As the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival winds down for another year, Asia-Pacific can once again boast an impressive medal haul, inlcuding an unprecedented six Grand Prix awards.To get a clearer idea of how work from the region compared with the rest of the world,we spoke to a number of Asia-based creatives from this year’s judging panels and asked them to outline the best work in their respective categories.
Titanium/Integrated
Prasoon Joshi
Executive chairman and
regional ECD
McCann Erickson Mumbai
Integrated and Titanium is unlike any other award. It doesn’t have different categories to award.You have entries and you select the best. I think this is very natural. This is the way in which the consumer consumes advertising. They do not watch advertising as automobile or FMCG. So, to begin with, there was respite that we were judging the entries for what they were,irrespective of any category.
Initially, we had a combined shortlist for Titanium and Integrated because it was becoming difficult to segregate clinically.The debate whether Integrated could also win a Titanium ensued for a long time in the room, but as we revisited our shortlist the difference became very clear. Titanium ideas stared at us.They were the ideas which expanded the boundaries of advertising and which are changing the ways we look at communication.
In terms of work, certain things left and impact on me. Definitely the Obama campaign. We debated whether it was a social or brand campaign but we finally agreed that it was the latter. For me, it was an example of a brand that for the first time has been so clearly co -created by the consumer and brand owners. It was interactive, honest and makes you feel good that advertising can contribute to such a significant social change.
‘The great schlep’ campaign, again for Obama,was a great one too.What a strategy — getting the youth to convince to their grandparents to vote for Obama.‘Whopper sacrifice’ for Burger King was unbelievably good, while the Oasis ‘Dig out your soul’ has been a favourite of mine. The Zimbabwean’s ‘Trillion dollar’ campaign was a good piece of work too. It was tight call, as I loved most of above-mentioned pieces of work.
It was an exceptional jury. Brutally honest and fearless. Since we were only 10 people, we bonded very well and understood each other’s points of view. I must say, to be able to discuss advertising and communication and the future of it for three intense days was a great learning experience.
Film
Sompat Trisadikun
ECD
Leo Burnett Bangkok
After this judging experience, it is confirmed to me why Cannes is the best advertising award competition in world: it united the world’s most creative minds. As a jury, we viewed over 5,000 films from all over the world. And when it came down to shortlist, we saw a lot of great works, no less than other years.
The Grand Prix this year went to ‘Carousel’ by Tribal DDB Amsterdam, which won because as a jury we wanted to communicate to the industry that this is an unconventional film format that interacts with the viewer and which was executed in a new and interesting way.
This was another great year for Asia-Pacific. Judges always comment that Asian work is unique and stands out from other region.We awarded golds to ‘Love distance’ by GT Tokyo and ‘A day in the life of Chennai’ by JWT India. ‘Love distance’ impressed all of the judges and was a strong candidate for the Grand Prix.
Overall, I think Asia has improved from last year, but this year there are many new interactive formats that bring out new and exiting works. We should think ahead and explore new ways to continue to make our work as new and exiting as other regions.
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Cyber
Yoo Shin Lee
Creative director
Cheil Worldwide
Among the three Grand Prix ads, ‘The Best Job in the world’ campaign from Australia was by far the most outstanding. Three cheers for the Big Idea, which introduced Queensland to the world by using the “employment” issue.The true power of digital media lies in its cost-efficiency, and that was an important standard for us judges to decide the Grand Prix.
If you take a look at the Grand Prix winners, you can see that they had a ripple effect on the whole world. However, entries from Asia are still focused on the local market. Some Japanese ads such as the Uniclo cam-paign were attention-grabbing (which the judges preferred to define as “tidy”) and the juries took notice.Still, Asia-Pacific ads are progressing in Cannes;the growing number of shortlist winners shows this.
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Design
Ali Shabaz
ECD
JWT Singapore
Judging Design at Cannes this year gave me a taste of what it would be like to sit in a United Nations meeting. We had representatives from over twelve countries with as many opinions over almost every single piece of work.
The big difference however — there was no agenda to bomb any country, leave alone its work.The jury was anal, obsessive and lots of fun. This was Design’s second visit to Cannes and it was clear from day one that quality and quantity were both up.
Asia’s strong design heritage was evident in quite a few beautifully crafted pieces. ‘Cota tama’ from Japan,an intuitively charming widget to promote a digital art festival, was a fine example of Japan’s growing strength in digital design. The defining entry from Asia for me,however,has to be the ‘Balwadi night school’ work from JWT India.
The team used something as basic as a slide projector to demonstrate an idea that was cutting-edge in its thinking. The other big force in design was Europe. Germany,in particular stood out. ‘Kinetic sculpture’ had already won at all the big award shows before it hit Cannes,and it was easy to see why it was such a success.This work literally took design to whole new dimension. It was my personal favourite for the Grand Prix,but I was vetoed.
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Press
John Merrifield
Creative-at-large
TBWA Asia-Pacific
As a jury we agreed from the outset that we wanted the winning work to be from the real world and not the made-for-advertising-jury world. Too much of what is entered — particularly from Asia and Latin America — is designed to increase the number of awards in agency lobbies, not the number of sales of the product itself. It’s childish. It’s pointless.And until it stops,we’re all tarred by this misguided silliness.
Were we successful? To a large degree, I think we were. Last year there were some 690 adverts on the press shortlist. This year there were around 280. The winning work was for large brands with high profile media spends: Miller High Life, IKEA, Harvey Nichols, Sony, Wrangler, Alka Seltzer,Siemens and the like. Asia was certainly more conspicuously absent then usual, but that is because so much of what emanates from this region has a certain smell (refer to the opening sentence,above).
Thailand was unfortunately invisible, even in terms of the number of entries,and this must have something to do with the fact that the country has been in a semi-permanent state of upheaval. Overall, I think we kept the category as tight, honest and bullshit-less as possible. Hope springs eternal.
