The 2019 AICP Next Awards debuted at The Tishman Auditorium in New York on June 4th. The AICP Next Awards is one of the tent pole events of AICP Week – which also includes the premiere of the AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the American Commercial and the AICP Week Base Camp, which features educational seminars and panels.
The Most Next honour – which is selected from all the winners in the Next categories - went to Pernod Ricard’s 'The Time We Have Left', from Leo Burnett Madrid. The winning entry (which was also honoured in the Next Social category) was a holiday-themed ad for the Spanish liqueur Ruavieja (a Pernod Ricard brand). The piece focuses on a tool that allows people to calculate how long they have left to spend time with their loved ones. As part of the project, they united close friends and family members and filmed their reactions when they got to see just how brief this amount of time was, resulting in tears shed and realisations that life is fleeting, especially when compared to the amount of time spent online or gazing at digital devices. The spot, directed by Felix Fernandez de Castro of Tesauro, was a sensation in Spain, generating millions of views and opening a dialogue about the value of relationships and the need for people to stay connected in real life.
The winner of the Most Next honour directs a $5,000 grant from the AICP Foundation to an educational institution of their choosing. Leo Burnett Madrid has directed the grant to Reboot & Recover, a Florida-based non-profit with a mission to help people reduce their screen time by providing solutions for balanced living in a technology-driven world. The organisation launched an initiative on Instagram called #ScreenTimeChallenge to raise money and awareness, and get people to reduce their screen time; research shows that spending three or more hours a day on a screen is linked to depression and unhappiness. To participate, users share a screenshot of their Screen Time from their device on Instagram, add a poster found on the organisation's site, and tag three friends and challenge them to join the #ScreenTimeChallenge, and donate 10 times our screen time over three hours to Reboot & Recover. Mark Tutssel, executive chairman of Leo Burnett, who accepted the grant on behalf of Leo Burnett Madrid, invited the audience at the Next Awards to take the challenge.
Jaime Robinson, co-founder and chief creative officer at JOAN Creative, served as this year’s AICP Next Awards Judging Chair, as well as the master of ceremonies at the Next Awards. Like the AICP Show, The AICP Next Awards are preserved in The Museum of Modern Art’s Department of Film’s state of the art archives for future generations to study, and are available for use or exhibition by the museum’s curators. All individual works and each year’s shows in their entirety can be viewed exclusively on the AICP Awards Archive website.
The AICP Next Awards recognises work in 12 categories: Augmented Reality, Branded Content, Digital Experiences, Experiential, Influencer, Innovation, Integrated Campaign, Pre-Roll, Purpose Driven Advertising, Social, Virtual Reality/360 Video, and Viral/Web Film. The Next Awards Judging Chair and the Jury Presidents from each category, along with select Curators At Large, choose The Most Next Award (Best in Show) from among the category winners.
Robinson served as master of ceremonies at the Next Awards debut. In addition to unveiling the honorees, the winning Integrated Campaigns – Burger King’s “The Whopper Detour,” via FCB New York and Samsung Global’s “Samsung x Fortnite: The Galaxy Skin,” via R/GA – presented live case studies.
A full roster of AICP Next Awards winners includes:
Next Augmented Reality
Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation 'Imaginary Friend Society AR'
Production / Development Company: Tool
Agency: RPA
Director/ Developer: Tool Innovation
Next Branded Content
HBO 'Westworld: The Maze'
Production / Development Company: Xandra, Kilter Films
Agency: 360i
MGM Resorts International 'Universal Love'
Production / Development Company: SMUGGLER
Agency: McCann Worldgroup
Director/ Developer: Lagan Sebert
Montefiore 'Corazon'
Production / Development Company: Serial Pictures
Agency: JohnXHannes
Director/ Developer: John Hillcoat
Next Digital Experiences
Acura 'Acura ILX Quick to React'
Production / Development Company: Bullitt Branded
Agency: MullenLowe Group
Director/ Developer: Spiro Razatos
Netflix 'Talk to the Reasons - 13 Reasons Why'
Production / Development Company: Moth + Flame
