There is renewed hope in the power of television advertising. This was well captured at last night's Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) Awards.

As a result of the economic recession, the last 2 years has seen the industry trade in strategic brand-building for short-term publicity boosts. This year shows advertising returning to its former glory.

In spite of the competition embodied by the Internet, there has been an increasing return of the power associated with the ability to bring a broad demographic together to form a mass audience for television shows.

The awards, which were held at the central Hilton on Park Lane, saw a 550-strong turnout. This year's grand prix first prize winner in the gold medal category was Hovis brown bread. Its 122-second clip was an update on the 1974 advertisement of a Hovis boy on a bike, during which he was taken through the major events of the last century. The Hovis campaign won because it was estimated to have generated £5 million in sales for every £1 spent, and an extra £90 million of profit for its parent company, Premier Foods.

5 of the 32 awards were won by Government advertisements targeting behavior modification and disseminating useful information. These cases were an excellent opportunity to raise support for the Central Office of Information (COI), which is facing over a 40% staff cutback. The COI was closely involved with the winning Government campaigns.