Last week saw the announcement of the 2008 Jay Chiat Planning Awards at the American Association of Advertising Agencies Planning Conference in Miami.

These awards celebrate the best thinking in the industry by evaluating papers on the creativity and execution of agency plans from the last year.

Obviously, there is a great deal of subjectivity on what constitutes brilliant thinking. Everyone agrees it has to include an imaginative leap that takes the creative development process down a new and previously untraveled path. But, beyond that, there is little consensus.

Every year, the Jay Chiat Planning Awards judges evaluate well over 100 case studies, submitted by agencies big and small from every corner of the globe.

The first-round judging is conducted by planning directors from agencies in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. Each judge is asked to read 20 or so papers and nominate those that they believe are exemplary. The judging criteria instruct judges to choose "Papers that fill you with envy.

Papers that both humiliate and inspire. Papers that are a showcase for what is possible in planning." The output of these judging sessions is a shortlist of planning case studies. In planning circles, getting on this list alone is a career-building accolade.

Then the broader advertising community gets involved, keeping us honest and free from navel gazing. The 22 shortlisted papers are given to industry thought leaders including creative directors, agency heads, clients, planners and the press. This group decides which papers will be awarded gold, silver and bronze. This is where the important discussion of "what makes a great idea" comes to the fore. All of the submissions were agreed to be good, solid case studies that any agency would be proud of, but this group of industry leaders insisted that an award winner has to break new ground. While the planning community seemed to focus on the thinking and the consumer insight, the broader advertising community focused more on the work. Brilliant strategic thinking loses its value when it does not impact the work and lead to creative output that our industry can be proud of.

For the last two years the Jay Chiat Planning Awards has opened its doors to international entries to make it the first global showcase of strategic thinking and communication ideas. This was part of a major overhaul that took place when the 4A's took over the APG U.S. awards six years ago. To ensure international papers were judged in the right cultural and competitive context, a separate judging panel was recruited to evaluate the international category of awards at the first-round stage. All international papers were judged with the U.S. papers for round two.

International recognition of the Jay Chiat Planning Awards continues to grow. This year submissions were received from agencies in the U.K., France, India, China, Latin America, Australia and Japan. Four of the international entries made it to the shortlist of nominees: eBay, France; DeBeers, India; Barnardo's, U.K.; Work Safety Insurance Board, Canada.

Although still dominated by U.S. submissions in terms of the overall number of entries, these international papers took home more than their fair share of the trophies in Miami. Two of the five silver awards, two of the three gold awards and the Grand Prix all went to international entries. The judges commented that many of the international papers rose to the top because they presented engaging narratives of innovative and original thinking, rather than linear marketing cases following a more traditional planning formula focused on consumer insight alone.

Next, William Charnock comments on the three gold medalists and summarizes their winning entries.

GOLD: DE BEERS

GOLD: EBAY

GOLD: ROLLING ROCK

OTHER WINNERS



GOLD

Agency: JWT, Mumbai
Brand: De Beers
Category: International
Campaign: "Diamond Bride"
Team: Shaziya Khan, Rohit Arora, Anuj Mehra, Agnello Dias, Kainaz Karmaka

Campaigns aimed at India's consumers are on something of a roll: A Grand Prix at Cannes went to the Times of India promotional effort has now been followed by a gold medal and Grand Prix in the Jay Chiat Planning Awards for the De Beers Indian campaign. Both have in common an attempt by advertising to tune in to and even drive cultural change. The "Diamond Bride" campaign shows how strategic thinking can take cultural shifts and trends and use them to create new consumer categories and new businesses.

Clever and sensitive use of cultural change is, however, not the end of the story. The planning craft skills are here in abundance, including accurate and effective audience definition and brave creative thought. The sales "objection" here was the pervasive cultural concept of a dutiful and self-sacrificing bride; that's pretty stiff competition. The other great piece of thinking in this paper was the wonderful use of wedding dress designers as a totally new communication channel

The background

When it comes to marriage, Indians are generally loath to change anything. Most Indian marriages are "arranged" by parents-based on factors such as the couple's family background, social standing and even a horoscope match. Within the Indian wedding ceremony gold has been an abiding piece of the bride's adornment for centuries. Gold is considered "auspicious," is gifted by parents as her insurance against exigency and is synonymous with Goddess Laxmi (the goddess of wealth and well-being). In such a context, personal choice takes a backseat to tradition. It takes a bold planner to decide to take on tradition and create a preference for diamond jewelry instead of gold.

