DDB, JWT Are Press, Outdoor Bests

CANNES, FRANCE A Volkswagen ad by DDB showing policemen shielding themselves during a shootout using the "Small but Tough" Polo won the Grand Prix in Press, and a transit ad for CH-9 Media featuring a truck followed by missile-shaped balloons from J. Walter Thompson earned the top honor in Outdoor at the 51st International Advertising Festival here tonight. Both winners, by Omnicom Group's DDB in London and WPP Group's J. Walter Thompson in Kuala Lumpur, represent "strong, refreshing ideas," said jury president Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director at WPP's Ogilvy & Mather in Mumbai, India. "One big thing in both is pure simplicity." Pandey added that both winners have mass appeal. "The advertising fraternity and the general population will appreciate both equally," he said, showing "we do not live in our small world.""Both Grand Prix wins are strong, simple, original, fast and powerful ideas," said Canadian juror Ian Grais, partner and co-creative director of Rethink in Vancouver. "The jury wanted to send a message that great, simple, fresh ideas are what prevail."Two other gold Lion winners were also in the running for the top prize in Press: a BMW campaign from Omnicom's BDDP & Fils in Boulogne Billancourt, France, and a Weru windows campaign from Scholz & Friends in Berlin. The BMW ads show how the new 4x4 can "mix your playgrounds" with images of cityscapes juxtaposed over rugged, rural landscapes. The Weru campaign illustrates how the soundproof windows quiet even the loudest noises outside: a gardener mows a lawn with a tiny mower; a construction worker breaks ground with a pint-sized jackhammer. The 22-member jury decided the top prize in Press after much debate over the relative weight between idea and execution. "Much of the power of [BMW] was the power of the visual execution," said Grais. "With VW, it was the power of the fresh idea." The other top contender for the Grand Prix in Outdoor was Adidas live soccer-game billboard from Omnicom's TBWA Japan, which won a gold Lion.U.S. juror Kevin Roddy, executive creative director at Havas' Euro RSCG Partners in New York who voted for the Adidas billboard, added that the choice for the Outdoor Grand Prix came much quicker than in the Press competition, with the CH-9 transit execution receiving a quick two-thirds majority vote needed to take the top prize. Overall, the jury awarded 30 gold, 22 silver and 65 bronze Lions from a shortlist of 793 and a total of 9,979 entries from 71 countries. Last year's Grand Prix Press winner, Omnicom's TBWA\Paris, which won the top prize with an ad showing an adult male's "Rebirth" for Sony PlayStation, won four gold Lions for two PlayStation ads this year, in both Press and Outdoor. "Doll" shows a man blowing up a plastic doll shaped like the game's control buttons, and "Potato Head" presents a man with an empty face picking his features from puzzle-like pieces scattered in front of him. U.S. agencies, which had 296 entries in Press and Outdoor, won two silver and seven bronze Lions. "The ideas coming out of the U.S. just weren't that strong," said Roddy of the few Lions won by American shops. Roddy's particular U.S. favorite, Apple's iPod campaign from TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif., was quickly dismissed by the jury. They felt "that it was more of a design than an idea-driven campaign," he said. "I was disappointed."The two U.S. silver Lion winners are a Unilever Axe campaign from Publicis-backed Bartle Bogle Hegarty in New York and a Save the Children ad from Publicis' Leo Burnett in Chicago. The Axe ads show how men are "Part Good. Part Bad" with visuals of their detached lower bodies turned to more lustful desires, such as a lingerie store or the porn section of a video store, while their heads and torsos remain innocently focused on their girlfriends. The Save the Children ad shows a teen girl looking down at her belly. Copy reveals her inner dialogue, "My Mom's Going to Kill Me," and appears alongside her head and is repeated next to her exposed midriff.The U.S. bronze winners include Publicis in New York, which picked up two for a Vespa Press campaign showing pinball machines with protruding skylines of New York and London, and an Allied Domecq Stolichnaya Outdoor campaign presenting images of frosted, frozen rooms; MDC Partners-backed Crispin Porter + Bogusky in Miami for a Borders wrapping paper Press campaign; a U.S. Trust Press campaign featuring white raised type on white spreads by independent Wieden + Kennedy in New York; Publicis' Fallon in Minneapolis for an agency promotion Press ad discussing the life of a deceased woman who "never won a pencil"; La Comunidad in Miami for a Rolling Stone Outdoor campaign promoting a photography retrospective with portraits of musicians Keith Richards and John Lennon; and a "Take a Brochure" U.S. Army Outdoor campaign from Leo Burnett in Chicago.

Brand Marketing

DDB, JWT Are Press, Outdoor Bests

Eleftheria Parpis

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Eleftheria Parpis