Cannes debrief
I thought it would be interesting to go back over the the last post on trends and see where things netted out - specifically looking at the grand prix and a selection of gold lions. One general comment is that it seems big brands are back with big ideas that transform business (Nike, Coke, Google, American Express were highly successful this year) a break away from the small niche ideas for lesser known brands or exotic markets that sometimes Cannes falls in love with.
1. POST DIGITAL
We saw many examples of post-digital creative taking home hardware. It’s no surprise that Buy the world a coke won the mobile grand prix (interesting to note that Google won the Lion and not coke!)
Ironically Google also won the Grand Prix for Media through posters & outdoor advertising.
Carling Black Label took home gold with “Be The Coach”. In this particular case it was more mobile driven than web based but still shows the importance of a real world payoff.
And finally the media person of the year is Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey (building on the last 3 years where digital players have dominated - Google 2011, Facebook 2010, Microsoft 2009).
2. CREATIVE TECHNOLOGY
We saw lots of innovation - but ironically more innovation in radio, print and outdoor than in cyber. Austria won the Design Grand Prix with their solar powered annual report that we’ve already written about here.
Go outside magazine turned any radio into mosquito repellent over the summer holidays.
Mercedes won big and took home the Grand Prix for the invisible car and Red Tomato picked up gold for their VIP fridge magnet.
3. THE TROPICANA EFFECT
In addition to the usual suspects Carlsberg, TNT Drama (both picked up Gold in Promo & Activation). I have included the Benetton UNHATE campaign in this category because most of us have seen it — but never in its original format. The campaign only aired for one day but the videos and photos spread like wildfire. Benetton picked up the Press Grand Prix.
Contrex won in both Media (silver) and Outdoor (bronze)
Food took home a bronze lion in Promo & Activation for the Pinball Park stunt.
4. REAL-TIME AND REACTIVE
Coke picked up gold for the polar bowl. To be honest I was surprised that it didn’t do better than a shortlist in integrated. Overall, I thought we would see more examples that bring urgency back to live events - maybe next year?
5. PROGRAMME NOT CAMPAIGN
Small Business saturday picked up 9 lions this year - interesting to note that the first year of Small Business Saturday wasn’t even shortlisted at Cannes in 2011.
Nissan GT Academy USA is back with a second season and picked up Gold in Branded content and entertainment this year.
6. PRODUCT INNOVATION & SERVICE DESIGN
“Help I want to save a life” took home the Grand Prix for Good. Strictly speaking it’s not product innovation or service design but it’s an interesting example of how a brand can create a new ‘pseudo’ service around product and product use.
Finally, Nike picked up the Titanium and also won grand prix, gold & silver across categories (Mobile, Design, Cyber, Integrated). This is much bigger than great advertising. Nike is leading the space showing how successful brands will win by doing things for and with people
