By Adrian Cheong

Creative agency BBH Asia-Pacific emerged the big winner at SPH iink Awards 2012 held at the Avalon nightclub last Friday.

It was crowned the iink Creative Agency of the Year, after winning two Gold awards in the English Print Single and English Print Campaign categories.

The agency also claimed the top prize of the evening - the Grand Prix - for its "Essentials" series of advertisements.

The campaign was created for NTUC Income Insurance Co-Operative, and depicted life insurance as a simple, essential item that is affordable - similar to the rice, bread and milk shown in the creatives.

The ads' clean, uncluttered look and clear message resonated with the judges, and showed that a simple, brilliant idea is all it takes for a successful advertising campaign.

BBH Asia-Pacific won a cash prize of $8,000 for claiming the Grand Prix.

For copywriter Daniel Ko, winning the iink Creative Agency of the Year was truly special.

He said: "Our agency is known more for its regional work. To win the iink Creative Agency of the Year for work we developed locally for a Singaporean brand is very meaningful and significant to us."

BBH's media partner for the ad campaign, PHD Singapore, also had a good night at the SPH iink Awards.

In addition to its wins for the "Essentials" campaign, the media agency won the Gold and Bronze awards in the Print Creative Media Buy category for client Asia Square's ads designed by TBWA Singapore.

PHD Singapore also claimed the title of iink Media Agency of the Year.

PHD Singapore's associate business director, Ms Jessica Lok, said: "We do not see this as a sole victory. It was really a combination of a solid creative with creative agencies and clients that dared to challenge media norms."

The SPH iink Awards, organised by Singapore Press Holdings, honours the best advertisements and the creative people behind them.

To recognise creative and effective advertisements in SPH's whole spectrum of media platforms, three new categories were added this year, namely Digital, Radio and Out-of-Home.

myp@sph.com.sg

Get my paper for more stories.