our man on the ground Ash enlightened us on some of the latest and greatest banners from This years Cyber lions.

Looking through the list of banner-esque entries, the thing that really stood out for me is beverages (in general) the cocacola company coming in 2 laps ahead of all others.

From Japan this 18mb monster page takeover:

View it here if you can afford it.

And these, a series of over animated Frank Miller appropriations:

One of which we've grappled into BB space here ...

Then we move onto the join a pal on MSN in the Happiness Factory (Does anyone use MSN anymore?) , pretty cool I guess if it works they way they say....

Then there is the Grip banner... (see it in action here):

...and Shake banners respectively using oldskool banner interactions in a fun way - my personal preference being the latter for what it's worth (cant get it to load the best bit so an image will have to do):

And there's even more...

ZeroZero7 (see it here):

This cocacola karaoke "thing" again using MSN:

all that without even mentioning the CC brand Sprite drink. I believe pepsico are represented by a lone entry for Gatorade...

phew after all that I'm really thirsty... groan.

The digital side of Australia has pulled out a record year with 4 nominations and 2 In-Book in this year's D&AD.

3 Nominations came by way of "Mobile Marketing" which makes sense as Australia has more mobiles than people.

Mobile: Sydney Dogs & Cats Home: Throw Us A Bone: M&C Saatchi/Mark view here

Mobile: Sony Australia: Quantum of Solace Campaign: Euro RSCG Australia view part of it here

Mobile: United Nations: UN Voices Project: Saatchi & Saatchi Australia view here

Brand Applications: TED696 Project: BMF view here

In-book:
Viral: Pony / Clown / Lollipop: Clemenger BBDO for their Offset the Evil viral videos.
Note: they were not originally distributed via Youtube which might explain the low view rates

Broadcast Innovations: ABC: The Gruen Transfer: Three Drunk Monkeys View the ad mixer here

This is Australia's best showing at D&AD for digital.

Australia has pulled a record haul for this years OneShow Interactive finalists. Pulling in 9 finalists. With N.Z not far behind with 7. This is a better showing than in the other disciplines.

One thing worth noting is that besides Resn in NZ no other awards were one by dedicated digital shops. All by integrated agencies. The Clemenger network did very well with 7 of the noms coming from an agency with Clemenger BBDO in its name.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Australia
01A: Single - Banners - Fixed Space Mercedes-Benz Let's Talk
03A: Microsites - Corporate Image NAB NAB Community

Clemenger BBDO Sydney Australia
05A: Brand Gaming - Online Sega Pony Heart Quest
09B: Online Branded Content - Campaign Sega Offset the Evil

GPY&R Melbourne Australia
06A: Branded Applications - Web Spring Valley Sensibles

Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney Australia
07B: Mobile - Campaign United Nations UN Voices Project

CumminsNitro Brisbane South Brisbane Australia
11A: Other Interactive Digital Media - Single or Campaign Tourism Queensland The Best Job in the World

BMF Pyrmont Australia
12B: Integrated Branding - Interactive and Non-Interactive Lion Nathan Australia TED 696 Project

Mark Sydney Australia
14E: Public Service - Mobile Sydney Dogs & Cats Home Throw Us A Bone

And N.Z

Clemenger BBDO Wellington New Zealand
01A: Single - Banners - Fixed Space New Zealand Transport Agency Distracted Drivers
14A: Public Service - Banners - Fixed Space New Zealand Transport Agency Distracted Drivers

Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland New Zealand
01A: Single - Banners - Fixed Space TVNZ Stealth Banner

The Hyperfactory Auckland New Zealand
07A: Mobile - Single Coca-Cola Europe Fanta More Play - Augmented Reality Tennis

Resn Wellington New Zealand
09A: Online Branded Content - Single Luke Buda Special Surprise

Colenso BBDO Auckland New Zealand
11A: Other Interactive Digital Media - Single or Campaign New Zealand Book Council Read A Book At Work

Aim Proximity Auckland New Zealand
12B: Integrated Branding - Interactive and Non-Interactive The Yellow Pages Group Yellow Treehouse

We'll have to wait until early May to find out who takes home the metal pencils.

Congrats to the agencies and the teams. I was surprised a few more Aussie and NZ campaigns didn't make the cut but this is still a great result for a region that usually shits on it's own work and standard of the industry so much.

Quick update from Oneshow Interactive judging for 2009.

Twitter feed while judging is going well. Official # is #oneshow

Iain's take on why the Japanese work is awesome. I felt the same way. Also the Japanese CD's are all so nice too. Something in the water.

Michael "Webowitz"'s thoughts on Day 1

And me being who I am I found these two sites funny for different reasons

Tomorrow is another day of solitary judging followed by two days of group discussion. Looking forward to those days

I'm off tomorrow to NY for One Show. Arriving a week early for the Australia Digital Mission followed by a week with Michael and the gang with One Show judging. (one sexy jury!)

You can follow my Twitter as I will be posting like a mad cat. Probably good to follow Michael Lebowitz too as he's the chairman.

So back to pre-judging! Expect a barrage of new banner posts