Arnold Worldwide CCO Pete Favat

On his third day judging ANDY Awards entries in New Orleans, Arnold Worldwide CCO discovers a few new nascent brands, such as Qwitter, Wake The Fuck Up coffee and Naked Pizza.

“We went through about 198 video entries yesterday,” ANDY Awards co-chair Ty Montague announced this morning with a pause. “Today we need to get through 480.” Buckle up and grab a pot of coffee. It’s gonna be a long day. I noticed a brand of coffee in a store on Bourbon Street last night. It was called “Wake the fuck up.” I wish I’d bought some.

Pete Favat captures a moment of buyer's remorse.

So here we go. Starting with TV. A great, huge spot is playing. It’s for one of my most favorite products on the planet: Guinness. It’s pretty amazing looking at men pulling the earth together, building the forests and covering the mountain tops with sod. And like almost all the Guinness spots, this “Bring it to life” idea ends on the most gorgeous pint of Guinness ever. I am looking forward to tonight already.

It seems that Dos Equis has replaced Budweiser in the radio category. I’m not sayin’… I’m just sayin’. You know? Funny idea, “The most interesting man in the world.” Some of the lines have all the judges laughing. Which, by the way, is hard to do in a room with 24 creatives who are mostly all from different parts of the world. “ He knows how to speak French… in Russian” draws a collective snort.

Animation is up there — a lot of greatness going on here. I love animation so I am glued to my seat watching every frame.

Tough category to win in. Seems like the big brands all played with it this year. There’s great stuff from Microsoft, Coke and Jack Daniels. All very different. I have always told creatives that, in execution, animation can be such a great way to connect people to brands because the graphic design can be so sticky and linked to graphic cues of the product. The Coke bottle silhouette and the Jack label are some of the most iconic designs ever.

Time for some whittling in the print hall next door. We all grab our score sheets and study print ads. Without a doubt this category is suffering. I think we need a public service campaign to save print ads. There are some highlights. A very cool idea for Tide detergent catches eyes.

ANDYs jurors mull over print submissions.

At a break, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles CCO Rob Schwartz comes up to me, pops out his iPhone and snaps a shot of a t-shirt I made a few months ago. It’s my little push back on Twitter. Qwitter. I joke and tell him it’s my “anti- social network.” Nothing comes of it until about two hours later and I get a text: “Dude, your Qwitter shirt is a big hit on Twitter. ” Oh shit, I think, am I gonna need a lawyer now?

Pete Favat's 'Qwitter' shirt is a minor sensation on Twitter.

The day rolls on. One cool thing that happened today was VCU Brandcenter director Rick Boyko introduced us to two guys named Jeff and Randy. They make Naked Pizza. “Rethinking the food supply from plow to plate is our generation’s civil rights movement.” They are launching a pizza that has “fewer calories, all natural, multi-grain crust, probiotics, more protein, no added sugar, no trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup.” And it’s damn good. Look for it in a store coming your way. What a cool idea. Use pizza to educate people on how to eat better. Too bad they didn’t enter it in the show.

Peace out,

Pete