This month’s Aerial Award winner announced

M&C Saatchi group chief creative officer, Justin Tindall chooses Heart UK ‘LuvDub’ as this month’s winner of the Aerial Awards, a monthly celebration of the best of British radio advertising and the people who make it happen.

Congratulations to Alicia Dews and Gary McNulty, creatives at Havas Lynx Group. Here’s what Justin had to say:

“It has been loved. The words are carefully chosen – no doubt the result of many self-imposed rewrites. The voiceover is fresh, modern and intriguing, and perfectly pitched to keep me interested until the end – no doubt the result of trawling through the increasingly overwhelming options.

Meanwhile, the production is considered and reassuringly well crafted – no doubt the result of the team’s refusal to be complicit in our industry’s growing “good enough” culture.

Whoever wrote this ad cared about it. And whatever you do, if you care about it, you do it better.”

Our Head of Creative Development Clare Milner had this to say of the winner:

“Whether it’s on a smartphone, on a kitchen shelf or streamed courtesy of Alexa, listeners have an emotional relationship with their radio. This intimacy makes radio rich territory for heart-tugging charity ads. (Radio also returns an average of £16.70 for every £1 spent within the sector, so pretty compelling from an effectiveness point of view too.) That said, with a common emotive objective, it can be a challenge for charities to find a truly distinctive voice.

This spot for Heart UK is lovingly written in iambic pentameter which (as I reckon Shakespeare would agree) is a pretty powerful way to create drama and command attention. I always like radio ads where there is creative resonance between medium and message. Here the de-dum, de-dum meter echoes the human heartbeat simply and brilliantly.

Heart disease of makes us think of old men on golf courses. This ad is an important reminder that women also need to pay attention to their heart health.

A well-deserved Aerial win for Alicia and Gary at Havas and thanks to Justin Tindall at M&C Saatchi for judging.”

Listen to the winning work below:

If you’ve worked on a great radio ad, enter free here for your chance to win, and read Justin’s tips on advertising on radio here.