Commercial Radio Australia is an industry body representing the interests of commercial radio broadcasters throughout Australia. It hosts the Siren Awards as well as the Australian Commercial Radio Awards.
The Siren Awards recognize outstanding radio advertising and are judged across five rounds throughout the year, plus a final call round. The organization recently announced the winners of Round 5.
Round 5
M&C Saatchi’s “Ugly, But Good For You” campaign for Steggles turkey placed first in several categories. The “German Jog Techno” commercial was voted overall winner and best single ad, while the four commercials in the series were awarded best campaign.
Creative team Melissa Hawkett and Jason Leigh developed the four 60-second musical workout tracks in the genres of techno, pop, hip hop and rock to create an identity for turkey as a superfood for client Baiada, one of Australia’s leading poultry producers with the brands Steggles and Lilydale.
“These ads are unique because they’re not ads, they’re songs,” Hawkett and Leigh said. “We made sure they were bangers that blended in with radio playlists, so they complimented what you were listening to. We loaded them with funny truths to leave people feeling good about Steggles turkey and ‘sweaty creases’.”
The ads were produced by sound engineer Hylton Mowday from We Love Jam Studios, who won the craft award for “German Jog Techno” and was highly commended for “Hip Hop Spin Class” and “Pop Power Pump.”
BMF’s campaign for Tourism Tasmania, “Come Down for Air – Wakalina” by creatives Jack Robertson and Rob Boddington was highly commended in the single category. Rumble’s sound engineer Tone Aston was also recognized for this campaign in the craft category.
Judges also selected four other campaigns for highly commended recognition. These were “Eardrum” for ING Bank (Australia) by Ralph van Djik from Eardrum; “Go Full Christmas” for SleepCheck by Patrick Anderson from Isobar Australia; “At Home” for Brightwater by Alida Henson from Rare; and “Tradies Swear By It” for Fergus, by Will Reynolds and Nick McHugh from Winsdorborn.
Final Call
Commercial Radio Australia said that it has also selected the final call round winners, and the entries that received the highest scores, along with winners from all previous 2021 rounds, will now enter a final judging stage. Finalists will compete to win the Gold and Silver Sirens.
The 2021 Gold Siren winner will be announced at the Sirens Awards event in Sydney on June 3. Silver Sirens are awarded in each of the three categories: single, campaign and craft. In addition, the writers of the ad voted the best by a panel of clients will win a AU$1,000 (about €650 or US$760) cash prize.
Listen to the Round 5 winning ads here.
Round 1 of the 2022 Siren Awards is now open. Entries are due May 1, 2021.
