McMillan claims top ADMA award

A sell out crowd of over 650 guests rocked up the lavish ADMA Awards ceremony at Melbourne's Crown Casino, the venue transformed into place of worship by the evening's 'Holy Grail' theme. A pope, several priests and other religious figures made their pious presence felt at the presentation, which was then followed by dinner and dancing in 'Heaven'.

Trophies were awarded to a broader range of companies than in previous years, but it was the prestigious Grand Prix Award that received the most attention from attendees. Sydney-based advertising agency M&C Saatchi collected the prize for its Optus Ambassador campaign, a project worked on by the McMillan Print Group that also collected gold and silver gongs in the DM Effectiveness and Best in Class Art Direction categories.

Robert McMillan, owner of the McMillan Print Group, says his organisation worked closely alongside M&C Saatchi and Optus during the campaign's development, providing its extensive production knowledge to the process.

“It should be noted that the DM Grand Prix Award is not an automatic annual award, but is only awarded when a Direct Marketing piece reaches a very high level of marketing excellence,” says McMillan.

The campaign targeted the members of Qantas' exclusive Chairman's Lounge, and is credited with assisting Optus exceed initial sales targets by an impressive 223 per cent.


(Picking up the Grand Prix prize, L to R: Dave King from M&C Saatchi, Pip Davies from Optus, Graeme John from Australia Post, Kimberlee Wells and Joan Lind from M&C Saatchi)

The McMillan Print Group's expertise was also recognised at other points throughout the evening, with other projects the company worked on picking up gold, silver and bronze awards in the Telecommunications Category, a silver award in the Banking, Finance, Insurance and Investment category, as well as a bronze award in the mail Order and Subscriptions category.

Mike Chuter, from Cubed Communications and on the judging panel, says he was impressed by the large increase of exciting direct mail entries for this year's awards, emphasising it as reflective of the industry's strength.

“There was some extraordinary work that delivered far beyond expectations which clearly shows just how accountable and effective direct marketing can be. A lot of industry awards only recognise the creative elements of a campaign, so I'm pleased to be involved in not only celebrating the creative excellence our industry has to offer, but also rewarding those campaigns that are producing real and tangible results.”