Agency: Moth + Flame
Director/ Developer: Kevin Cornish
Samsung Global 'Samsung x Fortnite: The Galaxy Skin'
Production / Development Company: R/GA
Agency: R/GA
Next Experiential
Burger King 'The Whopper Detour'
Production / Development Company: O Positive
Agency: FCB New York
Director/Developer: Jonathan Klein
McDonald’s 'The Flip'
Production/Development Company: Sanctuary Content
Agency: We Are Unlimited
Director/Developer: Elle Ginter
Next Influencer
Samsung Global 'Samsung x Fortnite: The Galaxy Skin'
Production / Development Company: R/GA
Agency: R/GA
Thomson Reuters 'Unboxing The Truth : Sneakers'
Production / Development Company: TBWA\Chiat\Day, The Shoe Surgeon
Agency: TBWA\Chiat\Day
Director/ Developer: TBWA\Chiat\Day, Design by Disruption
Next Innovation
HBO 'Westworld: The Maze'
Production / Development Company: Xandra, Kilter Films
Agency: 360i
Truth Initiative, Ad Council, Office of National Drug Control Policy 'Treatment Box'
Production / Development Company: m ss ng p eces
Agency: 72andSunny
Director/ Developer: Tucker Walsh, Mike Woods
Next Integrated Campaign
Burger King 'The Whopper Detour'
Production / Development Company: O Positive
Agency: FCB New York
Director/ Developer: Jonathan Klein
Samsung Global 'Samsung x Fortnite: The Galaxy Skin'
Production / Development Company: R/GA
Agency: R/GA
Next Pre-Roll
GEICO '80s Kids'
Production / Development Company: Dummy
Agency: The Martin Agency
Director/ Developer: Harold Einstein
Xfinity 'Data in Dollars'
Production / Development Company: THINKING MACHINE
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Director/ Developer: Docter Twins
Next Purpose Driven Advertising
McDonald’s 'The Flip'
Production / Development Company: Sanctuary Content
Agency: We Are Unlimited
Director/ Developer: Elle Ginter
Shiseido 'My Crayon Project'
Production / Development Company: Taiyo Kikaku Co., Ltd
Agency: R/GA Tokyo
Director/ Developer: Bob Mackintosh, Niklas Lilja, Ryichi Hasegawa
Next Social
March For Our Lives 'Price On Our Lives'
Production / Development Company: McCann New York
Agency: McCann New York
Pernod Ricard 'The Time We Have Left'
Production / Development Company: Tesauro
Agency: Leo Burnett Madrid
Director/ Developer: Felix Fernandez de Castro
Shutterstock 'Fyrestock'
Production / Development Company: Bandit Edit NY
Agency: DiMassimo Goldstein
Director/ Developer: Mike McCabe
Next Viral/Web Film
Montefiore 'Corazon'
Production/Development Company: Serial Pictures
Agency: JohnXHannes
Director/Developer: John Hillcoat
Squarespace 'Make It with Idris Elba'
Production / Development Company: MJZ
Agency: Squarespace
Director/Developer: Spike Jonze
The AICP Next Awards Curatorial Committee comprised the following Jury Presidents: Jeff Miller, Snapchat, Augmented Reality; Scott Donaton, Digitas, Branded Content; Richard Ting, R/GA, Digital Experience; Omid Farhang, Momentum Worldwide, Experiential; Mae Karwowski, Obviously, Influencer Marketing; Allen Mask, Sonos, Innovation; Tiffany Rolfe, R/GA, Integrated Campaign; Karen Costello, The Martin Agency, Pre-Roll; Kwame Taylor-Hayford, SATURDAY MORNING, Purpose Driven Advertising; Dan Lucey, JOAN, Social; Kerstin Emhoff, PRETTYBIRD, Viral/Web Film; and Mike Woods, m ss ng p eces (VR/360 Jury President). Joining these Jury Presidents were Curators At Large Andrew Keller, Facebook Creative Shop; Jeff Kling, Lightning Orchard (2016 AICP Next Awards Judging Chair); Vivian Rosenthal, FREQUENCY; and Winston Binch.
Sibling Rivalry created the staging, opening sequence and graphic navigation for the AICP Next Awards premiere, and Yessian provided the music. A series of films featuring the Jury Presidents and Curators offering insights into the winning work and the industry at large were shown during the presentation of the Next Awards. They were directed by Harrison Boyce of Sibling Rivalry.
Sponsors help make all of the events during AICP Week possible. AICP Partners and Supporting Partners, who support all AICP events throughout the year, are CAPS – A Cast & Crew Company and Universal Studios (Partners); and Film Offices of The Hawaiian Islands; Musicbed + Filmsupply; NEED Financial; Sony Pictures Studios; and The TEAM Companies (Supporting Partners). The AICP Next Awards Corporate Benefactors are: Color Lab; Kodak Film; Samsung VR; Sibling Rivalry; S’well; and The Bot Platform. The Corporate Patrons are ABK+Bogart’s Spirits; Cosmo Street; Heard City; and Yessian. The AICP Next Awards event sponsors are: CAPS – A Cast & Crew Company; Film Offices of the Hawaiian Islands; and Island Film Group.