ADC Awards 2023: First Grand Prix for Wirz

The members of ADC Switzerland judged 384 entries at the annual ADC Awards and honored the most creative, outstanding and groundbreaking works. After the bronze winners were determined two weeks ago, the gold jury met on Wednesday to select the best of the best. For the first time, the ADCESG Award and the Grand Prix were awarded in addition to four gold cubes, a Student of the Year and an Evergreen.

Four times gold and an evergreen

Gold was awarded this year for "When the Debate Falls Silent" by Stories for NZZ New Zurich Newspaper (Film category), "When art has to travel" by Ruf Lanz for Welti-Furrer Fine Art (Ads category), "Punkt für Punkt" by Punkt, Punkt, Komma, Strich PPKS for Punkt, Punkt, Komma, Strich PPKS (Design category), and "Das Migros-Bier" by Wirz Group for Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund (Campaigns category).

With the Evergreen, ADC honors clients who, over a period of at least three years, have produced outstanding communications that have won awards from ADC. The Evergreen 2023 goes to "Neue Kunstzugänge" by Ruf Lanz for Museum Haus Konstruktiv.

Eleven silver cubes and one Student of the Year

Silver was awarded to "Unplay the hate" by Freundliche Grüsse and Bandara for All Out, "Digital Time Warp Collection" by Sir Mary for Beyer, "Discreet Alcohol Therapy" by Ruf Lanz for Arud Center for Addiction Medicine, "Al Mulinetto" by Farner for Al Mulinetto, "Migros Christmas 2022" by Wirz Group for Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund, "The Wool Jersey" by Thjnk Zurich for Ochsner Sport, "Pavilion Expo 2020 Dubai" by Bellprat Partner for Polish Investment and Trade Agency, "Pavilion Media Facade" by Iart for Novartis, and "The Migros Beer" by Wirz Group for Migros-Genossenschafts-Bund. There were two silver awards for "When art has to travel" by Ruf Lanz for Welti-Furrer Fine Art.

In addition, a Student of the Year was chosen. This year's winner of this cube, which is highly coveted by young talent, is Sasha Luo from the Zurich University of the Arts ZHdK with her project "In The Fridge".

First Grand Prix for Wirz

Wirz Group's "Migros Beer" for the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, which has already won gold and silver, was honored with its very first Grand Prix. "A Grand Prix is only awarded when a gold work shimmers and shines just a little bit more than the others," explains ADC President and Jury Chairman Thomas Wildberger. "If it's best-of show. When it has moved more than just our jurors, namely the whole of Switzerland. When the idea is so unique that it cannot be repeated. When it's neatly orchestrated down to the last detail and doesn't stop being fun even after the campaign has ended. Just like 'The Migros Beer'".

ADCESG Award for a better world

Also newly introduced this year was the ADCESG Award, which is intended to honor companies, agencies and productions that "also care about our planet," as ADC Switzerland puts it. As is well known, ESG stands for Environmental, Social, Governance - areas that no company can ignore anymore.

Tosson El Noshokaty, a partner at the marketing consultancy Prophet and a proven ESG expert, was present at the judging. When judging the five projects that were considered for the award, care was taken to ensure that as many ESG criteria as possible were taken into account, such as climate-neutral production, a diverse composition of the project teams on all sides, and wage transparency.

The cube itself is also ESG-compliant. It was handcrafted from local wood, contains messages in Esperanto and comes from the Biel climate activist and artist Parzival', a representative of Outsider Art and one of the most important contemporary Swiss artists.

The first ADCESG Award was won by the work "Punkt für Punkt" by Punkt, Punkt, Komma, Strich PPKS for the first inclusive and scientifically evaluated learning tool that introduces preschool children with blindness as well as with and without visual impairment to writing. Establishing an inclusive society from the very beginning, namely as a matter of course for our children, is the declared goal of this research project, which was developed in collaboration with, among others, the Heidelberg University of Education.

Frank Bodin and Walter Pfeiffer inducted into the ADC Hall of Fame

The eulogy for Frank Bodin was given by his idol Frédéric Chopin. The star composer, who died 174 years ago, experienced a revival thanks to KI. He outed himself as a fan of the star advertiser and paid tribute to his great services to the entire communications industry. Finally, in his humorous speech, he concluded that even at the age of 61, the long-time ADC president had still not outgrown the age of questions, as evidenced by his three Q's and his two books full of questions - and called on him, despite being honored, to continue his creative disobedience.

In her laudatory speech for Walter Pfeiffer, ADC board member and art historian Michelle Nicol said: "Walter Pfeiffer's photographs and films are special because they magically introduce us to an immediate world of experience that we have never encountered before. There is a tabby cat lolling in a miniature recliner just as if it were a movie star. There is a plate of gnawed melon peels on which the traces of teeth can be seen, which seems at the same time rustic, archaic, obscene, and somewhat sexy. The artist Walter Pfeiffer is a pioneer. Younger generations are inspired and look up to him: Jürgen Teller, Wolfgang Tillmans, Nan Goldin, Collier Schorr, Ryan McGinley. We are delighted that ADC will enjoy residential rights in Walter Pfeiffer's world from today."

The complete medal table for the ADC Awards 2023 is available at Adc.ch.