D&AD, one of the world’s most respected awards shows celebrating brilliance in commercial creativity, required a campaign to announce that the 2019 awards competition was open for entries. The brief was to ensure Japan’s best talent were well informed and motivated to enter. As a major part of the campaign, a series of 3 posters was created to be featured at various locations and attract the attention of a multitude of creatives. The budget was 5k USD to execute all the assets, including illustrations, printing and placement. 10 posters were placed at the ADMT and Good Design awards exhibitions (2nd 3rd and 4th November 2018).

The idea was simple; if you know D&AD well enough to recognize its logo without seeing it in its entirety, then you must be someone making the kind of work that’s worthy of entering. So, as the headline reads, ‘For those who see it, entries now open.’ At once, the idea is both a respectful wink for anyone knowing D&AD well enough, but also an encouraging prompt to enter the show you greatly respect.

The idea used the iconic yellow pencil that is synonymous with the best work recognized at D&AD. The design was kept simple, almost abstract, showcasing different parts of the pencil in each visual to emphasis the message “those who see it” know what D&AD quality looks like and are the ones who have the mindset to potentially earn a pencil.

As one of the world’s most respected awards shows celebrating brilliance in commercial creativity, D&AD required material to present a call to action encouraging Japan’s best creative talent to submit their work into the 2019 competition. This was a piece of communication that not only existed within Japan but spoke to the very creative community that produces award-winning work year on year. It therefore needed to have a tone and manner that felt in line with a Japanese design aesthetic and was also of a quality that matches and inspires the work that will be entered.

From the 2nd to the 10th of November 1000 filers were distributed at major design, communication and branding agencies/studios, plus at the ADMT and Good Design awards exhibitions (2nd 3rd and 4th November 2018), as well as bookstores and art galleries in major cities in Japan.

The campaign was placed in more locations than any other previous campaign for D&AD, but as the competition is still ongoing ,the local representative of D&AD in Japan couldn’t provide results in terms of new applications vs. the previous year.