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Badillo, EJE, big winners at Cuspide awards ceremony

Screenshot of Badillo's television campaign for Toyota Yaris.

Badillo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi was the big winner of Friday night’s 29th edition of the Cuspide advertising industry awards, nabbing eight awards for campaigns executed over the past year for clients Toyota de Puerto Rico and the United Way.

While Badillo was also named agency of the year, Toyota walked away with the “Client of the Year” distinction for its support of the agency’s “creative ideas and betting on good advertising, even during times of recession,” said Jorge Bauzá, chairman of Cuspide’s judging committee, during a news conference Friday morning.

The evening’s posh celebration took place at La Concha, A Renaissance Resort in San Juan, when the night’s second most honored winner, DDB EJE Puerto Rico walked away with five awards. The agency earned one of those prizes for a campaign developed for client V. Suárez aired during last year’s soccer world cup event.

DDB EJE's ad for V. Suárez's Real Kill product

In all, 29 awards were handed out during the Cúspide celebration among 74 finalists pulled out from 421 participations. The evening’s other big winners were: Y&R Puerto Rico, with four accolades; J. Walter Thompson and Draftfcb, with three each; and Leo Burnett, Sajo García & Partners, and De La Cruz & Associates with two each. A total of 17 agencies participated in this year’s competition.

“We face a changing world, where technology and the economy are impacting the behavior of our consumers,” said Carmen Cedré, president of the Cúspide awards ceremony. “Advertising agencies face an economic environment where the industry’s revenue source has fallen significantly, however it is imperative that we have the best talent to produce more intelligent and effective campaigns. With the reduction of revenue in the industry it is increasingly difficult for all agencies to maintain an optimal level of service with a superior quality of ideas.”

Controversy over winners selection process
Cúspide is the most prestigious event for the island’s advertising industry, and is recognized and respected by the media and advertisers.

This year’s event, however, was not without it’s share of controversy, as early Friday, an industry executive harshly criticized the process through which competition winners are chosen, saying it has been tainted.

Aníbal Quiñones, who is a creative director at EJE, published an open letter on Facebook addressed to Cúspide’s judging panel, chastising the fact that most of the members have been at their posts for many years and are no longer effective.

“After years of seeing each other’s faces, bringing to the judgment a vendetta over ‘that piece that was killed’ or ‘the rule that was invented so that we could not win’ has transformed a process created to reward work into one used to punish it,” he said in his extensive letter in which he also called for dissolving the panel and putting the judging process in the hands of creative directors.

Late Friday, Quiñones’ letter had received an overwhelming amount of support from industry peers who supported his proposal of overhauling the Cúspide competition.

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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