Laura Jordan Bambach Celebrates Ryan Reynolds and Risky Big Ideas

The Caples Awards has revealed its winners for 2023 including actor Ryan Reynolds, Mars, Grey, VMLY&R, Leo Burnett and Ogilvy.

This free-to-enter global festival is led by creatives for the creative industry. In 2023, more than 50 countries entered with 55 jurors whittling down 1,704 entries to 134 Bronzes, 86 Silvers and 39 Gold Awards.

Grey London's president and chief creative officer, Laura Jordan Bambach led the jury this year. We sit down with her to find out why she awarded Ryan Reynolds the Andi Emerson Award, as she calls out the industry for its ceaseless "navel gazing" and becoming a bit "fearful." She defines what award-worthy looks like and discusses some of her favourite work.

Creative Salon: As the jury president, what were you looking for when judging The Caples?

Laura Jordan Bambach: There are a few pieces that I thought were absolutely genius. The first is 'Last Performance' by a life insurance company called Partner's Life in New Zealand. To talk about the value of life insurance, they partnered with the equivalent of Midsomer Murders in New Zealand, Murder Mystery. At the end of every show, for the ad, the corpse would come back to life on the morgue table talking about how they didn't expect to be murdered. It was really funny, super dark and brilliant.

New Zealand and Australia had a pretty good showing. There's something about having to do things in a different way because you might not have the budget to do things in a big US or European way. That makes their work really innovative and there was a lot of really great work from those regions.

Another great piece was 'Phone It In' for Skinny from Colenso BBD which encourages students to read and record the ads themselves. It's long copy and really beautifully written. It's hilarious. 

And from an investment business, Jarden came a Creative Index. Recently, In Australia, a lot of money was taken out of the creative industries and put into mining. The question was if the creative industries are so strong in Australia, but they're being undermined, could we reverse that if we create a proper financial index for creative companies? It really looked at the value of the creative economy across the whole of the country and created something that could start to be invested in. It's really interesting, benefits us as a creative industry and potentially creates a new investment stream for this investment bank as well.

One that made me laugh the most came from another region (Southeast Asia) that is doing really well. Thailand always has a lot of really fun stuff but there were brilliant pieces of work, particularly. And there's this beautiful film for Five Star Chicken which is a KFC-type chicken takeaway. It's a nine-minute film and stars a famous Thai actor, Sukollawat Kanarot. He's sitting in an empty room and then they go out to the streets and ask people what they'd like to see him do in a film that advertised chicken. It's utter chaos. It's nine minutes of a building storyline that makes no sense and the payoff at the end is everyone thinks chicken is tender. Everyone thinks it's tasty. The population can't agree on everything but they can agree on brilliant chicken. It's not often you see a piece of film that's nine minutes long, where you literally don't want to stop watching.

CS: Tell us about the Andi Emerson Award - this year you’ve awarded it to Ryan Reynolds. Do you think this would slightly annoy our advertising industry?

LJB: Probably. As an industry, we can be really self-reflective. There are some brilliant people in our industry to award and I have done so when I was present at D&AD when Alex Taylor got my President's Award, and deservedly so. I wanted to call out a different way of doing things. We have become very navel-gazing as an industry and a little bit fearful as an industry. There's a lot of pressure on creatives around performance, which makes it hard to take a creative leap. Reynolds might not be the best advertiser, he's in a very privileged position where he doesn't have to follow the rules, but I want to remind people about the fun that you could have when you don't follow by the rules. He shows how successful humour and a bit of a playful attitude can be for brands, rather than weighing everything down with so much rigour theory. He's an exceptionally clever guy and he's making money from investing in brands, taking them to market and selling them.

He's shown what means to be a little bit less restrained with what we're doing creatively. because as an industry, it's not necessarily us. It's also the clients. We've pushed ourselves into a corner that's very difficult to move away from. So I wanted to give him the award, partly in the spirit of Ryan Reynolds, to have a little bit of fun, and partly that I could give a little bit of light to a couple of people showing them a different way of doing things.

CS: And The Courageous Client award - why Rankin Carroll, chief brand officer of Mars?

LJB: It was for the M&M work. It's not about creating controversy, but it's about making the most of a very politically charged conversation around your product. That can be difficult outside of the US to even comprehend in just removing some high heels of a green M&M, and putting some trainers on would create such turmoil for the brand and such vitriol.

We're in a world where everyone is incredibly serious, and everything is becoming more and more polarised. To hold steady and play a long-term game where you've removed a character, inserted a comedian and your Super Bowl ad is going to be absolutely ridiculous then suddenly the joke is up, and the characters come back to great fanfare is very clever. It felt modern and brave. M&Ms didn't have to do it.

The jury and I reviewed numerous courageous works where individuals put themselves in danger or fought passionately for their beliefs, which is truly remarkable and deserving of recognition. However, I also aimed to encourage those who may not feel obligated to engage in the cultural dialogue, reminding them that they too have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact.

CS: In general, what is the value of winning awards for agencies?

LJB: Having run a small agency myself, winning a Caples s a great way to test the waters and gain encouragement of your work and its worth. It's not like Cannes where people are paying thousands for entries. It's a level playing field. It's a good indicator of what the industry feels is good.

