Cannes Lions winners mix media and stories, just like real people

Michael Hedges June 23, 2008

The Cannes International Advertising Festival mixes the rough selling trade with the high art of small frames, big frames and no frames at all. For more than a half-century the advertising people have put on this little show to celebrate their best work and themselves. The just finished 2008 gathering was a challenge event; the ad people again proving they’re a half-step ahead.

Unflattering comparisons to the Eurovision song contest notwithstanding, Cannes juries reflect the creative zeitgeist. The other coincidental comparison - a notable shift eastward - came as part-time BBC One show host and property tycoon Sir Alan Sugar whinged in the spirit of the BBC’s Sir Terry Wogan at the dearth of UK awards as well as the disappearance of hard-sell retail pitches. “Be smart, buy now” ad campaigns are relics of a past age. (cue the bleating dinosaur)

“That is my gripe – adverts,” he ripped. One award winning television spot “…was like watching my mother-in-law drive a Ferrari off a cliff,” he sobbed.

Cadburry’s “Gorilla” ad mentions the client and tag line only briefly and it won the Grand Prix Film Lion for television. With viewers racing to the fridge during TV ad breaks, London agency Fallon showed what it takes to keep them in their seats. It’s a big – probably expensive – well-executed production but it’s, well, a TV spot. Oh, and “Gorilla” was a big hit on YouTube.

The other Grand Prix Film Lion went to the Xbox Halo 3 campaign. There’s nothing subtle about this prize: more than a few Cannes winners excelled at bringing storytelling back to advertising. The Halo 3 campaign was also more than a launch campaign for a video game. An entire universe was created for big screens, little screens and even live events, for game fans who might just like to touch reality once in awhile.  The Cannes juries so adored the Xbox Halo 3 campaign they also gave producing agency TAG McCann a Grand Prix Lion in the Integrated category.   

The Titanium Grand Prix Lion – intended to reward actually stepping over the edge – went to Tokyo agency Projector for stepping WAY out there with the ‘Uniqlock’ campaign for clothing retailer Uniqlo. It also won the Cyber Grand Prix Lion.

Nothing about the ‘Uniqlock’ campaign – and the word ‘campaign’ seems so last century – ignores the very basic intent to expand the clients’ brand. Merging brand and entertainment is not, in itself, ground breaking, common now attested by several Grand Prix Lion winners. But the agency – and the term ‘agency’ seems very last century in this context – did it with a widget download aimed at bloggers. Once added to a blog site the ‘Uniqlock’ widget is a clock (even an alarm clock) with entertaining snips of modern dance that change constantly. Like the Halo 3 campaign, this becomes its own reality…all pegged to the clothing line.

Digital media has unleashed in the ad people. No longer confined to small screens and fixed pages they can explore scale, depth and integration. Once again the ad people show their skill with language and storytelling. In the new century advertising has turned from telling its story to guiding people through their own.   

42 Entertainment (US) won the Viral Advertising Grand Prix for Trent Reznor and the band Nine Inch Nails. 42 Entertainment, which bills itself as a story-telling entertainment company rather than an ad agency, created an on-line/off-line scavenger hunts, tee-shirts with messages and thumb drives given out at concerts.

Grand themes have always been a common theme to winning at Cannes. The jury awarded the Grand Prix Promotion Lion to JWT Mumbai for motivating Indians to think differently about their politics. Called ”Lead India” the campaign engaged many, used every medium and was paid for by India’s largest daily newspaper. Media serving media is another grand theme.

The Grand Prix Media Lion was awarded to Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenforsfor an educational campaign targeting young people about retirement planning.

HBO’s “Voyeur” campaign won the Outdoor Grand Prix Lion for BBDO New York. Outdoor advertising – formerly consigned to ‘billboard’ hell – continues to attract the attention of ad creatives. This year there were 5,842 outdoor category entries from 73 countries, up from last year. The HBO installation projected on sides of buildings  - borrowing from realty TV – images of the real life inside with the outside wall removed.  Just outdoor? Think again! The “Voyeur” campaign used everything in the new ad persons cookbook: video-rich website, print ads, TV spots in addition to the outdoor ‘installation’.

Leo Burnett Chicago’s “Fresh Salad” campaign fell, according to reports, one vote short of winning the outdoor jury. Yes, it was a real growing salad spelling out the words “Fresh Salad.” You can’t beat reality.

The advertising creatives are at their best when reflecting language – in the broadest sense – and its power. Advertising – as a profession as well as an industry – is sustained by its uncanny ability to seize bits (and bytes) of words, phrases, images and sounds to extract movement, of one kind or another, from real people. At the Cannes International Ad Festival, the ad people come to look at what they’ve done without the distraction of the media charged with bring those images and sounds to living rooms, automobiles, work-places and play-places.

The Grand Prix Press Lion went to DDB South Africa for the Energizer batteries campaign “Paint, Pants, Park and Spit”. Actually, the tag line in the campaign is “Never Let Their Toys Die,” visualizing with humor every parent’s horror of children up to no good. (note illustration above)

In a similar vein, Tokyo agency Dentsu won the Grand Prix Radio Lion for a campaign called “Sutter Chance” for digital camera-maker Canon. The spots expose listeners to quick seconds of lost stories, a fundamental sales pitch for never being without a camera.  Again, it’s stories that connect people and the ad people know that best.