While the in-person show may be cancelled because of the pandemic, the prestigious ADC Awards will still be given out in May. Canada has 55 finalists this year, the fourth-highest total in the world.
Presented by The One Club for Creativity in New York during Creative Week, the ADC’s focus on craft, design and innovation in all disciplines of commercial creativity, whereas the One Show, also given out during Creativity Week, focuses on ideas and quality of the execution.
Only the U.S., Germany and Japan had more finalists than Canada this year. All the entries on the finalist list will win either a Gold, Silver or Bronze Cube, or a merit. Last year, Canada had 34 finalists (the fifth best national performance) and won 11 Cubes.
Here’s a few of the most noteworthy performances by agency:
No Fixed Address
Leading the list this year is No Fixed Address with 11 finalist spots, six of which were for “Lolli: The Exhibit Nobody Wants to Talk about” and five for “SickKids AirBnB” for SickKids Foundation (below).
Sid Lee
Sid Lee also has 11 chances at a Cube, three each for “The Impactful Reminder” (below); the “Fact Avalanche” for Protect our Winters, and “A Moving Celebration” for CN. The agency was also shortlisted for “The Design Vanguard” for Ideo.org, as well as for its own “Camp Ville Marie.”
Taxi
Taxi has nine finalists across its Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and New York offices, three each for the Canadian Mental Health Association’s “Mental Fatigues,” (top image) the Rick Hansen Foundation’s “Poster for Everyone,” and United Way’s “The #Unignorable Tower.”
FCB/Six
Already one of the most celebrated Canadian campaigns of the past year, “Go Back to Africa” for Black & Abroad (below) has six chances at a trophy.
Other agencies with multiple appearances on the list include:
Giant Ant Vancouver, Zulu Alpha Kilo with three and Leo Burnett with two (one shared with the agency’s Vietnam office).
Rounding out the Canadian list with single appearances are: Baillat Studio with Anteism; Gentilhomme Montreal; Head Gear Animation; Instil Image Co. with Saatchi & Saatchi Canada; July Montreal; L’Éloi Montreal; lg2 Montreal; Nick Noh; Paprika Montreal; and Urbania Montreal.
Globally, BBDO New York has the most shortlisted entries with 29, including eight for Monica Lewinsky “The Epidemic” and seven for Sandy Hook Promise “Back to School Essentials.”
