With 63 Lions in the bag, including 14 golds, 13 silvers, 31 bronzes, four promo Lions and the only Titanium Lion awarded this year, Asian creatives had plenty of reasons to crack open the champagne at this year's Cannes Advertising festival. <br><br>
Film Thailand's quirky sense of humour brought home two golds out of the five Lions awarded to Asia. JEH United Bangkok's Smooth-E 'Love story' campaign — the Best of the Best winner at this year's Asian Advertising Awards — may not have made the initial film shortlist, but stormed through at the eleventh hour.
"Smooth-E was brave, but needed to be put in context of the category. In the first viewing, many of the judges didn't understand it or see how brave it was, but the Thai work is extraordinary particularly in insurance and beauty — the biggest-spending categories in the world," explains jury chairman David Droga of droga5.
Thailand drew a second gold for Asia, picked up by Creative Juice\G1 for its Bangkok Insurance spots — ads that were also awarded gold by judges at the 2006 Media Spikes. Neither of the Thai winners, however, were in the running for the Grand Prix, which Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO won for its humorous Guinness spot.
The Guinness ad shows an unusual theory of evolution. Directed by Daniel Kleinman, it highlights the theory that man's development has been leading him towards the ultimate pleasure — a pint of the Irish stout. Guinness fought off competition from Lowe London's 'Ice-skating priests' for Stella Artois and the Sony 'Balls' spot by Fallon London to take the top prize. <br><br>
Press Ogilvy's campaign for East Timor was in the running for the press Grand Prix, eventually awarded to FCB Johannesburg for 'Periscope' Lego, which, interestingly, failed to make the initial shortlist. According to press judge Scott Whybin, chairman and ECD Whybin TBWA, the Ogilvy campaign was a jury favourite "until the background of the campaign was revealed. It was pro bono — the agency paid for the media, and basically controlled it. It deserved gold and, in any other circumstances, it would have and should have won the Grand Prix". Meanwhile, Ogilvy Bangkok's Kodak campaign, which was also awarded a Media Spike, picked up a gold Lion for its "clarity and for telling a relevant story that only the brand would ever own". Asia's only other gold winner in press was JWT India's Levi's 'Slim figure' work, which impressed judges for its simplicity. "In an age of overpriced supermodels, photography and indulgence, it said more about the Levi's brand than what I've seen for years," explains Whybin.<br><br>
Outdoor The outdoor jury sifted through 5,000 entries, of which 500 were identified as contenders for metal. "It's quite disturbing when you look at the global output in outdoor (a broad description including POP and posters), because you discover so many returning themes from one end of the planet to the other," says Linda Locke, regional ECD at Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific, who sat on this year's jury. "This year, the favourites were icons in the form of Marilyn Monroe, Hitler, Bush and Che Guevara. Countless variations of 'Take a number' tags, Russian Dolls, Cracked Earth (energy drinks and moisturisers), erasers on pencils, 'Don't slip' signs, footsteps in the sand and clear body outlines and other objects surrounded by crime scene tape — the influence of CSI perhaps."<br><br>
Asia scooped five golds. The Grand Prix, however, eluded the region, with judges handing the prize to Fallon London for Tate Britain after a deadlock against a Swedish campaign, which was dropped from the race due to a Cannes rule that prevents ads in the charity category from being considered for the Grand Prix. "One idea that truly used the outdoor medium to communicate its point was a campaign from Sweden, designed to highlight the plight of homeless children and lobby the Swedish Government and force it to act," says Locke. <br><br>
"This was achieved by covering buildings, walls and the exterior surfaces with every number that made up the total number of homeless. (It was) reinforced by pillows delivered to Swedish ministers urging them to consider where the homeless would be sleeping as they went to sleep that night. Even the pillowcases carried the number. I wish I'd done it."<br><br>
Media Asia picked up eight of the 36 media Lions, with Universal McCann Sydney winning the Grand Prix for its Lynx airline work. Jury chairman, Renetta McCann of McCann, says: "The Lynx campaign mixed media by taking a great insight on young males in Australia. It used each and every touchpoint well to create a strong brand connection."<br><br>
The region, including Australia and New Zealand, accounted for up to 20 per cent of entries submitted. MindShare Asia-Pacific CEO, Ashutosh Srivastava, says: "The biggest surprise was that leading media networks had much lesser participation than our creative agency partners, which had entered loads of work for media Lions, which eventually went on to win."<br><br>
OMD UK/DDB London's Hasbro 'Monopoly game', Srivastava adds, would have been a real contender for the Grand Prix had it entered in the 'best use of media mix' or any of the consumer segment categories. <br><br>
Cyber Japan nabbed four of the five Lions awarded to Asia in this year's Cyber category, which marked a significant increase in entries, up 32 per cent over last year. <br><br>
Two golds went to THA Tokyo's Amana 'Communication evolved' work and Dentsu Tokyo's Japan Advertising Council's 'Her past' campaign. Singapore was the only Asian market to break Japan's winning streak, with Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore scooping a bronze Lion for HP Asia Pacific's 'True-to-life prints'. <br><br>
"Asian production in the field is appraised for its inspirational ideas, of course, but also because of the diligence paid to every detail of design and technology. The beauty of richly- refined work grabbed the interest of judges from all over the world," notes cyber judge Yasuharu Sasaki, creative director at Dentsu.<br><br>
Direct A campaign from Belgium for De Tijd walked off with the direct Grand Prix. Asia, however, scooped six Lions, with Arc Worldwide Kuala Lumpur charming judges to land a gold award for its Malaysia Airlines' 'Best of both' work and a silver for its Women's Aid Organisation entry. Saatchis Singapore, meanwhile, picked up bronze for its Republic of Singapore Navy 'Navy page-turner', while JWT Hong Kong grabbed a bronze for Nike's 'Improvisation tape' and DY&R Mumbai won silver for Midland Bookshop. <br><br>
Radio Of the 66 entries submitted from Asia, only two were recognised. Naga DDB Malaysia's Radio Televisyen Malaysia spot 'Saviour' won a silver, while BBDO Guerrero Ortega's FedEx 'The delivery' took bronze.
