Major wins for DDB at the 2011 Singapore Advertising Hall of Fame Awards

In more news from the 2100 Singapore Advertising Hall of Fame Awards, DDB Group Singapore was named Advertising Agency of the Year for the third consecutive year.

The results, which were announced at the gala event on Tuesday last week, also saw Thomas Yang, the agency’s Creative Director, awarded the coveted Creative Director of the Year title. This is the second year that the award has recognized the agency’s creative talent.

As creative director, Yang works alongside Neil Johnson, Chief Creative Officer and Joji Jacob, Group Executive Creative Director. Yang has helped create work that has made DDB the most awarded Singapore agency at Cannes, D&AD, the One Show, Effies, Spikes Asia, AdFest, SPH Ink Awards and the Creative Circle Awards, two years in a row.

Joji Jacob, Group Executive Creative Director of the agency group said, “Thomas is one of a kind – his belief that strategic thinking precedes craft and that the mark of a great art director is flexibility is showcased in every piece of work he produces. He possesses a design sense that is unrestricted by any style.”

The top individual honours for the agency did not stop there, DDB’s Wendy Ong was awarded Strategic Planner of the Year and Sim Yunying was awarded the Young Professional of the Year. David Tang, president and CEO for DDB Group Singapore, received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions to the agency and the Singapore advertising industry. He was credited with leading the effectiveness drive for the industry with the Effie Singapore Awards.

In the company category, DDB also saw its client, the Singapore Health Promotion Board (HPB) clinch Brand of the Year. The agency’s creative campaigns for StarHub and the Breast Cancer Foundation also won Campaign of the Year and Print Campaign of the Year awards, respectively.

“We have a wonderful team of people who is pushing the boundary on creativity and setting new benchmarks in marketing for our clients. Personally, I’m gratified and humbled by the lifetime award. I will have to work very hard ahead to deserve this tribute,” said Tang.

These accolades come on the back of DDB Group Singapore’s recent wins at the Singapore Effie Awards – DDB was awarded three Gold and two Silver awards, claiming the title of Singapore’s Effie Agency for the eighth consecutive year. Additionally, David Tang was recently named Campaign’s Agency Head of the Year for South East Asia; and Joji Jacob was named Campaign’s Creative of the Year for South East Asia.

John Zeigler, CEO of DDB Group Asia Pacific, who was in attendance at the award ceremony said, “What we have achieved tonight is extraordinary. DDB Group Singapore is quite simply the best agency in Singapore, if not the entire region. Well done to David and his team, they’ve proven that ‘talented and nice’ can go a long way.”

The Singapore Advertising Hall of Fame Awards is a prestigious annual award ceremony organised by the Institute of Advertising Singapore, which recognises the excellence and outstanding achievements of the Singapore advertising industry.