All credit to D&AD for pressing ahead with some awards this year. Its president Kate Stanners, chairwoman and global CCO of Saatchi & Saatchi, valiantly presented the 2020 Pencils, which she managed solo via a live YouTube ceremony.
To bring some extra suspense to the Covid-dampened proceedings, D&AD awarded three Black Pencils of the decade. The winners were chosen by public vote (actually a Pinterest pin), so there’s a good chance that the Pencils went to agencies that were most successful at mobilising the workforce, but let’s not take away from MullenLowe’s big moment.
The Interpublic Group network’s Colombian agency, SSP3, won the “overall favourite” for its “Rivers of Light” campaign from 2012. Created for the Colombian Ministry of Defense, it set thousands of candles floating in a bid to encourage the demobilisation of FARC guerrillas.
The Craft Black Pencil of the Decade went to AMV BBDO’s “Viva la Vulva” for Libresse from 2019, and The Design Black Pencil of the Decade was won by Host/Havas Sydney for 2018’s “Palau Pledge,” which required visitors to the island of Palau to sign a passport pledge to act in an ecologically responsible way on the island.
Burger King’s “Moldy Whopper” campaign won one of four 2020 Black Pencils, for INGO Stockholm/David Miami/Publicis Bucharest. The others went to FCB Chicago for its work on The Gun Violence History Book for Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence; FCB/SIX in Toronto for its Go Back to Africa campaign for Black & Abroad; and Family Type in London for developing the typeface Universal Sans.
