Creative Briefs

Sex, Studs and Deadly Sins CANNES, France—Sexual preference was a hot topic at the 49th International Advertising Festival here last week. Some judges, particularly North American ones, would have preferred not to see the innuendo-filled, provocative Club 18-30 campaign from Saatchi & Saatchi, London, win the print Grand Prix at the Press & Outdoor competition."It's easy sex jokes," says U.S. judge Mike Hughes, creative director of The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va. "I'm not a PC-type of guy, but I think a club that sells itself as a place to go for sex is coarse and rude." The intricate ads for the vacation club show young people engaging in typical beach-party fun. On closer inspection, however, images are cleverly juxtaposed so as to suggest various sex acts."It was the most fresh and the most enjoyable," says French judge Olivier Altmann, chief creative officer of BDDP & Fils. "They know the purpose is to have sex [at the clubs]. It's very honest advertising."Jury president Jeff Goodby, co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, says he found the work "engaging," inviting viewers to spend time with the ads and connect with the brand. "You read the pictures like it's copy," he says.The suggestive campaign edged out ads from CDP London for Hamlet miniature cigars, featuring midgets.The first ever Grand Prix in Outdoor went to a campaign for the Oslo Piercing studio out of Leo Burnett, Oslo. The work was strategically placed so that elements of the environment represent the jewelry—a metal ring becomes a lip stud, for example. Some judges initially questioned whether the campaign was legitimate, since it comes from a tiny client, but it became the clear winner after the festival verified its credentials. "It was almost unanimous," says Goodby. Of the 109 Lions awarded in Press & Outdoor, U.S. agencies won three gold, four silver and six bronze awards. Two golds went to Bozell, New York, for ads for The New York Times and The Art Directors Club. J. Walter Thompson, New York, won the other U.S. gold for Malibu rum. The Media Grand Prix went to Universal McCann Australia in Sydney for a Magnum campaign. The "Give in to it" effort matched each ice cream flavor to a deadly sin and placed executions, such as 15-second TV spots, newspaper ads and stickers, in media environments that best reflected each sin. Sex, Studs and Deadly Sins Urinetown Runaway Favorite Home-Run Heroes UrinetownAt the Cannes Young Creatives Competition last week, the U.S. team fell just short of the gold Lion but was buoyed by praise from the U.S. judges. "Jeff Goodby and Mike Hughes came up to us afterward and said they liked our ad. That was much better than any award they can give," says Steve Lundberg, 26, copywriter at Lowe New York, who won the silver along with Lowe art director Rebecca Peterson, 27. The competition, sponsored by Getty Images, pits 36 creatives from around the world against each other in a 48-hour marathon to create a public service ad. Reading the brief for the International Secretariat for Water, Lundberg and Peterson were stunned by the number of people who die from diseases related to water quality. So they built an ad around the statistic, showing a row of images representing more well-known menaces paired with copy stating the annual toll of each. For example, landmines kill 26,000 and cigarettes 3 million. At the end is a glass of water and the number of deaths from tainted water: 5 million. The gold Lion went to Antero Jokinen and Niklas Lilja from SEK & Grey Oy in Helsinki, Finland. Their ad shows a straw in a urine sample and the headline: "Your pee is cleaner than the water 1.5 million people drink daily." Runaway FavoriteBoone/Oakley landed Best of Show honors at last week's Obie Awards, sponsored by the Outdoor Advertising Asso ciation of America. In the Charlotte, N.C., shop's winning entry for the Charlotte Hornets, Jamal Mash burn is shown taking off with the ball. Beside him, the paper of the billboard is rippled, apparently torn loose by the force of his movement. The award was handed out—along with 11 other Obies and a Hall of Fame honor for Target—during a gallery reception in New York.Home-Run HeroesIn lieu of the run-of-the-mill game clips often used to promote baseball games, McCann-Erickson turns players into superheroes in a spot promoting Major League Baseball's All-Star Game. During a brainstorming session, the New York shop's creative team, led by senior creative director and copywriter Bill Shea, focused on the notion that players are regarded as heroes. So they hired comic-book artist Trevor McCarthy to create an initial caricature of home-run record-holder Barry Bonds. McCarthy drew Bonds with a supercharged mechanical arm, and, says Shea, "that's when light bulbs went off. The gang got really excited about coming up with scenarios for each player." It was then up to digital design and effects shop Charlex in New York to make the comic-book images come to life. They animated different elements of the pictures—the comicbook frames, players, names—to look as if they are moving independently on different planes. "It was taking the inherent weakness of the comic book and making it a strength," says Charlex CD Colin McGreal. Shea says Major League Baseball plans to incorporate the images into items including posters, mouse pads and T-shirts.

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