Big congratulations to the team at GPY&R Brisbane who recently took out the Queensland Agency of the Year at the B&T Awards capping off a year in which the agency dominated the new business league table and produced some outstanding creative work.

As Brisbane MD, Mike Harris noted,” We set ourselves some big goals at the start of the year and we pretty much hit all of them in one of the most difficult trading environments in living memory.  Clients are demanding more and more from their agencies and there have been more significant pitches than in any time in the past 10 years.  Through all this we have managed to grow and prosper.”

Harris paid tribute to the team for its tremendous effort in winning 18 new clients and taking out Brisbane’s most awarded agency for the year. He also acknowledged the outstanding role the agency played in helping State and local government authorities deal with the spate of natural disasters that hit Queensland during the year.

“It is really hard to win these awards. Savour the moment and think about just how good this win is and what you have achieved this year.

“Bring on 2012.”

L to R: Rob Hudson (National Digital Director), Michael Harris (Managing Director), Richard Boland (Head Client Services & Strategy)

Patts Brisbane bagged 12 awards at the recent Brisbane Advertising & Design Club Awards, taking five silver and seven bronze on the evening for Suncorp ,V8 Supercars, The Queensland Government, Brisbane City Council and TinBilly.

Suncorp Agribusiness

TinBilly

V8 Skate:

GPY&R has been appointed to the roster for the ACT Government.

http://www.bandt.com.au/news/act-govt-adds-gpy-r-to-roster

Patts Sydney creative Kate Burt has co-authored Australia’s first children’s book to be launched with a companion interactive edition.

Parrot Carrot is voiced by legendary entertainer Kamahl and features silly rhymes and kooky illustrations that are proving to be addictive fun for pre-schoolers.

The Parrot Carrot Safari iPhone app brings the characters in the book to life in a unique way.  Kids can search for their own rhyming word pairs and create silly mashups by turning the iPhone screen into a pair of magic binoculars to explore a world of unusual rhyming animals. The app superimposes creatures over the player’s own surroundings, filling familiar scenes with fun and imaginative characters, sure to spark young imaginations. 

To find more animals, players simply look around, just like they would with a real pair of binoculars. And if they can find and catch two things that rhyme, they might just find a Parrot that looks like a Carrot, or a Whale that looks like a Snail!

The response so far has been spectacular!

SEE IT HERE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAveeZhrhXk

Patts Melbourne took line honours at the Caxton Awards taking six awards at the annual conference held in the Hunter Valley.

Melbourne took six awards from the 23 handed out in 16 categories.

“Human Frigate” for the Royal Australian Navy took Corporate & Government Service, Photography awards with “Human Fleet” taking the Best Campaign award. The Rich Media award (in-page and expanding ads) was won by “Sourcecode” for the Royal Australian Air Force.  “Where Spring Comes From” for Schweppes took the Art Direction & Illustration awards.

See the full results here:

http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/the-caxtons-gpyandr-bags-six-caxtons

See the Navy shoot here:

Y&R global chairman Hamish McLennan is to speak at the 2011 Caxton Seminar and Awards.

Caxton Committee chairman Rob Belgiovane said: “It’s a fantastic coup for the Caxtons to have an international advertising industry identity the calibre of Hamish agree to speak. I’m sure he’ll provide delegates with some enlightening stories about his time at Y&R and working closely with WPP boss Martin Sorrell.”

The Royal Australian Navy has launched into uncharted digital waters with a new iPhone game designed to educate and lure new recruits.

Navy SINK’EM, a multiplayer turn-based game designed and developed by GPY&R Melbourne, allows players to command real Navy ships, frigates and submarines to challenge multiple friends in simultaneous battles on the world’s oceans and share their achievements on Facebook.

Since its launch three weeks ago, Navy Sink’EM has been downloaded more than 4000 times and hit the top 25 free iPhone apps on Apple’s App Store. It’s also made the top 14 strategy games among Australian iPhone users and has been a hit with the critics scoring plenty of positive feedback.

The edutainment nature of the game lets players explore job roles currently available on each specific Navy vessel, driving web traffic to specific job description pages for enquiries.

GPY&R Melbourne ECD Ben Coulson has been named one of adland’s top players in Adnews annual 40 Under 40 ranking this year.

Coulson was cited, along with Y&R Brands CEO Russel Howcroft, as being instrumental in reversing the agency’s fortunes.
Hourigan International’s Trudi Cassi said that Coulson had had a substantial impact on the agency over the past five years.

“Ben is that rare creative who has a genuine passion for business results.”

http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/40-under-40-did-you-make-the-cut

GPY&R has won the hotly contested Tatts business: http://www.bandt.com.au/news/tatts-picks-patts-mitchells-and-mojo

GPY&R Brisbane has collected the 600 sounds of the Armor All Gold Coast 600 to promote ‘600 Sounds,’ the music festival component of the V8 Supercars event.

The sound effects – everything from engine revs to seagulls fighting over a chip to a dirty pash on the beach – have been loaded into an online music studio at 600sounds.com.au for wannabe musicians to tweak, loop and mix the ultimate V8 Supercars soundtrack.

Says GPYR Brisbane Creative Group Head Brendan Greaney, “Collecting the 600 sound effects was quite an undertaking. It got particularly weird recording people pashing on the beach, especially on the third and fourth takes.”

The campaign was seeded on Facebook as well as music and motorsport fan forums and supported by radio advertising. The website will run during the lead-up to the event from October 21 – 23.

GPY&R Adelaide wins its first major account
http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews/great-southern-rail-steams-ahead-with-gpyandr

As part of the “This is Greatness” campaign for the 2011 AFL Finals Series, GPY&R has launched ‘Game Signatures’, a collection of unique autographs created from player GPS tracking data.

During the four-week AFL Finals Series, players will wear GPS trackers during the game, creating ‘signatures’ as they play. The most heroic performances will be translated into one-off prints and displayed throughout the finals, culminating in the ultimate ‘Game Signature’ of the Grand Final’s Norm Smith Medalist. All signatures will be auctioned to benefit Ladder, the AFL charity supporting youth homelessness.