Levi’s Ad Wins Clio

A series of humorous TV commercials for Little Caesars Pizza and a Nike ad in which soccer players compete against the devil were among the top prize winners Friday at the 37th Annual Clio Awards in San Francisco, the best-known awards ceremony for advertising.

But the Grand Clio for TV ads went to a grainy black-and-white British commercial for Levi’s 501 jeans. In it, a rural teenager buys a condom from a druggist, stuffs it in the watch pocket of his Levi’s 501 jeans, then discovers when he arrives at his girlfriend’s home that her father is the druggist. The father is outraged but the couple goes out anyway. The ad is by Partizan/Midi/Minuit of London.

The pizza ad series, by Cliff Freeman & Partners of New York, includes one in which delivery boys are trained to ring doorbells, dodge dogs and deliver pizza in the Gobi Desert. It earned five gold Clios, including one for best national campaign, plus a Hall of Fame Clio.

The Nike ad, which won a gold Clio, is by Weiden & Kennedy of Amsterdam.