Fallon Wins Media Grand Prix

CANNES Fallon in Minneapolis received the Media Grand Prix at the International Ad Festival here tonight for "The Open Show," a program designed to drive traffic to online-trading service Archipelago.The effort involved a deal with CNBC to air a one-minute segment each morning at 7:59 that featured two men ringing the opening bell for the electronic stock exchange. Print ads, street posters and on-air plugs from the shop promoted the show like a real TV program. As a result of the initiative, volume to Archipelago increased 64 percent and unaided ad awareness rose 35 percent during the program's run, according to the agency."There is no physical product," said Media Lions jury president Fernando Rodes, chief executive officer of Havas' Media Planning Group in Barcelona, Spain. "They were able to come up with a fantastic solution. It's a fusion of how media approached a strategic insight."The Grand Prix winner demonstrated "integration of advertising and programming and a true blurring of the line," added U.S. juror Fred Sattler, evp, executive media director at Doner Advertising, Southfield, Mich. "Because it was serialized advertising, it kept people interested."The 16-person jury awarded 21 media Lions from a pool of 779 entries at a ceremony held at the Palais des Festivals. Work was recognized based on a "brilliant insight that was executed in an innovative way," explained Sattler. "Not just a clever idea, but one wedded to a consumer or brand understanding and ultimately, one that's able to pop in its medium or category and make the genuine target take pause."A Molson effort from Crispin Porter + Bogusky was the only other U.S. entry to claim a Media Lion. The Miami shop made the beer bottles the primary media vehicle with labels that carried conversation starters like "I'm with the band" or "Who's your daddy?" "It was a very interesting case where the product became the media," said juror Peter Swain, chairman and CEO of The Media Company in Canada.Referring to the lack of U.S. representation among the Media Lion winners, Sattler said, "Media properties are more of a commodity [in other countries], either by virtue of the market size or the nature of the consolidation of ownership." Sattler added: "It's the paradox of the big budget. What was recognized among large-budget advertisers were those who spent to a strategy and not a deal."South Africa and New Zealand each took home three Media Lions, the most awarded to any country. TBWA\Hunt Lascaris won two Media Lions for its Standard Bank of South Africa and BMW work. For the latter, the Johannesburg agency simulated the brightness and non-blinding effect of the automaker's Bixenon headlights by slowly turning up the cinema lighting as footage of an oncoming BMW played on the movie screen.Saatchi & Saatchi in Auckland, New Zealand, landed a Media Lion for a fire prevention effort that interspersed six short executions within a three-minute commercial pod to demonstrate how a fire can start and turn into an inferno within the same amount of time. Zenith Optimedia took home one of two Lions for the U.K. for a Lexus push that surrounded its target audience with messages as they traveled on business or holidays.

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Fallon Wins Media Grand Prix

Ann M. Mack

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Ann M. Mack