Cannes Lions 2009 #3

Then people ask me why I don't like advertising awards. This campaign below won the Press Grand Prix in Cannes 2009. Why I wouldn't know. It looks more like a photographer's portfolio than an advertising campaign. Let's imagine you don't know what Wrangler sells. You would continue not knowing based on these ads. What's the concept? People behave like animals? What it has to do with jeans? What motivates the consumer to buy the product? What are their features? Well, I don't know the answer to those questions. Probably the jury knows.

Advertising Agency: FFL Paris, France
Executive Creative Directors: Fred & Farid
Art Director / Copywriters: Julie Louison, Perinne Durand:
Agency Supervisors: Fred & Farid, Daniel Dormeyer, Brani Branitcheva, Vassilios Basos, Paola Bersi
Advertiser Supervisor: Giorgio Presca, Mark Cuthbert, Gary Burnand, Carmen Claes
Art Buyers: Camille Guerrier, Charlotte Delobelle
Media Strategy and Buying: FFL Media, Pascal Crifo

Cannes Lions 2009 #2

Another campaign from Cannes 2009. This one is to promote Air India's daily flights to all over the world. The ads are simple but very efficient. It has a tasteful approach and the use of different cultures and ethnics within the families gives a very human touch to the campaign, while communicates brilliantly the message.

Advertising Agency: DDB Mudra, Bangalore, India
Chief Creative Officer: Bobby Pawar
Executive Creative Director: Joono Simon
Copywriter: Melissa Roshini
Advertiser's Supervisor: Aloke Singh
Planner: Krupanand S
Account Supervisors: Kapil Bhatia, Yughandar
Art Director: Melissa Roshini
Illustrator: Mahesh N S
Photographer: Syed Zubair
Stylist: Anu Yadav

Cannes Lions 2009

Although I'm not a big fan of advertising awards, I must admit there are some really interesting works and ideas in those, so I'm going to post some of the winners and nominees here. The first one is a campaign for Fiat, with the objective to show they are worried about the environment.

Advertising Agency: Marcel, Paris, France
Chief Creative Officers: Frederic Temin, Anne De Maupeou
Copywriter: Eric Jannon
Advertiser's Supervisor: Olivier François, Arnaud Belloni, Maurizio Spagnulo
Account Supervisor: Frederic Témin
Art Buyer: Jean-Eric Le Coniac
Art Director: Dimitri Guerassimov
Photographers: Ebo Fraterman, Roman Schwienbacher
Digital Artwork: Le Moulin De Docs

Well, some people may think the idea of having live animals on a crash test is not very nice, but I thought it was a smart insight, specially the copy. "Engineered for a lower impact on the environment" is brilliant, and it completes very well the image.

BBDO chairman replies Cannes critique

Chairman of BBDO and president of this year's film and press juries at Cannes, David Lubars replied Bob Garfield's critique (click here to see the post about Garfield's critique), saying the good works and professionals should always be awarded. But he also said the quality of this year's advertising declined.

Click here to view David's reply

I agree that the good professionals should be rewarded, but I still think Canne's methods and purpose are somehow blurry. It will continue to be an award to the biggest agencies with the biggest clients, with no real meaning.

Via Ad Age

Cannes doesn't matter anymore

Very interesting article by Bob Garfield, posted on Ad Age. The lion's prestige is falling apart, which is a process that started many years ago, with the ghost ads scandal.

During the 4 years I spent in university I heard "advertising is not about the award, it's about the client", and it's true. But at the same time we testified names being branded through Cannes. That doesn't look like happening anymore. Having a gold lion today means less than it did 15 years ago. Cannes submissions this year are down 20%, and the attendees is even steeper, something around 40%. Maybe it's the global recession. Maybe. But I think the agencies and, especially, the advertising professionals don't have the "Cannes fantasy" any longer. Clients are more interested in successful cases rather than statues shelves. And the focus should always be them. Cannes doesn't matter anymore.

Here's the link to Bob's article: http://adage.com/article?article_id=137301