VDW Award 2010 : a variety of the 18 winners, as well as a subjective selection of the best spots on GoSee

Around 1,000 guests celebrated the German ‘Advertising Academy Awards’. 525 institutions joined the race for the so-called ‘Hatto’ Awards, which the advertising division of the Alliance of German producers, film and TV (former VDW) has been presenting to extraordinary TV spot production talent for the past nine years.

The two most successful spots at the VDW AWARD° 10 were both commissioned by Hornbach. 'Faces' was awarded three ‘Hattos’, whilst ‘Hymne des Machens’ was presented with two. Hornbach took pole position once more for Partizan and STINK film productions. Sadly, unlike our sophisticated and luxurious GoSee taste, it turned out to be a lot about home improvement, considering that the DIY division cleaned up in 2009 as well.

The Heimat advertising agency, responsible for the chain of DIY stores, could relish in being awarded five awards and snuggled into a comfortable position in front of BBDO Germany, who contributed to two of the decorated productions.

The award, which is supported with service prizes worth 10,000 Euro for the best university advertising film, went to Isabel Prahl and Maximilian Kaiser of the Kunsthochschule for Media Cologne. They convinced the jury with 'Armut kennt viele Gesichter' (poverty knows many faces). Once again, the jury’s task was a tough one, as it could be argued that several entries deserved the award. That being said, we love the spot by the Cologne-based talents, click here for the article on GoSee.

The 18 categories provided a good overview but also called on the patience of the attending guests. This year’s hosts opted for a toned down approach, the only compensation offered was the occasional flash of low top cleavage, which was appreciated, but didn’t quite cut it in the entertainment stakes.

The puppetry act, which the event organisers affectionately chose for the ‘hand made’ category, pushed many advertisers over the edge by its second performance. Perhaps it is good fortune or rather bad luck that Mr. Guido Heffels did not manage to make his way down to Frankfurt this year – there would have been a scandal for sure. As it stands, the ballot had been carried out with feet only.

Actually, quite a few laudations got stuck in the fog at Frankfurt airport or maybe even way before then. And we are actually referring to the weather (no, really), which ended up stirring up the VDW evening quite a bit and with rather amusing results too.

The food had the visitors in two mindsets – is less really more? We say: definitely yes. Last year’s sausage party was a bit too laddish for our taste. The thimble-like creations of 2010 were baby new potatoes with green sauce and chocolate pudding. Oh to feel like being 12 years old again! Awesome.

We would rather not dwell on the Schatzi & Schatzi party for too long. Happily, we managed to stick to the important people this year and – unlike last year – we skilfully made it the bar, enjoying the much-appreciated gin & tonic two minutes later. Thank you Michael.

A felt half an hour later, at 6am, we literally begged the DJ for one more song. If you were there, you know what I am talking about. Hopefully you are polite enough not to mention it to us (and nobody else for that matter) . . .

We are looking forward to next year. Yippppeee...