Tony Davidson to head AdFest TV Lotus Jury

Davidson is also the current president of D&AD

Tony Davidson, executive creative director, Wieden+Kennedy, London, has been appointed as the AdFest 2008 TV Lotus jury president.

Davidson is also the current president of D&AD. He joined Wieden+Kennedy in 2000. Some of his recent prominent assignments include Nike’s Run London, ‘Aiwaworld’ online and the Honda ‘Power of Dreams’ campaign. The Honda campaign has dominated recent award shows by winning two coveted D&AD Black Pencils, the Grand Prix at Cannes and Client of the Year 2007.

Tony Davidson

Davidson started his career in advertising in 1985 as a junior art director at BMP. There he teamed up with Kim Papworth. Some of the work they created together includes the Adidas Euro ’96 ‘Nicknames’ campaign, the Tanner Krolle handbags launch campaign and a Pepe commercial. Then, in 1997, they moved to BBH and worked on clients such as Audi and Lynx. One of their most admired works is the Levi’s ‘Flat Eric’ campaign. The soundtrack of this campaign topped the charts in 10 countries.

Commenting on his appointment as the TV jury president for AdFest 2008, Davidson says, “With television advertising being eroded continuously by new and emerging mediums, the challenge for today’s TV awards is freshness of thinking. Most commercials today feel like sponsored jokes trying to win an award at Cannes. As the great Bill Bernbach said, the memorable never emerged from a formula. One of my favourite pieces of work in recent years was the campaign for Smooth E Baby Face Cream from Asia. Not only did it feel innovative, it also demonstrated the product and left the viewer feeling good about the brand.”

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