•HALO 3 WINS BIG AT ADC AND ANDY AWARDS> The epic integrated campaign for Halo 3 from agency McCann-Erickson/T.A.G. San Francisco, with interactive collaboration from AKQA picked up five golden cubes, one silver and two distinctive merit certificates (including one for Stimmung, who contributed the music for the broadcast spot "Believe") at the Art Directors Club Awards. Leo Burnett was the most-awarded agency with eight cubes, while three campaigns picked up awards in the first-ever Hybrid category, which recognizes innovative use of media: Wieden+Kennedy's "Beijing Attack City" for Nike China, Projector, Tokyo's UNIQLOCK for UNIQLO Japan and Anomaly's "Keep A Child Alive" for iPhone. For the full list of winners, head to the ADC's website.

The night before, the Halo 3 campaign nabbed the Grandy at the Andy Awards presented at Skylight Studios in New York City. McCann/T.A.G. SF also snagged the Yahoo! Big Idea Chair for Halo 3. "It's getting increasingly difficult to believe that a stand-alone TV spot is going to have any real impact these days," said Mother London CD and founding partner Mark Waites, also serving as honorary chairman of the Andy Awards for this year. "There has to be other elements to a successful campaign. The 2008 Grandy, the Best in Show, was won by an incredible integrated campaign that engaged on many levels across many mediums." Big overall winners at the show included TBWA's network with 18 awards; BBDO with 14; Leo Burnett's network with 10; Crispin Porter + Bogusky and DDB with six; and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners SF and Saatchi & Saatchi New York each taking five. The Richard T. O'Reilly Award for Best of Show in Public Service Announcement advertising went to droga5 for The Tap Project, while the Glenn C. Smith Scholarship, given to the ANDY Student Competition winners, went to a team from the Miami Ad School, art director Roy Torres and copywriter Anthony Falvo, for their print work for Scrabble on Scrubiks Cube.

•WEBBY AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED> Organizers of the 12th Annual Webby Awards have unveiled this year's crop of winners. Among the ad agencies picking up honors are Ogilvy Interactive in the fashion category for Louis Vuitton's global branding effort, "Journeys"; AKQA in the "best use of animation/motion graphics" category for Coca-Cola "Happiness Factory: Now Hiring"; Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in the beverage category for Milk "Get The Glass" and Big Spaceship and BBDO, New York for HBO Voyeur. For the complete list of winners and "People's Voice" winners, go here.

•HUSSEIN CHALAYAN CREATES 'TUNNEL' INSTALLATION FOR ABSOLUT> After two years in development, a 15-meter long, five-meter high art installation created by acclaimed fashion designer Hussein Chalayan for Absolut Vodka is set to debut in Mexico City this week. The vodka brand gave the designer free reign to create the traveling installation, The Level Tunnel, which will tour to Athens and Paris later this year. Made of fiberglass, leather and glass, the Tunnel promises to "capture the essence" of Level Vodka as visitors wander blindfolded, experiencing a gentle breeze and flute music played using vodka bottle glass on their way to a tasting. Before entering, participants will be outfitted with a heart monitor that will project their heartbeats to the outside of the Tunnel. For more information, check out the project blog and the making of video.
http://levelvodka.com/tunnel

•KBP'S RANDY COHEN PASSES AWAY> The ad world is saddened by the passing of Randy Cohen, vice president, director of broadcast at New York's kirshenbaum bond + partners. The 49-year-old died peacefully on Friday, April 25 after a battle with cancer. A statement from the agency noted his "great spirit and love for life" as well as his "commitment and dedication to superior work." Before coming to kbp, Cohen had worked as a freelance agency producer on projects for Wieden + Kennedy and Publicis among others. Prior to that, he'd been with Deutsch for seven years.

