The win caps an astonishing track record for the Sony-owned brand at the advertising festival, where it has picked up 26 Cannes Lions, including three Grand Prix. The first Grand Prix was awarded to the press ad 'Nipples' in 1999 followed by the press ad 'Rebirth' in 2003 and, last year, 'Mountain' won the Film Grand Prix.
"When one brand wins so many Cannes honours, it's not a difficult process to select them for this prestigious award," said festival CEO Terry Savage.
Regional creatives said PlayStation has consistently pushed the creative envelope and, in doing so, achieved iconic status in a very a short time. "It's rare for a brand to be not just consistently good, but brilliant," said Tan Shen Guan, vice-chairman and ECD for Y&R China and Hong Kong. "The amazing thing is that work is not done by one agency, but by a roster -- DDB, BBH and TBWA."
Tan includes DDB's 'I have lived' creative as a favourite. The campaign focuses on people at the margins of society, down on their luck, declaring, 'I have commanded battalions'.
"It's very difficult to do this in Asia, because every client wants to project their product as being clean, good and for the upwardly mobile," said Tan.
David Guerrero, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO Guerrero Ortega, said a dedicated community of gamers allowed PlayStation the leeway to be more creative.
"PlayStation represents a community of users and it can talk to its users with many assumptions built into the creative. It helps when there is shared knowledge between the brand and the consumer." In Asia-Pacific, meanwhile, Sony has finally launched its PlayStation Portable (PSP) console, after delays brought about by demand outstripping supply. The console, which combines gaming and multimedia, was previously available in the US and Japan, before launching in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
According to Gerard Lim, business development director at Leo Burnett -- which handled the Singapore PSP launch -- an ambient approach is being taken, "because demand is so high". JC Decaux bus shelters were used for different 3-D executions to showcase games on offer. For ninja game Shinobi, for example, shuriken were embedded into the front panels of shelters, proving so popular, that they were swiftly stolen. A putting green complete with hole and flag also adorned other bus shelters, promoting the PSP's golf game.
"It's the first time that PlayStation has produced anything that has mobility, so the clever thing to do was use the outdoor medium," said Lim.
The PSP competes with Nintendo's handheld DS product, and also portable devices such as the iPod and Creative's Zen. However, the industry consensus is the PSP will not affect the impending launch of Micro-soft's new Xbox or PlayStation 3. "They are two different experiences altogether," noted Lim. Additional reporting by Arun Sudhaman