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Outdoor (Jury president)
Akira Kagami
Executive officer and global
ECD, Dentsu
This year there were no creative works that really stood out, but I was impressed by the variety of entries and the richness in their methods of expression was excellent. At the same time, although this was not something new this year, there was an increase in the number of entries that expanded or exceeded the borders of the outdoor category. We also saw many campaigns that integrated other forms of media.
This year’s Grand Prix winner was the ‘Trillion dollar’ campaign for the mZimbabwean newspaper.First,above all, this campaign was something that could only be done as an outdoor campaign.And I think the biggest key to this campaign was that it was able to raise the issue of a social problem.
In the judging room, we were not influenced by regional characteristics. I think that we placed strong emphasis on judging the works from the perspective of whether the idea led to a solution. It’s difficult to say if this was to the advantage or disadvantage of Asian creative works. However, I think it will become a reference for us in the future.
Japan’s technological advances have put us at an advantage but I don’t think this is permanent.What is most important is the core idea. And not only the quality of the idea,but also the quality of expression is what we have to put more effort into. Be more innovative. Make your creative works more attractive.
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Media
Henry Tajer
President, Asia-Pacific, CE0,
Australia, UM
This year the best work demonstrated the importance of resultsbased thinking and collaboration.
Throughout the five days of judging the 1,840 entries, the work that was most talked about,and later awarded,showed these two attributes throughout. The overall quality of award winners was excellent.The work from the Asia-Pacific region — including the Grand Prix winner — was very strong. Our level of creativity and digital excellence stand head and shoulders above other regions of the world.We should be very proud.The quality of the Asia-Pacific entries not only demonstrated our creativity and innovation but also our thoughtful insights, which made the work so much more engaging and effective.
However, one point I do make here is: where was all the other great work that the media sector has produced? Entries from media agencies only represented about 25 per cent of the total entries. This point alone makes me wonder why some of the other great work I have seen produced by Asia-Pacific media agencies was not entered. After all, you have to be in it to win it.
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Direct
Ronald Ng
Chief creative officer
BBDO Proximity Malaysia
Direct Lions jury president
David Sable started his speech by highlighting the 15 per cent drop in submissions. This is only a year after Cannes enjoyed record numbers in entries and delegates. But we all knew that the best work would still be submitted and at the end of the day,that is all that matters.
As a jury, we agreed that the idea is king. But in Direct, the idea had to trigger a response that leads to sales. As David Ogilvy put it:“If it doesn’t sell,it’s not creative” — words that have even greater meaning in times like these.
One question constantly popped up throughout the judging sessions: “What is Direct?” It was clear that Direct is not only about flat or dimensional mail anymore. Internet and mobile technology have opened up new possibilities. Ideas have evolved, interestingly, to not look like ads.And this year, the best work didn’t come from ‘classic’ direct marketing. This is consistent across categories.The best films are not in ‘classic’ 30-second spots,and the best outdoor are not flat sheets on billboards anymore.
That is why work like ‘The best job in the world’,‘The great schlep’ and ‘Banner concerts’ won gold Lions.On overall standards,there was a large percentage of work that was plain horrible,but that happens every year, recession or no recession.
The best ideas that had the best results won, and that’s the most important thing for every Direct awards show. ‘The best job in the world’ went way further that Queensland. ‘The great schlep’ helped Obama become President.Giant ideas,giant results.
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PR
Jimmy Tay
CEO, Southeast Asia
Hill & Knowlton
After a very long wait – 56 years – public relations gained the respect it deserves at the Cannes Festival.
It is an irony that PR is being included for the first time during a time of great recession. Cannes is a reflection of the communications industry and PR finally made it to Cannes because clients are demanding for it.
Kudos to the Cannes organisers for being spot on in setting the criteria for a PR Lion: “the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organisations and their publics.”
Yes, it’s a bit of a mouthful. But the PR jury stayed true to the criteria precisely because the global financial crisis and economic downturn have raised public cynicism towards brands and leadership. PR has always been entrusted with building relationships and credibility.
Together with 15 other PR practitioners from around the world, I had the honour and privilege of evaluating431 entries from 48 countries across 20 categories. Many were brilliant, most were good and some were dreadful. After five days of intense scrutiny and deliberations, 37 made it to the shortlist out of which 17 were awarded PR Lions and Cumminsnitro’s ‘Best job in the world’ walked away with the Grand Prix.
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Promo
Shane Bradnick
Art director, BMF
“I like it, but is it a promo?” This seemed to be a regular question asked by the 17 Promo category jurors at this year’s festival.
Sometimes it was asked due to the lack of clarity in the entry,but mostly it was asked because the lines between Promo, Direct and PR seem to be getting more blurred everyday.
The entry count was up from the previous year but I’m not convinced that the quality was. The gap between the very good and the rest was quite obvious.This helped the strong work stand out, with 143 pieces making the shortlist and only 43 going on to be awarded – the Grand Prix, 10 gold, nine silver and 24 bronze.
Of the 43 awards, 22 came out of the Asia-Pacific region.Australia and New Zealand both had a particularly strong showing with work like Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s ‘Magic salad plate’ for Four’N Twenty Meat Pies and DDB Auckland’s ‘When will the fruit burst?’ for Pascall’s.Both won two gold Lions each.
But the entry that truly captured the hearts of the jury was the Grand Prix winner from Beacon Communications Tokyo for Yubari Resort. ‘Yubari – a city with no money, but love’ told the story of a campaign to save a dying city in Japan from bankruptcy.
The Jury president summed it up best when he said:“We all felt that it showed the potential of the promotional category. Here was a programme that not only changed behaviour,it actually changed people’s lives.”