Controversial Canadian-made ad nominated for Creative Media Awards

Starcom MediaVest Group has received four nominations for its media work with clients Kraft Canada and Proctor and Gamble in the 2009 Creative Media Awards, sponsored by MediaPost Communications. One of these nominations was for controversial ad that some felt breached industry ad:editorial guidelines. The ad, for Kraft's Tassimo coffee machine, appeared in Style at Home magazine last November.

Starcom was the only Canadian firm nominated as finalists for the New York-based awards, and was recognized in four categories: Creative, Consumer Magazines, Media Plan and Newspapers, according to a story in Media in Canada.

The Kraft nods were earned in Consumer Magazines and Creative for the Kraft Tassimo "Clearly Engaging" campaign, which negotiated the editorial/advertising divide to place clear acetate overlays of the Tassimo brewer before an editorial image of a kitchen countertop, thereby laying the coffee maker ad on top of the editorial spread.

Meanwhile, the P&G acknowledgements in Media Plan and Newspapers followed the "Swiffer Condo Program," which used media including commuter newspapers, subway cars and magazines to surprise audiences by integrating advertising and editorial content, this time by sweeping up or "Swiffering" editorial content from the pages of the newspaper onto the Swiffer ad on the back cover, for instance.

The awards will be handed out in New York City Sept. 23.

Related posts:

• Style at Home was prepared to accept use of edit page for coffee-maker ad