2013 Siren Awards Winners Announced

The ad "Set Fire to Your Hair", part of the "Dumb Ways to Die" campaign for Metro Trains Melbourne, has won the 2013 Gold Siren award for best radio ad of the year. The ad, written by John Mescall and Pat Baron from agency McCann in Melbourne, also won a Silver Siren for winning the single category and the campaign also won the campaign category, announced today at a breakfast in Sydney.

The ad, "Set Fire to your Hair", and campaign, "Dumb Ways to Die", aims to spread a rail safety message, using a catchy tune and black humour. The campaign includes three ads: "Set Fire to your Hair", "Sell Both Your Kidneys" and "Eat a Tube of Superglue",

The campaign gained worldwide viral momentum when it was launched in November last year. Within 24 hours of its release, the song was in the top 10 on the iTunes chart and a video released on YouTube was reportedly viewed 28 million times within two weeks.

The Silver Siren winner for the craft category was an ad for anti-bullying organisations, including Bullying No Way, Project Rockit and Reach Out, called "Earphone Bully", produced by sound engineers, Ralph van Dijk and Michael Bates, from production studio, Eardrum in Sydney.

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