Among the welcome materials when we arrived in Cannes were schedules, instructions, party invitations — and buried in one discrete envelope, a gold bullet.
Small, heavy and provocative, it was a gift from our jury president, Alexander Schill. The accompanying note welcomed us to the Direct Jury and set the tone from day one. To Alex, the bullet would be a reminder of our relentless search for work that is new, that cuts through, that is is bold — work that hits you in the heart.
The next five days would be spent in a large dark room of the Palais du Festival hunting for bullets. More than 1,800 entries were submitted this year in the Direct category (the most ever) and the 25 of us from 23 different countries would have three days to sift through it all, split into groups of five focused on different categories with some overlap.
The Cannes definition of direct is work that is designed with the intention of entering a dialogue with a customer and to generate a response “whilst” building and prolonging a relationship. Every entry had a submission board, write-up, and at least 50 percent had 3-minute case study videos and accompanying materials. Tapping away on our HP iPAQ handhelds, we were voting 1-9 across creativity, execution and results. In the process, we were automatically essentially creating a draft Shortlist of the top 10 percent in each of the dozen categories ranging channels such as mobile and e-commerce platforms, dimensional mail and ambient to industry categories, such as financial services, charity and fast moving consumer goods. On Saturday morning, we returned and had to individually each re-vote all 205 pieces in the draft Shortlist. There till 11PM, we also could propose deletions of weak work that squeaked through or propose additions (not from our own agencies of course) of great work we’d seen earlier.
Incidentally, OgilvyOne’s Search for the World’s Greatest Salesperson (which inspired this whole Sell or Else effort!) from last Spring passed through this tough test and made it a position on the Shortlist. There was Ogilvy work from around the world, some of which I had seen already and much I didn’t even recognize.
I found judging itself incredibly tough to do but it is an utterly fair and thoughtful process. Skeptics would be naive to think it’s simply a beauty contest. It’s an international jury of 25 experienced creative directors who can be both generous with the benefit of the doubt on an aspect or detail but then wonderfully unapologetic about the quality or originality of an idea and its execution. Cannes, after all, is not about solid successful work we all do every day and of which we are quite proud. It’s about fresh thinking and inspiring work that keeps us going and makes us all better. It’s about bullets.
By Sunday 8 p.m., the jury had voted and discussed another round to award the actual medals. It’s not an ‘American’ first place, second place, third. It’s a scoring system and subjective assertion of what deserves a Lion (i.e., Bronze), what is fantastic (Silver) and what is uniquely powerful and a statement of the best (Gold). From the 205 on the Shortlist, we awarded 61 Lions, including 34 Bronze, 16 Silver, 11 Gold and 1 Grand Prix. Many categories had no golds or silvers, several categories had multiple, a few categories actually had no medals awarded at all.
The full list is up at canneslions.com but here is some work from Ogilvy and from elsewhere which came at me like a bullet:
1. Coca-Cola: THE FRIENDSHIP MACHINE
This is one of the most beautiful, bold and on-brand ideas we saw.
The Friendship Machine is a uniquely tall vending machine where you need the help of a friend to help you reach for a Coke.
2 Gold: Ambient and Fast Moving Goods (Ogilvy Argentina)
2. Coca-Cola: SANTA’S FORGOTTEN LETTERS
This is so charming. Watch the video so I don’t ruin it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA04Yya5l90
Silver: Corporate Image & Information Ogilvy Argentina
3. Home Plus: VIRTUAL STORE
We had a lot of debate over this one since it was so different from traditional communications. Koreans, the case study, explained are busy and hate to shop. Tesco’s Home Plus wanted to increase share but without adding new physical stores. In subway walls, the brand created a virtual store with realistic shelf-like images where you can use your phone, and via QR code, shop for what you want. And it gets delivered to your home at the time you want. It’s both direct response for out of home (much more experiential than a 1800#) and ecommerce. No wonder it won in both.
2 Golds: Direct response outdoor and E-commerce (Korea)
4. Airwalk footwear
INVISIBLE POP UP STORE
Another but distinct e-commerce play out of the house and using your phone. Created by our cousin agency Y&R, fans for this cult skaterboard brand are invited in New York and Los Angeles to come see and buy an Airwalk sneaker being reintroduced to the market at a specific locations like Washington Square Park. The store is available but only visible with your phone. An elegant combination of e-commerce delivered through augmented reality.
2 Bronzes: Mobile Marketing and Ambient (USA)
5. FOURTH AMENDMENT WEAR
http://cargocollective.com/4thamendment
How to demonstrate civil disobedience to the TSA over the new overly-intrusive airports scanners? Buy this line of clothes with metallic ink. When you walk through the new scanners, the TSA guard can see the IV Amendment emblazened on your chest, privates, and even your socks.
Silver: Low Budget; Bronze: Corporate Image & Information (USA)
6. DECODE JAY-Z WITH BING
It’s not often a US effort does so well in direct but this experience from our sister agency JWT got you to use the Bing search engine through the release of Jay-Z’s memoir before it hit the bookshelves. It’s huge, global and includes ambient, digital, and well, a lot.
Gold: Integrated campaign that is direct led (USA)
7. Ministerio de Defensa National: OPERATION CHRISTMAS
How do you sell unity? Blackhawk helicopters delivered Christmas lights to a tree in the guerilla-controlled jungle. If Christmas can come to you in the jungle, the message read, you can come home. I loved this and tried to get it even higher than bronze.
Bronze: Charity, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness (Colombia)
8. KLM: PERSONAL SPACE EXPERIMENT
To address space concerns, watch how KLM and Rapp make the point in-person.
Shortlist: Travel, Entertainment & Leisure (Netherlands)
9. United Artists Cinema: U-LATE HOTLINE
Late for a movie? It happens to all of us. Call the free number from the cinema, and, through the phone, they’ll tell you the first 15 minutes of the movie so you’re all caught up.
Shortlist: Travel, Entertainment & Leisure (Hong Kong)
10. Elite Chocolate: THE BIG TRIP
A big idea that brings the product to the customers. 60%+ of young Israelis who finish their Army training take a ‘big’ trip before starting university. They’re far from home and away for a long time. This risky effort brings their local/childhood chocolate brand to them on their big trip as far as Mount Everest and Thailand.
Silver: Ambient (Israel)
11. Pause Home Entertainment: HUMAN JUKEBOX
We love bravery. To prove the flawlessness of their services designing audio systems, Pause’s CEO swallows a wireless mic connected to the rest of the system.
Silver: Category (Sweden)
12. THE CRYING INVOICE
One of the few and strong business-to-business entries, an outsourcing company helps freelancers get delayed invoices paid with a chip embedded in the paper invoice that wines.
Bronze: Business Products & Services (Belgium)
And finally, our choice for the Cannes Lions Direct Grand Prix was a brave idea for a local chocolate bar from Romania.
Kandia Dulce: AMERICAN ROM
To counter a chronic sag in sales for the iconic chocolate par with the Romanian flag as its package design, the brand staged a stunt repackaging it in the American Flag for one week. The uproar, encouraged online and even with a flash mob protest, was so profound that the product has utterly rebounded.
Grand Prix, 2 Gold: Traffic & Brand Building and Fast Moving Goods (Romania)
Mat Zucker is the Chief Creative Officer for OgilvyOne Worldwide, New York.
Tags: Cannes, digital direct, direct marketing, Mat Zucker, OgilvyOne
