WTF is in the Water at Seneca. Creative Advertising Greatness.

Hey, what a Friday May 8th turned out to be. One Show winners Aaron Starkman and Steve Persico, and now this.

The National Advertising Awards announced their winners for the Young Creatives Competition sponsored by the National Post and Cannes Canada, and once again the Creative Advertising program at Seneca College will be sending a Grand Prix winner to Cannes in June and compete on the world stage with other young creatives... and that's not the only graduates bring home honors.

This year Dan Bache, Creative Advertising grad from 2005 who is now an Art Director at Taxi Vancouver won a Gold, Bronze and the much coveted Grand Prix. The Grand Prix includes the full-paid trip to Cannes. Along with Dan, past Cannes Young Creatives Grand Prix winner Steve Persico of Leo Burnett Toronto won a Bronze in the Print category and David Pigeon of Due North Communications received a merit in the Integrated category. For the first time one of the programs graduates received a Bronze in the Creative Media competition, Brad Henson of Starcom MediaVest.

Mr. Bache won his bronze was in the category for Out of Home for client Kellogg's, his gold was for a print ad created for Campbell's V8. The winning ad jokingly depicts an adult son and his mother with a recently severed umbilical cord between them claimed the Grand Prix award. The tagline? "Veggies you can get on your own."

Missy Robson, spokeswoman of awards producer and creator Adcam, said the ad for Campbell's Canada "was the clear favorite across all disciplines judged by the creative jury."

Dan Bache is not the first winner in the Cannes Young Creative Competition. We have now had 9 Grand Prix Winners in total over the years. The list include, Chris Taciuk (twice), Aaron Starkman, Michelle Spivak, Matt Bielby (twice), Steve Persico, Cam Boyd, and Chris Joakim.

The National Advertising Awards Competition is North America's only major brief-based advertising awards competition. The National Advertising Awards Competition melds the unleashed creative thinking of Canada's advertising young community with the needs of major clients.

THE MISSION

• Celebrate and reward outstanding advertising creativity
• Deliver fresh ideas to Canada's leading brands

Ian MacKellar, Executive VP and ECD at BBDO Toronto, was this year's Lead Chair. The NAA 2009 judging chairs included: Brett Channer, Chairman and ECD at Saatchi & Saatchi, who chaired the Direct competition; Critical Mass CEO Dianne Wilkins chaired the Interactive; and Cathy Collier, Senior Vice-President and Media Director at Cossette Media, chaired the Media. In addition to his Lead Chair duties Ian MacKellar oversaw the NAA creative categories: Print, Young Creatives, Out-of-Home, Mobile and Integrated.

Congratulation's to all winners and sponsors who took part. Details of the competition can found on the NAA website.



AD: Dan Bache :: TAXI Vancouver
CW: Brian Quittenton :: MacLaren McCann