In a U.S. context a strategic decision to speak directly to brides may not seem especially insightful or brave, but as the paper articulates, this was an entirely new approach in India and one that required a fair degree of conviction. In India it is the parents -- not the happy couple -- that make all the decisions because they are the ones paying for and managing the wedding arrangements. The first glimpse of opportunity came when research revealed that wedding jewelry was one of the few areas where the bride had some say.

The planners then set out to "puncture" what they called the BFIW (big fat Indian wedding).

The thinking

The team used a variety of research techniques, from category archaeology to semiotics. It turned out that a gold bride was perceived by many as being "too decked up, traditional, with a vernacular accent, fearful, obedient, surrounded by uncles, aunts, squealing cousins, at a hustle-bustle-hotch-potch of a wedding party." In contrast, the "diamond bride" (a phrase first used on as a mood board title) was imagined to be "elegant, at a select gathering, an extrovert who speaks her mind, and, above all, casual, cheerful and happy, not nervous at all, even though she is getting married."

An audacious idea was born: To take the mood board title of "diamond bride" and make it a reality. The aim was to establish the idea that diamond brides were distinctly different from gold brides who were traditional, dutiful and with their eyes downcast most of the time. Diamonds, the planners hypothesized, could be the catalyst to a contemporary cultural paradigm waiting to be advanced; "symbolic," as the planners put it, "of personal choice, of the woman having an opinion and a right to have a say, of a modern, aspirational statement."

The work

The commercial shows a bride bedecked in diamond jewelry. Once the ceremony is complete, the husband puts the sindoor (vermillion applied on the hair parting of married Indian women) on her head and the diamond tiara falls into place. That's the cue for the bride to signal the end of the ceremony and she whispers in the groom's ear, "You may now kiss the bride." Kissing the bride is not a matter of custom. In fact, asking for a kiss is a sure sign of self-expression from a bride who knows how to bask in the moment. The creative strategy was not the only great piece of thinking in this submission. In addition to using traditional TV media to bring the concept to life, the planning team had the idea to create a new channel of communication for this new concept. They approached India's top three fashion designers, Ritu Kumar, Rohit Bal and Tarun Tahiliani to be de facto advocates of the diamond bride. Each designer created a unique interpretation of the bridal look of the diamond bride, the common thread, of course, being diamonds. Each look achieved visibility across trend books and in magazines like Vogue, L'officiel and Femina, as well as strong PR support for the campaign.

The results

The results for this campaign speak for themselves. Diamond jewelry worn at weddings jumped from 8 percent before the campaign to 65 percent after the campaign and overall growth in the market for diamond jewelry at weddings jumped to 30 percent compared with 20 percent growth in the market for diamond jewelry overall. Preference for diamonds over gold for wedding jewelry gew fast, with 86 percent of future brides saying they would choose diamonds over gold in a De Beers commissioned study. This truly is an example of some of the best strategic thinking that will have a lasting and highly profitable impact on this client's business.



GOLD

Agency: BETC Euro RSCG
Brand: eBay (France)
Category: International
Campaign: "The Ad Auction"
Team: Olivier Apers, Philippe Brandt, Fabrice Brovelli, Raphael deAndreis, David Green, Cedric Mathorel, Hugues Pinquet, Xavier Royaux, Denis Thybaud, Alexander VanSchirmeister, Stephane Xibemis

Assessing papers from around the world is never easy, given the cultural factors that have to be considered. We were lucky this year as we had an amazing set of international judges, many of whom worked in the markets covered by the papers. In the case of eBay we had a French client (Nicholas Maurer from Nivea) on the judging panel who confirmed some of the market challenges articulated in the paper. What impressed the judges was the fact that the planner came up with a ruthlessly simple definition of the marketing challenge and a simple and eloquent creative brief. In uncovering a truth about the audience and the market the planners identified an idea that would have value for the brand for many years to come. It is no mean feat to get the world's most discerning shoppers to see online shopping in a new light.

