Welcome to the Ness Awards, a highly subjective rundown of the best content and content-related executions this year. These are campaigns, articles, books, videos, and other content programs that resonated with me and “worked”. Let’s get to it.
Best Longform Journalism
The New Yorker: What Happens to All the Stuff We Return?
The Guardian: A beautiful, broken America: what I learned on a 2,800-mile bus ride from Detroit to LA
The New York Times: The Clean Energy Future Is Arriving Faster Than You Think
The Ringer: The Making of Tom Wambsgans
The New York Times: What Was Twitter, Anyway?
The New Yorker: Is the Army’s New Tactical Bra Ready for Deployment?
Politico: The Crisis Over American Manhood Is Really Code for Something Else
The New Yorker: The End of the English major
Best Documentary: The Pigeon Tunnel
The thought of two graying white guys in conversation for over an hour doesn’t seem like a good idea for a documentary, but when the two men are masters of storytelling, it’s fascinating. I found The Pigeon Tunnel to be the most compelling film of the year and it started my current LeCarre obsession. Also, Errol Morris’s illuminating train wreck Q&A in the New York Times to promote Pigeon Tunnel may be one of the craziest interviews of the year.
Best Album: André 3000 New Blue Sun
We’re fans of reinvention here at Ness and André 3000’s new flute album New Blue Sun is proof that reinvention is always possible, and welcome. Combine this with some nicely-produced video and article features in GQ and you’ve got a heady mix of material and content that made a lot of us appreciate an artist with more nuance and understanding than we probably thought possible. Another bonus is André 3000’s playlist: André 3000 Digs Jazz.
Best Branded Content Video: Barbie
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing in media about the health/death of branded content over the last few years. Is it still worth the investment? Well, this was the year branded content went ballistic. Barbie showed us that making a BIG bet on branded content can produce a GIANT return. It is without a doubt the most successful piece of branded content ever created.
Best Branded Video Series: Oatly: Will It Swap
It started out in Brooklyn and it ended up in Wisconsin. I’ve received consistent pleasure from this hilarious series, even if Oatly doesn’t swap in my coffee.
Best Podcast: Smartless
This podcast pulled me out of a very humorless pandemic chapter and I’ve been regularly listening ever since. This year, the podcast went visual and came out as a docu-series on Max that was just as entertaining. My favorite episodes seem to be the most unexpected. Paul Giamatti, who was so game to joke around, a hilarious Dana Carvey, and well, Bono.
Best Book: The Wager by David Grann
Publishers are allergic to history books right now. I’ve heard one even has a moratorium on publishing new history books. The general consensus is that people don’t read history. They want celebrity memoirs and super woke type books… except it turns out when it’s a deeply-reported history yarn about pirates suffering scurvy on swashbuckling adventures in a far-off desolate location. The Wager is proof great stories told well capture great audiences. Will publishers recognize this and remember history can be excellent? I’m hopeful but doubtful.
Runner Up: The Creative Act by Rick Rubins
Best Magazine (Re)Launch: Mountain Gazette
Make it bigger! This seems like the mantra of Mountain Gazette editors when thinking about how to relaunch the iconic magazine. The result is a HUGE large format magazine that aims to do real justice to some of the biggest stories and lush outdoor photographs of the day.
Best Experiential Program: The Sphere
It cost a staggering $2.3 billion to develop and create the new Sphere venue in Las Vegas, but more are likely to come (London recently rejected plans to make the next one there…their loss) and with a killer debut with U2 that garnered TONS Of media, it was the most pivotal moment for live events we’ve seen in some time. Phish and the Dead are rumored to play soon. With the designs now finalized, MSG will be able to stamp out more Spheres and begin making some serious money on that giant investment. It’s easy to imagine Spheres becoming the new IMAX, which prompts the question: What’s your Sphere strategy?
Best Newsletters: Why Is This Interesting + The Rebooting
I’m biased because I write for WITI occasionally, but it’s consistently the most interesting thing in my inbox. It’s also free. The Rebooting has become essential reading for all things media for me. It’s also consistently very strong.
More to come in 2024. Until then, Happy Holidays!
JP