bringing back lions

In June, 8,000 industry figures from more than 75 countries will gather in Cannes in celebration of outstanding creative work produced globally. Given the international nature of Cannes, for Asia's creative talent nothing beats gaining the recognition of peers both at home and abroad. But who are the region's front-runners for this year's Cannes International Advertising Festival? Five of the region's leading creative experts -- all major award winners -- have dusted off their crystal balls and forecast what lies ahead for Asia's would-be Cannes stars, from the list of winners at the recent regional 2005 Spikes and AdFest shows.

John Merrifield, Regional ECD, TBWA Japan When I was growing up in San Francisco, KSAN had this thing called Desert Island Discs. The idea was simple. If you were stranded on a desert island and could listen to but one tune for the rest of your life, what would it be? The year I left high school, Boz Scagg's Loan me a Dime took the prize (check it out, it's a classic: Duane Allman on slide, the Memphis Horns driving sideways).

Fast forward to 2005. If you find yourself judging an Asian advertising show, pray to God (or Bob Marley) that you have plenty of entries from Thailand. It's the only way you'll survive. Take the Ford spot with the gorillas. It won't win the Grand Prix at Cannes ('Grrrr' from Honda has that locked up) but if it doesn't win gold the Pope ain't Catholic. It has everything: strategy, big idea, bigger execution. I dare you to watch it and not push the rewind button again and again. Khun Pinit, whatever your guys are on, can we have some please?

It's so good it has me reaching for the Yellow Pages. Under the 'we're not worthy' section. Which is a rather lame segue into another brilliant Thai campaign. Take your pick. The one with the son looking up his 'lost' father in the tire shop or the one with the cop at home inadvertently receiving a call from a kidnapper. Khun Thirasak, please tell me it wasn't as effortless as it appears. I have delusions of adequacy and I'd rather not face the truth.

The same sort of truth that's at the heart of the don't-be-such-a-wally-when-you-drink campaign. With charity ads in general, and drink moderately ads in particular, you'd think it'd be difficult to come up with a fresh insight. You'd be wrong. The idea of acknowledging beforehand that you're going to be a cretin after one too many (and taking steps to mitigate it) is a blinder. Makes you wonder how many beers Khun Jureeporn and her team downed to come up with it.

The gulf between Thailand and the rest of Asia is frightening. It doesn't seem to be narrowing. Sure, there are other odd bits in the region (think Japan) but nobody's got a lock on the box like our Thai neighbours. We owe them a collective kop khun krop.

David Guerrero, Chairman and chief creative officer, BBDO Guerrero Ortega The two main common denominators among the regional judges this year were Creative Juice/G1's Tamiya 'Frog/Lightbulb/ Watermelon' campaign and TBWA Japan's adidas 'Vertical Running' event. So, by rights, these should do best at Cannes. However, I think the AdFest guys were a little harsh on Euro RSCG Thailand's Channel 11 print and outdoor campaign -- which is still my personal favourite from the current crop of work. I don't think anyone's questioning the elegance and simplicity of the idea; however, the question marks at AdFest were apparently over craft issues. Based on past evidence, I don't see that being as big a deal at Cannes as it might be at some of the other internationals like D&AD.

Conversely, we at Media may have overlooked Y&R Shanghai's Organic Veg campaign. I'm not sure quite why this was but perhaps the subtlety of it escaped some of us in Hong Kong -- and that might prove a problem in the two-second time span you have to make an impact at the Palais du Festivals. Ogilvy's 'Anglican Church' work, endearingly referred to by a nameless insider as the 'nutters campaign', should breeze through as well, just on the fact the copy looks nice, since few of the United Nations General Assembly present on the panel could be expected to actually read it.

Among work from our own network I think BBDO Singapore's Pizza Hut 'Part of Home Movies' campaign deserves to do well on concept, craft and even strategic grounds. BBDO Malaysia's Diet Pepsi poster (with the ice cubes heavier than the drink) could come through and BBDO Bangkok's Jeep poster with four logos (one on each corner of the ad) might do well too. I certainly don't want to name any entries from our own agency, since to do so would undoubtedly unleash the wrath of the great advertising gods in the sky and jinx them for ever. I'll just say that we'll be entering whatever made it through the awards this year. And a couple more besides. I wish all of you luck -- though, statistically, only two per cent of us entering the show will ever end up happy with the results!

