British Arrows Awards 2014: Winners Announced

The who’s who of the advertising world was out in force last night (Wednesday 26 March) for The British Arrows Awards Ceremony 2014, one of the most celebrated UK events in the industry’s social calendar.

The ceremony certainly lived up to its reputation, as more than a thousand guests gathered for the black tie event at London’s Battersea Evolution.

The evening saw adam&eveDDB claim the coveted Agency of the Year award and Outisder scoop the equally sought after Production Company of The Year.

Commercial of the Year was snapped up by Unilever for its controversial Marmite Rescue, directed by James Rouse. Foodies also threw their hands together for McDonald’s as the fast food chain won Advertiser of Excellence.

Smiles beamed for Nick Gill of BBH as he took to the stage to be presented with The Chairman’s Award. Gill has been in advertising since 1984 and has produced award-winning work for the likes of Volkswagen, Schweppes, The Guardian, Budweiser and London Transport as well as working as a creative director on Nike. He was made executive creative director of BBH in 2008.

The gold Arrows also had heads turning as the likes of BMB, hla, 4Creative and Biscuit Filmworks walked away with the top prizes.

The heart-warming Simon the Ogre advert, created by Chistopher Keatinge and Dan Bennett from BMB for TUi Travel and Thomson Holidays, had heads nodding as it bagged gold for Best Creative Team.

The iconic John Lewis The Bear & The Hare created by adam&eveDDB walked away with Best Integrated and the stop-and-think Morning After ad made by QI Productions for AMVBBDO won Public Service Advertising.

The gold for Fashion went to Outsider for the Harvey Nichols Christmas ad Sorry I Spent it on Myself, directed by James Rouse.

The Vehicles and Automotive Products gold award went to Nexus for Honda UK Hands, directed by Smith & Foulkes. The ad also won the Best Commercial of the Year at November 2013’s shots Awards.

The silver and bronze categories also recognised some interesting work, with 4Creative turning heads for the Channel 4 Grand National Street Race, directed by Keith McCarthy, and MJZ scooping the prize for Alcoholic Drinks with Carlsberg The Ride, directed by Juan Cabral.

As well as celebrating the work of inspiring creatives, guests at the event enjoyed a prosecco reception, dinner and entertainment. Popular comedian Jack Whitehall compared the event, wowing the crowd with his quick wit.

British Arrows Chairman Robert Cbell declared 2014’s event a resounding success and said he was delighted with the quality of the year’s work on the night.

He added: “The Arrows are a special and wonderful event, and 2014 has been another record year, with 618 entries, which were painstakingly whittled down to 16 gold and 47 silver winners. A massive thanks goes to Kim Papworth for doing a fantastic job of heading up this year’s jury. And thanks also goes to the 21 Jury members, who gave up so much of their time and showed great passion and insight. They spent three long days in careful debate and deliberation. The result, I am sure you will agree, is a brilliant representation of the last year’s work.”

You can read our full interview with Cbell here

View a full list of the award winners here