Cohen is survived by his daughter, Mikaela, his former wife, Suzi Cohen, and his sister, Sharon Horowitz. In honor of Randy, kbp has established the Randy Cohen Production Internship, a summer program beginning this June that will help mentor and support young professionals interested in broadcast and production. For more information on the internship, please contact Mira Fein at mfein@kb.com. UPDATE: Also, on Tuesday, May 20, friends, family and industry colleagues are encouraged to attend a celebration of his life at SOB's, 200 Varick St., New York City, from 3-6pm. As there is also a fund being set up for Randy's daughter Mikaela, there will be more information available at the event regarding how to donate.

•CHARACTER DESIGN CONFERENCE TO HIT NEW YORK>The annual Berlin-based character art and design conference Pictoplasma will hold its first event in New York on September 5 and 6. Pictoplasma NYC promises to be an artist-centric event and will feature speakers Friends With You, Motomichi Nakamura, Hornet's Aaron Stewart, Colonel Blimp director David O'Reilly, Fons Schiedon, Tim Biskup, Gangpol & Mit and Akinori Oishi.
http://www.pictoplasma.com/nyc

•HPA AWARDS CALL FOR ENTRIES>The Hollywood Post Alliance has put out a call for entries for the third annual HPA Awards, an award show that recognizes creativity in post production. The show takes place in Los Angeles on November 6 and the deadline to enter is August 1. For more information, visit HPA's website.

•DIESEL BOX OFFICE LAUNCHES IN NEW YORK>Screening series Diesel Box Office 2008 has partnered with digital studio Idealogue and global creative community Flux to show upcoming indie films in New York and Los Angeles. The first film shown will be Bruce MacDonald's The Tracy Fragments on May 6 at the Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick St. @ Laught St.). DJ Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene will spin at the after party.
http://www.thetracyfragments.com

•VOLITION'S HANES WRITES 'HOW TO' BOOK ABOUT SPOT MUSIC> Volition Sound Branding's Wendell Hanes has written a new book through AuthorHouse Publishing called "The 30-30 Career: Making 30 Grand in 30 Seconds/Producing Music for Commercials". The composer interviews several of the top names in ad music including Amber Music's Michelle Curran, JSM's Joel Simon, Sacred Noise's Michael Montes, Grey Worldwide's Josh Rabinowitz and Ogilvy & Mather's Karl Westman as well as music industry legends such as Russell Simmons and Wynton Marsalis. Volume 2 is expected in the fall.
http://www.authorhouse.com

AKQA London has launched broadcast division called AKQA Film, which will produce feature films, branded content and entertainment programming and content.
http://www.akqa.com

Bicoastal Anonymous Content has signed director John Osborne.
http://www.anonymouscontent.com

Bicoastal/London/Rio-based Hungry Man has signed filmmaker Nanette Burstein (American Teen) for global spot rep.
http://www.hungryman.com

London's Stink has signed directing duo DarkFibre (Mark Hawker and Ishbel Whitaker) for worldwide spot rep.
http://www.stink.tv

Grey, New York has hired Don McKinney, formerly a partner at Seattle's Cole & Weber United, as executive creative director/director of digital development.
http://www.grey.com

New York-based music house Elias Arts has announced that CEO Martin Pazzani will step down in May to focus on company developmental ventures.
http://www.eliasarts.com

New York digital agency R/GA has hired Ian Spalter as creative director in the Mobile and Emerging Platforms group.
http://www.rga.com

New York-based digital agency Perfect Fools has appointed Karen Monahan (formerly with R/GA) as managing director.
http://www.perfectfools.com

New York-based The Hypefactory has hired Roald R. van Wyk, previously of JWT New York, as creative director on mobile integration.
http://www.thehypefactory.com

Riot, New York has hired animation supervisor Matt Hackett.
http://www.rioting.com

Portland's @Large Films has signed director Todd Korgan.
http://www.atlargefilms.com

Sherman Oaks-based Avatarlabs has hired Alan Chapman as production designer.
http://www.avatarlabs.com