AICP SHOW HONORS BEST COMMERCIALS OF THE YEAR

NEW YORK, June 4, 2015 – The AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the American Commercial premiered tonight at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, closing out AICP Week, a celebration of advertising in the motion image, which also included the debut of the AICP Next Awards at the NYU Skirball Center, and the AICP Week Base Camp. Two thousand members of the advertising, marketing and production industries attended the debut of the AICP Show. Serving as chairperson of this year’s Show was Kerstin Emhoff, Co-Founder/Executive Producer of PRETTYBIRD. Following its premiere at MoMA, the Show will tour museums and cultural institutions around the country and abroad.  This year’s winners – along with the entire AICP Show and AICP Next Awards archive – are available for viewing at www.aicpawards.com.  Each year, the honored work becomes a part of the archives of the Department of Film at The Museum of Modern Art. The collection now numbers over 1,700 pieces of advertising in the motion image.

Each category of the Show may have up to three winners, with the exception of Advertising Excellence/Single Commercial and Advertising Excellence/Campaign, which may have only one honoree each, making those pieces “Best in Show.”  A campaign called “Help With The Hard Part” for Weight Watchers out of Wieden+Kennedy – comprising the ads “All You Can Eat,” “My Butt,” and “If You’re Happy,” won for Advertising Excellence/Campaign.  Sam Brown of Imperial Woodpecker directed “All You Can Eat”; Martin De Thurah of Epoch Films directed “If You’re Happy,” and John Hillcoat of Skunk US directed “My Butt.” Always “#LikeAGirl” out of Leo Burnett Toronto, Chicago, London/Holler was honored for Advertising Excellence/Next Single Commercial. Lauren Greenfield of Chelsea directed the piece.

In the AICP Next Awards, the Most Next honor (Best in Show) went to “Social Savvy Burglar” for Allstate, out of Leo Burnett Chicago, and directed by Jeff Tremaine of HeLo. The winner of the Most Next honor directs a $5,000 grant from the AICP Foundation to an educational institution of their choosing. This year’s grant went to Marwen, a nonprofit organization offering free, arts-based youth development programs for under-served Chicago students in grades 6-12. In a typical year, more than 900 students from almost 300 schools travel to Marwen, where they take classes designed and taught by practicing artists.

The most honored production company in the AICP Awards was O Positive, with five honors, followed by Biscuit Filmworks, Caviar Content, Chelsea, and Smuggler, all of whom received three honors.
Among directors, David Shane of O Positive had the most honors, with four wins. Sam Brown of Imperial Woodpecker and Lauren Greenfield of Chelsea each received three honors. 
On the agency front, various offices of Wieden+Kennedy topped the list with 10 honors, followed by several offices of Leo Burnett with six honors.  Receiving five honors was 72andSunny, followed by SS+K with four wins. Agencies that won three times are: Anomaly, BBDO New York, Droga5, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Grey New York, and TBWA/Chiat/Day.
The Art & Technique of the American Commercial has a bifurcated judging system, which begins with a series of judging panels featuring over 400 judges from across the country and around the world, with experts in various fields judging work across the 22 categories. The process culminates in the meeting of the Curatorial Committee, which is the final arbiter in the disposition of the Show, confirming eligibility and appropriateness to category.

The AICP Show reel features custom-designed graphics by Trollbäck + Company, with an original score and sound design by Q Department, and audio by BANG Music + Audio Post. The Show Sponsor loop was created by Quietman with music by Listen, and audio by BANG Music + Audio Post.

Sponsors help make all of the events during AICP Week possible. AICP’s Partners, who support all AICP events throughout the year, are: CAPS, Deluxe, Prosight, and Universal Studios. Its Supporting Partners are: The Film Offices of the Hawaiian Islands, Film West Hollywood, Sony, Sony Pictures Studios, and The TEAM Companies. The Show Corporate Benefactors are: Advertising Age, Arenson Prop Center, Aspen Travel, AwardCore, Creativity, Directors Guild of America, EXTREMEREACH|SourceECreative, Fuze, Hello World Communications, International Digital Center, Istros Media Corporation, The London NYC, The London West Hollywood, McCann Systems, Nice Shoes, QUIETMAN, SHOOT Magazine/SHOOTonline, and Trollbäck + Company.  The Show Corporate Patrons are: BANG Music + Audio Post, COLOR – An Audio Production Company, Entertainment Partners, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, GARTNER, Listen, NO6, Q Department, Spot Welders, the STUDIO, and VCU Brandcenter. 

The AICP Next Awards Corporate Benefactors are: Christie, McCann Systems and Trollback+Company. The Corporate Patrons are: BANG Music + Audio Post, Charlie Dayburn and Dissolve.
For more information about the AICP Show or AICP Next Awards, please visit aicpawards.com.