Last year, a Caples winner ended up winning a Grand Prix in Cannes. Now that agency may not have even entered had they not been able to test a little bit first. There's a really strong role in helping those smaller agencies gain a bigger stage.

CS: What advice would you give to agencies and brands thinking about what campaigns to put forward for these awards?

LJB: Put your best work forward but don't be deterred by big fish. It's the same size pond at The Capels. We do take into consideration things like money spent on case study videos and such because we want the work to be the thing that shines through. SO put your best work in because it's really exciting to see it up against everything else out there that you've probably seen before.

CS: If you yourself could win any award or accolade from outside the advertising industry for a campaign, what would it be?

LJB: I would love to say a Grammy or something like that, but the award I've always wanted to win is a very obscure one from a festival called Ars Electronica in Linz. It's been going on for over 50 years and is specifically around fine art, science and technology. They have a phenomenal festival every year and you always learn a lot.

I'd love to win one of their Golden Nica's at its Prix Ars Electronica because you would have to make something so weird and obscure and not for a brand. The categories are really cool although not advertising ones.

Some of the things that have worn have been just wild. The last time I went there was a Belgian artist who had created this really beautiful architectural installation that you put on your car that attracts pigeons to shit on your windows and turn it into soap. Pigeon d'Or. There's a science behind it that the designer, Tuur Van Balen, had been working on so it would essentially clean your car rather than dirty it. Very experimental but really interesting. But other than that a Brit Award.

Caples Awards GOLDS 2023

AUDIO

Agency: Colenso BBDO, Auckland, New Zealand

Client: Skinny Title: Phone It In

B2B

Agency: Colenso BBDO, Auckland, New Zealand

Client: Spark Title: Beyond Binary Code

Branded Content

Agency: Special Group Auckland

Client: Partners Life Title: Last Performance

Creative Use of Data

Agency: Leo Burnett Sydney

Client: Diageo Title: Bundy Mixer

Agency: Ogilvy Spain

Client: DGT Title: The 36

Digital

Agency: Forsman+Bodenfors Singapore

Client: Down Syndrome International Title: Kami

Agency: Grey London

Client: Pringles Title: Pringles NPC

Agency: MRM Santiago

Client: LATAM Airlines Title: Fly Over Monday

Agency: The Monkeys Sydney

Client: Tuvalu Title: First Digital Nation

Direct Mail

Agency: Impact BBDO Dubai

Client: UN Women Title: Child Wedding Cards

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo

Client: Royal Canadian Legion Title: Letters Home

Gaming

Agency: Grey London

Client: Pringles Title: Pringles NPC

Agency: Leo Burnett Manila

Client: McDonald’s Title: Unbranded Menu

Healthcare

Agency: Cheil Spain

Client: Samsung Title: Unfear App

Innovation

Agency: The Monkeys Sydney

Client: Tuvalu Title: First Digital Nation

Agency: VMLY&R India

Client: Unilever Title: Smart Fill

Integrated

Agency: BBDO New York

Client: Mars M&Ms Title: Spokescandies on Pause

Mobile

Agency: serviceplan Germany

Client: Dot-Go Title: Object Interaction App

New Product Launch

Agency: Leo Burnett Sydney

Client: Diageo Title: Bundy Mixer

Agency: DDB Australia

Client: Jarden Title: Creativity Index

Not for Profit

Agency: Forsman+Bodenfors Singapore

Client: Down Syndrome International Title: Kami

PR

Agency: The Monkeys Sydney

Client: Tuvalu Title: First Digital Nation

Agency: Impact BBDO

Client: AnNahar Newspaper Title: The Newspapers Inside

Agency: Impact BBDO Dubai

Client: Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation Title: #WeMissLebanon

Print

Agency: Impact BBDO

Client: AnNahar Newspaper Title: The Newspapers Inside

Agency: Havas Lisbon

Client: Raparigas da Bola Title: The Day After Women’s Day

Self-Promotion

Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo

Title: The Left-Handed Chutney Jar

Radical New Strategy

Agency: BBDO New York

Client: Mars M&Ms Title: Spokescandies on Pause

Agency: Impact BBDO

Client: AnNahar Newspaper Title: The Newspapers Inside

Agency: Innocean Berlin

Client: Wer Braucht Feminismus Title: The Vulva Spaceship

Agency: Seven.One AdFactory/White Rabbit, Budapest, Hungary

Client: Ahr Wine region Title: Flood Wine

Small Agency Award

Agency: BBD Perfect Storm London

Client: Unseen UK Title: Ukraine Welcome Message

Agency: Forsman+Bodenfors Singapore

Client: Down Syndrome International Title: Kami

Agency: Neil Dawson & Company

Client: Asics Title: Mind Games – Experiment

TV and Video

Agency: BBDO Bangkok

Client: Five Star Chicken  Title: The Movies that Made (For) Us

Agency: The Monkeys Sydney

Client: Macpac  Title: A Bit Precarious

Agency: Special Group Auckland

Client: Partners Life Title: Last Performance

All winning work can be viewed in the Winners’ Galleries at https://caples.org/winners