Yes, we’ve broken our promise to not post any Cannes Lions-related items moving forward, but we figured this might be of interest as it provides some insight into how some agencies have reacted in the wake of the event. This memo from BBDO CCO David Lubars to New York staff dropped in our tips box last night and while not on a Bastholm level of fire-lighting, one can gather that the exec doesn’t seem overly impressed with his agency’s performance. See below:
“From: From David Lubars
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012
To: New York BBDOers
Subject: Cannes 2012
Attachments: SUMMARY OF LION WINNERS 2012.docGang,
AdvertisementAndrew’s note below summarizes BBDO’s performance at Cannes this year. It was another record-setting year. However, for the first time in six years, BBDO was not Network of the Year. That recognition went to Ogilvy.
The difference came down to they had more shortlisted points.
BBDO New York had a good, not great, Cannes. We won five Lions for four clients in four different categories. But none were Gold.
We simply must do better and we need to start now.
The good news is, we’ve begun lining up some great work for next year: the Daybreak project, a new Twix campaign and some others.
We need to put our clients and BBDO back to number one at Cannes. It’s the only place we’re comfortable existing. I know our network will do this, and I know BBDO New York will lead the way. Thank you in advance.
David”
The “Andrew” that Lubars is referring to, of course, is BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson, who sent his own, lengthy memo to staff on Sunday that should basically give you a complete rundown of the agency network’s performance at Cannes. Read after the jump if you’d like.
“Last night, our Mars client was celebrated as Advertiser of the Year at Cannes – a very big deal, and recognition well worth celebrating.
This week, we won Lions with work for 40 clients: from our largest global ones like Bayer, Diageo, FedEx, Mars, Mercedes, PepsiCo and P&G, to our smallest local ones like the PIMA Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. We won 81 Lions, more than ever before.
We won them with work from 27 agencies, more than ever before. Three of these won Cannes metal for the first time: BBDO Beijing, BBDO Russia and Proximity China. And 35 agencies had shortlisted work, with first time contributions from BBDO Puerto Rico and ClemengerBBDO Brisbane. ColensoBBDO in New Zealand was our most awarded agency with 12 Lions, including three Golds for Montieth’s Crushed Cider (Outdoor and Promotion) and Mars’ Pedigree (Promotion).
That’s a Lion for every five people in the agency, and a Gold for every twenty. AMVBBDO was next with 11 Lions, including one for Creative Effectiveness (Snickers) and Golds for Guinness (Design) and Doritos (Film). AlmapBBDO captured seven Lions, including an inaugural Gold in Mobile for Bradesco Seguros. BBDO New York, BBDO Proximity Germany and Net#workBBDO each won five Lions. Gold was shared between MarkBBDO and BBDO Germany, and Net#workBBDO continued its domination of Radio with two Golds: all for Mercedes’ Alert/Night View Assist. That’s quite a feature. BBDO Argentina and BBDO Guerrero in the Philippines won four Lions. Three Lions were won by ClemengerBBDO Wellington. Two Lions were won by BBDO India Mumbai, BBDO Russia, BBDO San Francisco, BBDO Toronto, ClemengerBBDO Melbourne, ContrapuntoBBDO Madrid, I&SBBDO Japan, MarkBBDO in Czech Republic and Proximity Colombia. BBDO San Francisco won Gold in Branded Content for its work for the PIMA Air & Space Museum, ClemengerBBDO Melbourne won Gold in Press for Carlton, and I&SBBDO won Gold for Umino (Design). For Russia, these were their first ever Lions. Bravo. AIM Proximity in New Zealand, BBDO Beijing, BBDO Mexico, BBDO Proximity Singapore, ClemengerBBDO Sydney, CLMBBDO, PagesBBDO in the Dominican Republic, Proximity China and WIRZBBDO in Switzerland each won a Lion. For our two agencies in China, this was their first. ClemengerBBDO and CLMBBDO both won Golds: in Outdoor for Virgin Australia and PR for La Redoute.
So, on many dimensions, a record year, with much to be proud of and much to be grateful for. My thanks and congratulations go, with yours, to all the teams that delivered this extraordinary result. That said, for the first time in six years, we were not Network of the Year. That honor went to Ogilvy. They beat us by 16 points: we had 541 points, they had 557. We won the same number of Lions as them (81). We won an Effectiveness award and they won a GP in Outdoor (a wash in points). We won more Golds than them (14 vs. 12). We won more Silvers than them (20 vs. 19). They had more Bronzes than us (49 vs. 46). And they had more shortlisted entries than us (302 vs. 276). And that’s where they beat us.
So whilst we can, and should, feel proud, we should not feel satisfied. We know what we have to do: more great work, for more clients, that gets shortlisted and wins more metal, in the brightest of colors. And that work starts tomorrow morning. On learning that we were not Network of the Year, Bruce McColl, Global CMO for Mars said, ‘For Mars, BBDO will always be Network of the Year.’
And that counts for a lot.”
Andrew