*Big Night for adland, big $s for BFO

The Bereaved Families of Ontario hosted over 600 members of the commercial production and advertising industry at its Big Night Out, held Oct. 27 at Toronto night spot The Joker.

bfo chair Lesley Parrott, head of television production at MacLaren McCann, estimates the net amount raised at the annual auction will clear $125,000, well surpassing her original goal of $100,000.

Imported Artists director Richard D’Alessio was a hot item on the block, fetching a top price of $4,100 from producer Nina Valiquette, who was bidding on behalf of A Band Apart, the l.a.-based company which reps D’Alessio in the u.s.

Auctioneer Barnaby Southgate, copywriter at The Wolf Group, started the bidding at $500, but the price quickly climbed as Christina Ford, Mark Hajek, Stephen Jurisic and Ross McLean battled it out.

D’Alessio will soon be on his way to l.a. where he will hold up his part of the deal and pa for a day.

Ogilvy & Mather producer Laurie Maxwell picked up an evening sipping scotch with Parrott and The Einstein Bros.’ Jody Colero purchased a $1,100 game of golf with Radke Films director Steve Gordon as the pro, Partners’ Don McLean as ball boy and MacLaren vp group creative director Jamie Way as caddy.

*AD&D Awards

Nobody told the well-coifed crowd that gray is the new black at the 50th anniversary Advertising and Design Club of Canada Awards, which drew a healthy contingent from the agency and production sectors.

Awards were given out in an array of categories – from television commercials to book covers – before a packed house at the ex-exchange space in Toronto’s Design Exchange on Oct. 22.

Among the Gold winners for tv commercials was Ikea’s ‘Corkscrew’ spot out of Roche Macaulay & Partners, directed by Larry August of Maxx Films, which won in the 15-second tv single category.

The Gold award for 30-second tv single went to the Pizza Pops ‘Car’ spot, created out of Leo Burnett and directed by Avion Films’ Martin Granger.

The 60-second Gold went to 7Up ‘Tribe,’ created by bbdo and directed by Keith Rose out of Radke Films. 7Up also took Gold campaign honors for the ‘Tribe’ and ‘Beach’ spots.

In other areas of endeavor, the The Partners’ Film Company’s Website, created by agency Garneau Wurstlin Philp and Sierra Communications, took Gold in the commercial online application category. Additional Gold awards went to those aesthetically inclined folks at Blink Pictures for their great stationery, designed by Concrete Design Communications, and Stealing Time for its numerical logo, also from Concrete.

The Pro Line spot ‘Hockey Bag’ from Promanad, directed by Radke’s Phil Kates, won Silver for 15-second tv single. ‘Toby’ for the Metro Toronto Zoo from TBWA Chiat/Day, directed by Spy Films’ Gord McWatters, won silvers for 30-second tv single and tv single, $50,000 or less.

Also cited for Silver in the 30-second single division were Special K spots ‘Designer’ and ‘Resolution.’

Silver winners in the 60-second single class were the Mike Pittman spot for Saturn from Cossette, directed by David McNally out of The Players Film Company, and 7Up’s ‘Beach.’

In the tv single retail category, Eaton’s ‘Construction Workers’ won Silver.

Three campaigns – the Zoo’s ‘Toby/Meeting/Show and Tell,’ Special K’s ‘Designer/Resolution/Fat’ and Pizza Pops’ ‘Car/Fly/Saran Wrap’ (with direction also from Revolver’s Tom McLean) – were awarded Silver.

In the cinema category, silver went to Cantel at&t’s ‘Kung Fone’ from Gee Jeffery & Partners, directed by Granger.

*Avion drops Bedford

Avion Films has severed its relationship with Bedford Falls, with the Toronto shop opting to cease representation of Bedford here.

*On the move

Luc Frappier, formerly of Zoo tv, has joined Philip Mellows’ growing team at The Players Film Company in the capacity of exec producer.

Ammirati Puris Lintas has announced the appointments of Neil McOstrich and Tom Goudie as vps, associate creative directors.

*Industry shows its wild side

A collection of Canadian creative, production and post talent recently combined high-tech with nature, mean streets and beautiful creatures for a new psa to support the protection of endangered species.

The spot, called ‘Law with Teeth,’ was created by Anderson Advertising for the International Fund for Animal Welfare-Canada and the Sierra Club of Canada.

The spot was directed by Radke Films’ Steve Gordon and brings post finesse from Dan Krech Productions and Chameleon to the task of illustrating the vulnerability of Canada’s disappearing animals.

Created by Anderson national creative director David Martin, creative director Dieter Kaufmann and writer Terry Drummond, the psa features endangered animals seemingly transplanted to hostile city environments.

The creatures – an eastern cougar, a grizzly and a whooping crane – were shot at an animal rehabilitation center in Western Canada and then composited by dkp into live-action shots of the streets of Toronto.

The spot was designed to highlight the dearth of endangered species protection measures in Canada and to coincide with the introduction of such legislation, which is expected in the next several months.

Original music for the spot is from Rosnick Mackinnon.