The winners' list from Cannes this year shows that some of the world's great advertising ideas are being used outdoors -- but they're not necessarily ideas that make the best use of outdoor media space.
The Grand Prix winner -- the Lego entry from Chile -- is among the notable exceptions, but from Europe to Asia and South America, many of the winners in the outdoor category were also winners in print. And judges say that in a lot of cases, print is where they worked best. But the award winners also show that great strides are being made in the use of outdoor media, particularly in Asia, which captured its fair share of trophies this year.
And those strides are leading to greater advertiser investment in the medium. Zenith data shows that globally, outdoor attracted 7.9 per cent of total advertising spend last year, compared to six per cent 10 years earlier.
In the markets where the investment is greater, so too, often, are the returns. France, for instance, which took outdoor Lions for Pedigree Chum, Sony PlayStation, Volkswagen, EMI, Zeiss, Club Med, and DSCR French Road, puts 10.8 per cent of total adspend into outdoor.
And while Singapore and Thailand roared louder than the other Asian markets in this year's outdoor contest, Japan -- where outdoor takes 11.4 per cent of spend -- was also rewarded, with the 'Impossible sprint' work for adidas.
Still, the judges were disappointed with the low number of entries that were true, outdoor inspirations. "We saw lots of outdoor that was great, but still we thought it would be nice to award things that were classic board solutions," says Torbjoern Madsen, one of the Cannes outdoor judges, and copywriter with DDB Oslo.
"In the end, we just decided we were going to give it to the great ideas. A good idea should win over something done in a place that's never been used before. There were a lot of ideas in a lot of new places, but the ideas didn't always work."
In the case of Lego, the idea was one that would only have worked in the outdoor site that was chosen, and it worked brilliantly. "It's at the heart of what Lego is, it's a very playful thing to do," Madsen says. "The guy who made it must have thought 'wow, it's made of Lego', because it wasn't a media space before."
Gerry Moira, another of the judges and creative director of Euro RSCG London, points out that the copy on many of the outdoor entries could not possibly be read while on the move, and would therefore have failed as effective pieces of advertising.
"Posters are terrific, they're a real art, synthesising your point to something so simple it can be understood by a moving target and be impactful," he says. "But there's a question mark over what's considered outdoor. To qualify, it's got to have been on a poster, so (in some cases that means) somebody's pinned it up in a shop. I personally and a significant proportion of the jury don't think that's fair, and there ought to be some proof of some outdoor, paid-for space."
The piece that would have been runner-up for the Grand Prix, Time magazine's swinging pendulum, was clearly designed for outdoor, however. Madsen says it was one of his favourites of the competition. "It was just very simple and when you saw it outside, it would have to get a lot of attention. It was a very nice way to illustrate that Time covers both sides of the story."
The Time work was done by Fallon in the US and won gold at Cannes. Another gold Lion winner that even had judges in the direct category raving was Liechtenstein Museum's campaign to promote its restored 850 square metre baroque frescoes, plastering the airport, the inside of taxis and umbrellas in a move to reach tourists at the point of entry before rival attractions. Besides the Austrian entry, German agencies were rewarded for their work for Volkswagen, Studio Funk, Weru, Oroverde Rain Forest and Intertool Biel, while UK pieces for Harvey Nichols (gold Lion) and The Economist (gold and silver) also caught the eye of the judges. But the star of Cannes outdoor competition was clearly South America, which bagged a stash of prizes in addition to the Grand Prix for Chile. Brazil won silver for three 'Let's talk' executions, while Mexico also won silver for DHL.
While Cannes judges are not told where competition entries have come from, they say Asian agencies' attention to detail made work from the region easy to pick. Moira says the Thai pieces for Siam Tamiya models were "just beautiful": "Almost always with the Asian work, the execution is immaculate. There's nothing sloppy, especially (from) Thailand and Singapore."
Outstanding art direction on the Pizza Hut (BBDO) entries from Singapore, Hasbro (Saatchi & Saatchi) and the Anglican Welfare Council (Ogilvy & Mather), again from Singapore, was noted by the judges. Hae Ik An, creative director of Cheil Communications in Korea and a juror on Cannes outdoor panel, says the Anglican Welfare Council campaign was his favourite entry from Asia. "Unlike any other entries, in this campaign I was able to see the intelligence," he says. "The biggest attraction was the persuasive power of the copy-line. This work is surely very intelligent, extravagant, graphical, and above all, powerfully persuasive."
Moira says the awards show that much of the Asian outdoor work being produced is world-class and, aside from its beauty, can no longer be picked as 'typically Asian'. "People used to say 'there's an Australian style, the Brits do those funny whimsical ones, the French do the ones with girls with not many clothes on', and the Thais were known for the wacky stuff," he says. "It used to be that if there isn't a man in a gorilla suit being wrestled to the ground, it's not a proper Thai ad. But I think they've gone through that now."
If Asian outdoor is to continue to win at Cannes, however, An says beauty and a great idea might not always be enough. "The Western countries tend to come up with a new form of media or a whole new narrative," he says. "Asian entries focused on the artwork execution. Traditional media like billboards and posters are recognised as being more effective, so the Asian work was greatly acknowledged.
"But the market is slowly moving to a more liberal way of advertising. It's now very important for Asian countries to break through the orthodox way of persuasion."