Cannes judges rule O&M's Guinness effort legitimate

<p>SINGAPORE: Ogilvy & Mather Singapore's Cannes entry of a Guinness </p><p>Draught campaign has been ruled legitimate by the festival's </p><p>organisers. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The ruling clears the way for O&M to keep the gold lion it won in the </p><p>press and poster category for the "What's on your mind", which had been </p><p>submitted under Asia Pacific Breweries name, although Gaelic Inns, which </p><p>has two Irish pubs in Singapore, paid for media costs and the agency </p><p>picked up the production tab. This coupled with the fact O&M had </p><p>approached Gaelic Inns with the creative work has led some Singapore ad </p><p>agencies to threaten to boycott the Creative Circle Awards (CCA) in </p><p>protest as O&M executive creative director, Andy Greenaway, is the CCA </p><p>chairman. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>But Cannes organisers argued that the campaign was not a scam because </p><p>Gaelic Inns paid for the media and that the error in O&M's submission </p><p>had no impact on the judging. The only outstanding issue with Cannes </p><p>organisers is whether the award should be in the print and poster retail </p><p>category rather than more prestigious alcoholic beverages. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In an earlier interview with media, Greenaway pinned the situation on a </p><p>clerical error, which occurred because O&M had initially created the </p><p>campaign for APB's joint venture company United Stout Marketing. The </p><p>account was then moved to Saatchi & Saatchi in a global realignment </p><p>earlier this year. O&M said that when it submitted entries to Cannes, it </p><p>referred to the client on the original job number. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Tim Isaac, O&M regional vice-president, said the agency had approached </p><p>Gaelic Inns at the behest of Keith Harris, general manager business </p><p>development at APB. Gaelic Inns is a franchisee of The Irish Pub </p><p>Company, an operating unit of Guinness. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Isaac said the allegations that the Guinness campaign was a scam ad had </p><p>caused "extreme damage" to his agency. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>He said rival ad agency bosses were playing up the issue in the press to </p><p>undermine O&M's credibility. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>