End of the lionless spot years
At the 48th International Advertising Festival in Cannes, AY&R won a Lion d’Or for its Médecins Sans Frontières commercial
At the 48th International Advertising Festival in Cannes, AY&R won a Lion d'Or with the Médecins-sans-Frontières spotBy Samuel HelblingThe USA and Great Britain dominated this year's advertising festival on the Côte d'Azur. Around 19,000 works from more than 80 nations competed for the most coveted advertising trophies. 9000 delegates watched the advertising spectacle. For the first time since 1994, the Swiss returned with a Gold Lion in the TV commercials category.
The disappointment was written all over the faces of the Swiss Cannes delegation at the end of the week. They came away empty-handed in both the Press & Poster and the Media and Cyberlions categories. Their last hopes rested on a Film Lion. But even in the supreme discipline of advertising, only 2 out of 74 works made it onto the shortlist. The joy was all the greater when it was announced on Friday evening that the spot for Médecins sans Frontières ("Borders") by AY&R had won a Lion, and a Gold one at that. The same work that was voted campaign of the year by the readers of WerbeWoche in January.
The fact that the idea had already been awarded a Gold Lion in the Press & Poster category in 2000 almost proved to be the spot's undoing. However, the Swiss were able to credibly prove that they had previously won the budget for Médecins sans Frontières in a competing presentation. An act of compensatory justice that everyone involved could live with. The Autostopper spot for a temporary company by McCann-Erickson made it onto the shortlist, but did not stand a chance (see also interview with Martin Spillmann).
This year's Film Grand Prix was won by Cliff Freemann & Partners from New York for the US broadcaster Fox Sports (WW 23/00). In documentary-style spots, fictitious sports from exotic regions are presented, which often end badly for those involved. In one spot, two Chinese men chop down a tree that is to be caught by the third. A hopeless endeavor ... The spots seem so over-the-top and absurd that they have the laughs on their side. Otherwise, Great Britain (16 Lions) and the USA (16) were again ahead in the film competition, followed by Argentina and Holland (6 Lions each).
In the Press & Poster category, Paradiset DDB, Stockholm, won the Grand Prix for their Diesel ad. The Swedes narrowly beat the extraordinary New Beetle campaign by Arnold Worldwide in Boston (WW 23/00).
The campaign for fashion manufacturer Diesel parodies Western ethnocentrism, quoting the fictional newspaper "The Daily African", in which Europe and the USA are portrayed as the Third World and Africa as a rich continent. The nations with the most medals in this category were Brazil and Spain (15 Lions each), closely followed by the USA (14).
Skepticism towards films accompanying the media idea
Media or creation? This was the question on the minds of the judges of the Media Lions competition, which was held for the third time this year. This is about innovative ideas and their implementation in the media strategy. The jury had to assess the target group orientation of a campaign and the optimal use of the available media. However, the boundaries are fluid, so the jury found it difficult to reach a decision and constantly put this into perspective at the awards ceremony. Media representatives were irritated by the elaborate promotional films used by media works to promote their media idea. Andy Lehman from Optimedia Switzerland said: "It is absurd if advertising films that sell the media idea are awarded and not the idea itself." If these accompanying films become the norm, things will get tight for us. Customers are unlikely to be willing to invest in such commercials in our country.
In the Media category, there are only Lions and one Grand Prix. This went to the USA in the category "Best use of Cinema", to the agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, for the spot "Secrets of a tobacco executive", an anti-smoking campaign. The USA and Brazil came top with four Media Lions each, followed by Spain and Mexico.
F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi from Brazil was named Agency of the Year, and the Palme d'Or went to @radical.media (USA). A complete overview of all Lion winners can be found on the homepage www .canneslions.com.
Cyberlions and Press & Poster Shortlist
The disappointment was written all over the faces of the Swiss Cannes delegation at the end of the week. They came away empty-handed in both the Press & Poster and the Media and Cyberlions categories. Their last hopes rested on a Film Lion. But even in the supreme discipline of advertising, only 2 out of 74 works made it onto the shortlist. The joy was all the greater when it was announced on Friday evening that the spot for Médecins sans Frontières ("Borders") by AY&R had won a Lion, and a Gold one at that. The same work that was voted campaign of the year by the readers of WerbeWoche in January.
The fact that the idea had already been awarded a Gold Lion in the Press & Poster category in 2000 almost proved to be the spot's undoing. However, the Swiss were able to credibly prove that they had previously won the budget for Médecins sans Frontières in a competing presentation. An act of compensatory justice that everyone involved could live with. The Autostopper spot for a temporary company by McCann-Erickson made it onto the shortlist, but did not stand a chance (see also interview with Martin Spillmann).
This year's Film Grand Prix was won by Cliff Freemann & Partners from New York for the US broadcaster Fox Sports (WW 23/00). In documentary-style spots, fictitious sports from exotic regions are presented, which often end badly for those involved. In one spot, two Chinese men chop down a tree that is to be caught by the third. A hopeless endeavor ... The spots seem so over-the-top and absurd that they have the laughs on their side. Otherwise, Great Britain (16 Lions) and the USA (16) were again ahead in the film competition, followed by Argentina and Holland (6 Lions each).
In the Press & Poster category, Paradiset DDB, Stockholm, won the Grand Prix for their Diesel ad. The Swedes narrowly beat the extraordinary New Beetle campaign by Arnold Worldwide in Boston (WW 23/00).
The campaign for fashion manufacturer Diesel parodies Western ethnocentrism, quoting the fictional newspaper "The Daily African", in which Europe and the USA are portrayed as the Third World and Africa as a rich continent. The nations with the most medals in this category were Brazil and Spain (15 Lions each), closely followed by the USA (14).
Skepticism towards films accompanying the media idea
Media or creation? This was the question on the minds of the judges of the Media Lions competition, which was held for the third time this year. This is about innovative ideas and their implementation in the media strategy. The jury had to assess the target group orientation of a campaign and the optimal use of the available media. However, the boundaries are fluid, so the jury found it difficult to reach a decision and constantly put this into perspective at the awards ceremony. Media representatives were irritated by the elaborate promotional films used by media works to promote their media idea. Andy Lehman from Optimedia Switzerland said: "It is absurd if advertising films that sell the media idea are awarded and not the idea itself." If these accompanying films become the norm, things will get tight for us. Customers are unlikely to be willing to invest in such commercials in our country.
In the Media category, there are only Lions and one Grand Prix. This went to the USA in the category "Best use of Cinema", to the agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, for the spot "Secrets of a tobacco executive", an anti-smoking campaign. The USA and Brazil came top with four Media Lions each, followed by Spain and Mexico.
F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi from Brazil was named Agency of the Year, and the Palme d'Or went to @radical.media (USA). A complete overview of all Lion winners can be found on the homepage www .canneslions.com.
Cyberlions and Press & Poster Shortlist
The Swiss agency RØSA qualified for the Cyberlions in the Brand Promotion category with Patman and Fashion Store. The Brazilians achieved the highest number of entries for the websites with 54 and the USA with 50 shortlisted places. Switzerland was shortlisted for the Press & Poster Awards with eight entries: Fruit Bowl, Hero Konfitüre, Matter & Partner; Don't worry, New Beetle, Lowe Lintas GGK; Media-plan, TV3, WHS; Punchline, Books/Reini Weber & Erich Liebi, WHS; Plug, Panasonic/ John Lay, Jung von Matt/Limmat; Around the world in 80 days, VBZ, Advico Y&R; Long Jump, Berner Zeitung, Wirz Werbeberatung; Hamlet, Books/W. Jäggi, Lesch + Frei.
