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TheBuzz
Erika Engle
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TV spot shot in Hawaii aces advertising competition
AN Oahu-shot TV ad campaign for
CDW Corp. has won a top award from the Business Marketing Association of New York City.
The competition draws entries from far and wide for Ace Awards in 40 categories. Of those, Illinois-based CDW and its longtime agency, JWT (as in, J. Walter Thompson), won for best TV campaign Monday night.
The "We're There" campaign comprised four sequential commercials featuring a castaway named Greg and his simian sidekick Kevin -- who, in the first spot, send a message for help in a bottle and become CDW business clients.
Would that shipping to Hawaii were as easy as shown -- but that's another column for another day.
The relationship between Greg, Kevin and their CDW guy Bob expands over the next three spots, as Greg and Kevin show that business can in fact be conducted on the beach, even with one of Mokulua islands in the background.
Naturally, the company was "thrilled to be recognized ... for creative excellence in implementing a campaign that successfully communicates our core messages," said Mark Gambill, vice president of marketing, in a statement.
While the TV campaign took the prize in its category and appeared on national television channels, the more than $50 million in media buys also included print and online components.
TheBuzz first reported on the spots in January, when only the first two could be viewed at the CDW Web site, but now all four are there.
In a plus for Oahu's film office, CDW's public relations firm kindly mentioned in the award-announcing release that the spots were filmed on the island.
In a bit of industry-related irony, CDW's PR is handled by Ogilvy Public Relations, part of the gi-normous Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. Ogilvy's mainstays are advertising and marketing; the company was cited 18 times on the list of Ace Award winners, runners up and third-place recipients.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin. Call 529-4747, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210, Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached at:
eengle@starbulletin.com