title: Dots now

Client: Honda Motor, Internavi

Agency: Dentsu Tokyo Country Japan

The Internavi Dot website was also awarded a Pencil for its beautiful graphic analysis of data from millions of cars in Japan.

This article was first published on campaignlive.co.uk