The background

In France, as in other markets around the world, eBay had achieved a remarkable feat by successfully developing an alternative model for online commerce. Yet the brand had never officially been launched. So while the brand itself was well known, its unique positioning was not clear to many consumers.

EBay has developed a huge and loyal fan base among expert bargain hunters and collectors of every kind around the world. To grow further in France, it needed to be regarded as a credible alternative to brick and mortar stores. The "virtual" aspect of eBay was a major problem in France. French retailers have succeeded in building very close bonds with their customers, providing important additional value to their consumption. Even more than in other Western markets, French retailers have to provide emotional reasons that give people an "excuse" to consume. To become a more successful retailer in France, therefore, eBay had to create an intimate link with consumers. It needed to break out of its strange world of pixels and log-in names, and become "real."

The thinking

The planners in this paper connected the three things for which eBay is appreciated:
-- The broad choice of products.
-- Paying only what you think something is worth.
-- The adrenaline and fun of the bidding and winning experience.

The common link among these was the people involved; at its heart, it was "made by people, for people."

EBay's real revolution lay in building the first store made up exclusively of its own customers. It cut out the intermediaries, allowing people all around the world to buy and sell goods directly to one another. The plan recognized that it is the millions of people selling items on eBay that make the choices so vast; that it is because so many people are selling the same items that consumers can exert some control over the price they pay and that eBay is also a global community, that the experience is so rich and different.

This thinking led to a new brand signature for eBay in France: "You are eBay" ("eBay, c'est vous"); a concise and direct way to frame the message.

The obvious way to introduce eBay into the homes and everyday lives of millions of people in France was using TV. However, a traditional TV commercial would not have been faithful to the revolution eBay represented within the world of commerce.

The idea was simple and quintessentially eBay: auctioning off 10 TV ad shoots on the site itself, with the resultant commercials to be broadcast on national TV. The ads would give actual eBay users an opportunity to promote one of their items for sale on the site.

The work

The campaign called "eBay 2.0" began with a mysterious 30-second commercial that announced the auctioning on eBay of 10 TV commercials. Once the auctions were closed, agency creatives worked with the TV commercial directors to create the 10 spots featuring the winners and their offers. The candidates, from all over France, brought with them a diverse spectrum of items, ranging from a princess dress to a car and a coffee table, as well as the first marriage proposal ever broadcast on a French TV commercial.

To maintain the spontaneity of the Internet in the TV medium, the agency produced the 10 commercials on a tight schedule. At the same time, great emphasis was placed on the quality of the spots to avoid association with low-budget "shopping channel" or "reality TV" ads.

The results

The day the "teaser" spot aired, visitors to the French eBay site reached their highest point in history. By the end of the campaign, the site had gained 1 million new members and the campaign went straight into the top 10 most-effective campaigns of 2007, according to the rankings provided by Ipsos.



GOLD

Agency: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
Brand: Rolling Rock (Anheuser-Busch)
Category: Product USA
Campaign: "Ron Stablehorn"
Team: Frank Aldorf, Tanin Blumberg, Will Elliott, Jeff Goodby, Melissa Harbin, Matt Herrmann, James Horner, Will McGuiness, Ronny Northrop, Tod Puckett

Planning these days is about so much more than simply identifying a consumer insight and passing it on to the creative department. The Rolling Rock case demonstrates so many aspects of what great planning is today.

Good planning does not limit itself to the advertising world but understands that its ideas have to exist in the real world and that world is not always sunshine and puppy dogs. In the real world, if you want to create a compelling narrative, it has to be multi-dimensional and interesting enough that people want to be a part of it. This can mean being risky and sometimes a little chaotic.

Again, demonstrating the multiplicity of the planning discipline, in this case we also see some great thinking where planning not only inspired the story but also helped identify where and when the story needed to be told.

When faced with a controversy most brands would run for the hills. In this case the planners turned logic on its head. They amplified the controversy on their own terms by creating a fictional, incompetent marketing department led by Rod Stablehorn.

