The AICP Awards released the Shortlists for the 2022 editions of its three competitions: The AICP Show: The Art & Technique of the Commercial, the AICP Next Awards and the AICP Post Awards. To review the full Shortlists for each competition, click here.
The Shortlists are the results of a bifurcated judging system that began earlier this year with a series of panels with experts in various fields from around the globe, nominated by their peers, who judged the work across their respective categories. The Curatorial Committees for all three shows serve as the final arbiters of the awards, confirming eligibility and appropriateness to category, as well as selecting the Best in Show for each competition. For the AICP Show, the Advertising Excellence/Campaign and Advertising Excellence are Best in Show; For the AICP Next Awards, it is the Most Next honor; and Best in Show for the AICP Post Awards.
Heading up these curatorial sessions were Mal Ward, partner/managing director of Arts & Sciences, and chairperson of the AICP Show; Scott Donaton, VP, marketing at Hulu, and judging chair for the AICP Next Awards; and Yvette Cobarrubias, co-founder and managing partner of Cosmo Street, and chairperson of the AICP Post Awards.
Honorees for all three competitions will be celebrated at live, in-person events during AICP Week, which kicks off on June 7 in New York, and culminates in a presentation at The Museum of Modern Art on June 9.
The AICP Show Shortlist
Leading the list of production companies on the AICP Show Shortlist was SMUGGLER, with a total of 23 items across the Show’s 22 categories. MJZ had the second most in the total production company Shortlist count, with 21 entries, followed by Love Song, with 13. Partizan earned eight Shortlisted entries, followed by Iconoclast and Stink, which earned seven Shortlisted entries each.
The top agency on the AICP Show Shortlist this year was Droga5, which scored 24 entries, followed by various offices of BBDO and TBWAChiatDay, which both earned a total of 17 Shortlisted entries. They were followed by Apple, whose in-house agency scored a total of 11 Shortlisted entries, and by adam&eveDDB, which posted nine Shortlisted entries.
The top brand achievements were for Apple, represented with 23 Shortlisted entries, followed by Meta which was honored with a total of 17 Shortlisted entries. Up next were Sandy Hook Promise and What’s App, both of which earned six entries on the Shortlist.
The AICP Next Awards Shortlist
The Next Awards is AICP’s competition for work in new and emerging media. Leading its roster of Shortlisted brands was Verizon, which earned nine spots on the Shortlist, followed by Apple and Nike, both of which have seven Shortlisted entries. Work entered for Google scored five Shortlist spots, while four entries were credited to work for Change the Ref, Inc.; the consortium of brands and causes including PERIOD., August, OffLimits, Free the Period, Ignite, No More Secrets and The Flow Initiative; and Sephora.
The list of Shortlisted agencies in the Next Awards was dominated by R/GA, which earned 23 spots, shared between its offices in Buenos Aires, California, London, New York and Portland. It was followed by 72andSunny, which earned eight Shortlist spots, followed by Verizon Creative Marketing, the brand’s in-house agency, which earned seven. Leo Burnett and TBWA Media Arts Lab tied with six Shortlist entries each.
Among production companies, R/GA again was at the top of the Next Awards list with 23 Shortlisted entries, followed by Verizon Creative Marketing with seven entries and m ss ng p eces with five. Tied with four Shortlist entries each was Hungry Man, Schrom Studios and TBWAMedia Arts Lab.
The AICP Post Awards Shortlist
AICP Post Awards winners honors are unique among the AICP Awards in that they’re presented to individual postproduction artists and not companies. Topping the list of Shortlisted artists this year was sound designer and mixer Sam Ashwell of the audio postproduction company 750mph, with a total of seven Shortlisted entries; six of which he shared with fellow 750mph mixer Michalis Anthis, who was the second-most recognized artist in the Post Awards, and one with 750mph mixer Mark Hellaby.
The Cut+Run Editor Beau Dickinson tied Anthis for Shortlist honors, also with a total of six entries, followed by the sound designers and mixers Charles Deenen of Source Sound, Inc., and sound designer Raphael Anjuelos of Meta Creative X, both of whom earned four Shortlisted entries.
In terms of aggregate Shortlist honors per post production company, the artists associated with the color grading studio Company 3 collectively earned 17 Shortlist mentions, followed by artists with The Mill, which earned 14 Shortlist mentions. (The Mill shared an additional Shortlist entry with MPC.) They were followed by Shortlist totals of 13 for Cut+Run, 12 for Work Editorial and 10 for Final Cut.
The list of agencies whose work was recognized in the Post Awards was led by Droga5, which lapped the field with a total of 27 Shortlist mentions, versus 11 for various offices of BBDO (including Energy BBDO, BBDO Proximity, BBDO New York and BBDO SF). Work created for Innocean was recognized with 11 Shortlisted entries, followed by eight for work from Saatchi & Saatchi offices in Australia, Los Angeles and New York. (This includes one Shortlist entry that was shared with Dentsu.) Also represented with eight entries were various offices of McCann, including McCann New York, Commonwealth McCann and 215 McCann.
Brands whose work was recognized with Shortlist achievement included Meta, with 14 entries; Hyundai, with 10; The New York Times, with nine; and five entries each for Chevrolet, Samsung and Toyota.
