Porter is a big fan of New Zealand and also of Special Group, which did all the branding and hyping for the event (this included personalised messages from Porter that were sent directly to creative directors and general managers’ personal mobiles) and, with the help of Curious, took care of the recording. So if you want an entertaining and enlightening look at what this talented ad chap thinks about the industry—and particularly the art of newspaper advertising—it’s definitely worth 10 minutes of your time.

Click here to view the embedded video.

There was also a bit of crowd-sourcing involved on the night as attendees were asked to submit their best headlines for a full-page ad that would appear the next day in four newspapers around the country (download all the various efforts here NAB – LIVE AD HEADLINES). The industry boffins decided on the best headline and the Special Group gang created the ad and dispatched it in under 30 minutes, which either indicates immense skill under pressure, the immediacy of the newspaper medium or that it only takes about 30 minutes to create a good newspaper ad.

Most were in agreement that the work on display at this year’s event was of better quality than previous years, including NAB chief cheese Robert Munro. But he says there’s still room for improvement and, for many, the fact that quite a few of the newspaper ads chosen were posters—and, even worse, Australian posters—that had also been placed in newspapers didn’t show a particularly good or very creative use of the medium. But, in a sense, that’s not too surprising: Munro says we have the highest per capita rate of newspapers in the world, but they are now seen mostly as a medium for retail advertising, rather than a branding medium as they often are in Europe and South America.

The student work was also on display, with young’uns from the Media Design School taking both awards on offer: the main winners were Edward Knowles and Charles Twaddle with their AMI ‘All the Time’ campaign and the 48 hour bonus brief winners were Jonathan Fox and Jack Delmonte for their Bundaberg ginger beer spot.

“The judges unanimously agreed the campaign idea was striking and beautifully written, which is what great newspaper advertising is all about”, says Robert Munro, the NAB’s general manager.

As a result of this lofty accolade, the creative team behind the campaign took home a cool $10,000 (the Arts Channel campaign is becoming fairly accustomed to victory: it recently took home a swag of Lions at Cannes and also won the May ORCA radio advertising award). And, adding to the package, Sky TV also went on to win the Newspaper Client of the Year award for its series of programme promotion press advertisements by DDB.

The winners were announced at a function at the Hopetoun Alpha in Auckland where guests were able to view the 13 finalists on display (check most of them out here) along with student competition finalists from AUT School of Communications and The Media Design School. The chairman of judges, Chuck Porter from Crispin Porter + Bogusky, presented his question and answer video during the show, responding to questions that were posted earlier on the Campaign Brief New Zealand website (hey, just like the Old Spice Guy, but slower).

Local judges for the Newspaper Ad of the Year competition were Rebecca Carrasco, the new creative director at Publicis Mojo, James Mok, creative director at DraftFCB, Levi Slavin, creative director at Colenso BBDO, and Angus Wardlaw, creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi.

During the show, a full page press ad announcing the night’s winner was produced live and dispatched from the venue, and it will appear in Friday’s New Zealand Herald, The Dominion Post, The Press and the Otago Daily Times.

The Ad Students’ Newspaper Advertising Competition, which was sponsored by The New Zealand Herald, was won by Edward Knowles and Charles Twaddle from The Media Design School, earning them a $500 prize. And the 48 hour bonus brief was won by Jonathan Fox and Jack Delmonte, also from The Media Design School, with a $250 prize.

NAB Newspaper Advertisement of the Year

Client: Mike Watson, Sky TV

Group Executive Creative Director: Toby Talbot

Art Director: James Tucker

Writer: Simon Vicars

Head of Art: Mike Davison

Production Manager: Nick Conetta

Account Team: Danielle Richards, Brad Armstrong, Scott Wallace

Commenting on DDB’s cleverly hand-scripted long copy for the Arts Channel, the judges said: “It shows a great understanding of the target audience. A nice intelligent read”.

And as for DraftFCB: “Good use of the medium and an inspiring way to use the paper – an oasis of art in the newspaper!,” said the judges.

December and January’s judges were James Mok – DraftFCB (who abstained from the January vote due to conflict of interest), Lachlan McPherson – Publicis Mojo and Sarah Walter – The Pond.

December and January’s winning creative teams receive $250 cash with the ads sponsored by the NAB in the 2011 Axis Awards. The ads will also appear in the ‘What’s New’ section of AdMedia and are now Finalists in the 2010 $10,000 Newspaper Ad of Year competition judged later this year. Any ad that has run in any newspaper around the country is eligible to enter the competition. Email ideas@nabs.co.nz for competition details.

To view all the finalists in the current Newspaper Ad of the Year series visit the NAB website.