The background

This Rolling Rock story starts when "a quaint Pennsylvania beer brand steeped in history, loaded with character and adored by generations of devoted drinkers" is purchased by Anheuser-Busch, one of the largest beer brewers on the planet. As part of the purchase, Anheuser-Busch sold the landmark brewery in Latrobe and began brewing the beer at its factory in Newark, New Jersey. In the ensuing controversy, Rolling Rock's fiercest loyalists boycotted the beer in record numbers. Chat rooms and blogs filled with vitriol, country singers recorded ballads mourning the loss of a national treasure. There were even death threats.

The thinking

Rather than smooth over the controversy with slick advertising imagery the agency saw the opportunity to use these active conversations to propel the brand forward. The inspired idea was to create "the most misguided beer campaign in the history of advertising" and in doing so create the belief that Rolling Rock was " no ordinary beer" because the Rolling Rock brand was "indomitable."

Enter Ron Stablehorn, the fake vp, marketing for the Rolling Rock brand.

Ron always began with the best of intentions, but then used abhorrently flawed logic to create epic marketing gaffes. Account planning developed a template for the logic, a character sketch that operated as a guidebook for every decision on the campaign. The document, "WWRD?" or "What Would Ron Do?" provided the spine for this campaign. It answered questions as broad as "Which network would Ron broadcast on?" (Fox, because he thinks they're "edgy") and as seemingly insignificant as "What font would Ron use on his blog?" (Helvetica with really bad kerning, because he strives for modernity, yet has no inherent aesthetic sense).

The work

Ron's first order of business was to create a "Beer Ape" that parachuted into parties. He went on to make an ad featuring a "European" office with hirsute men wearing thongs "Because what's funnier than thongs? And Europe is really hot now!", and then an ad about an errant foul ball defying the laws of physics (OK, maybe guys getting hit in the groin is funnier than men in thongs), as well as various misguided promotions, like a bottle with breasts (something for the ladies!).

All through the campaign, the agency played with what was real and what wasn't.

It didn't matter if someone believed that Ron was a real person or not; what mattered was that everyone acted as if he were real. The deepest irony is that Ron Stablehorn, the worst marketing director that ever lived, became the biggest star of AB's annual wholesaler convention. And it turns out people like bad advertising...a lot.

The results

The "Beer Ape" video on YouTube garnered over 1 million views in 24 hours, the second-best performance of any home page video since the site's inception, according to YouTube. While the "Beer Ape" video was initially seeded on only five video-sharing sites, it ultimately showed up on over 180 Web sites during the two-week campaign.

As online attention grew, sales started going up: In the two weeks that followed the release of "Beer Ape," weekly Rolling Rock six-pack sales growth rose from 2.9 percent to 10.7 percent. At the high point of the "Man Thong" chapter, in the second week of January, sales grew by 23 percent.



SILVER

BBH London - Barnardo's (International)
Campbell Mithun - H&R Block (Service Brand)
DraftFCB Toronto - Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (International)
The Martin Agency - Wal-Mart (Sustainability) (Introduction)
TBWA\Chiat\Day; Starcom Worldwide - Sara Lee (Ball Park) (Product Brand)


BRONZE

Deutsch - McNeil Consumer Healthcare (Tylenol) (Product Brand)
Littlefield - Tulsa World (Small Budget)
M&C Saatchi Los Angeles - The J. Paul Getty Trust (The Getty) (Small Budget)
McCann Erickson - Weight Watchers (Service Brand)
Publicis - P&G (Metamucil) (Product Brand)
TBWA\Chiat\Day; Tequila; OMD - Sony PlayStation (NBA 07) (Product Brand)


HONORABLE MENTION

BBDO West - San Francisco Zoo (Pro Bono)
DDB San Francisco - Clorox (Kingsford) (Product Brand)
DDB San Francisco; Tribal DDB - Clorox (Bathroom Products) (Product Brand)
Euro RSCG Worldwide, New York - Heineken USA (Dos Equis) (Product Brand)
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners; OMD; TMA - Frito-Lay (Doritos) (Introduction)
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners - HP PSG (Personal Systems Group)
McCann Erickson - Nikon (D40) (Product Brand)
McKinney - Virgin Mobile USA (Product Brand)