Rob Sherlock, regional creative director, FCB Asia Pacific The rules of engagement for outdoor are the same everywhere: The three-second rule. You've got three seconds to grab and tell. If it doesn't work that fast, it's far too slow. It has to be both relevant and unexpected. If it's another pattern on wallpaper of predictability, forget it. Is it stunningly simple, yet massively powerful? People see over 5,000 messages a day -- don't join the 4,990 going down the mental garbage shute.

There's no business like show business: big, hairy, audacious outdoor inevitably gets featured in the media. If there's ever a place to break the rules, this has got to be it. And there's very little restriction on content (especially in comparison to TV).

So, using the above as basic parameters, what comes to mind for Cannes this year? Well, our Adman of the Year (John Merrifield, TBWA Japan) has to take the podium again with adidas Vertical Sprint. It's all of the above, and then some. It's a worthy successor to Vertical Soccer -- and just as spectacular. And, for a one-off event, it generated a massive media ricochet.

Another brilliant contender is 11 News Channel from Euro RSCG Flagship in Thailand. It's one of the few ideas that doesn't need a line or a logo -- yet speaks volumes. I don't know many campaigns that do so much with so little. Every detail is impeccable. It also shows that Thailand is maturing magnificently beyond television.

Malaysia also comes forward with a lovely interactive idea for Playstation 2. It's basically a bus stop plastered with bubble wrap -- making it impossible not to stop'n'pop. There really isn't anything more powerful than virtually getting brand in hand.

Finally there's Big Baboi Bubblegum from McCann in India. It's basically a boy on a poster in post bubble-blow mode -- and the surrounded trees are covered in burst bubble bits. Possibly not as perfect as some of the others, but a lovely idea.

Thierry Halbroth, Director of integrated services, M&C Saatchi Hong Kong It's always easy to look into the future and predict what will best represent our side of the world at big award shows and make us proud. Here's how I do it. I go around downloading banners and bookmarking sites I fancy, then call all my friends and fellow creative directors (mostly to check what they've done) and graphic artists (they are the ones doing all the research on what's cool or not) and run a quick poll on what they've seen recently seen and thought was interesting. The more matches I get with my private list, the more likely these will get to be seen at awards. So here you are. A quick glance into the future, through my crystal eyeballs.

Saatchis' online campaign for the National Council Against Drug Abuse is my big favourite, especially the slurred words banner. As a campaign it works wonders and the interactivity level is quite clever.

While I may have my reservations on whether users would actually interact with the banners or not, I think it is definitely one of the best I've seen since the very, very simple OgilvyOne's 'God' interactive campaign.

Talking about OgilvyOne, hats off to the highly intrusive DHL drop-down banner. You gotta hate that banner. Absolutely impressive. Must have cost a bomb to place, but surely a winner in the brand awareness category. I also think that e-Crusade's Nike 'Speed' SMS may have some strong chances. Highly impossible, highly addictive! I'd also keep an eye on the 'Scratch & Win' execution for Nizoral. A classic in the comedy department.

On the website front, I think that ztampz.com and kitchen-digital.com would stand good chances if they were entered in the shows, as they are excellent showcases of creativity, craft and technology (especially the latter).

So will it be enough to fight the latest jewel from Fallon for Amazon (so viral, they even talked about it in The Economist) or OgilvyOne's digital billboard for American Express Blue in Belgium? Will this year see Miami-based Crispin Porter & Bogusky take it all? Who cares, as long we have some strong solid work to put up a good fight and give the rest of the world a run for its money! Akira Kagami, Executive creative director, Dentsu How long has it been since we entered the 21st century? I think it's about time somebody came up with a style for new millennium creativity. Or, difficult as it may be, will that job be left to us? It was refreshing to see the Thai TVCs 'King Kong' for Ford and 'Balloon' break away from a traditional TVC formula. Unfortunately, these works don't have enough in them to make a universal impact, nor does Ajinomoto's 'Husky Girls'. I sincerely hope one of the above will be chosen for the Grand Prix, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Instead, I see as possibilities Peugeot's 'Easy Life', adidas' 'Hello Tomorrow' or Honda's 'Grrr'. These works tried to destroy or go beyond the formula used in Volkswagen and Nike TVCs, both excellent precedents. Yet even though they have gone beyond cliché in this category, the impression that they have already been seen still remains. Totally new ideas are often ignored, anyway. Nevertheless, I consider the three reasonable choices and deserving of the Grand Prix in the film category at Cannes Lions 2005.