A major trend at this year’s Cannes Lions festival is companies advertising products and services that assist people, such as Volvo’s ‘Lifepaint.’
At advertising agencies across the country this week, the lucky few who just returned from the south of France are showing colleagues their favourite work from around the world, discovered at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. One of the industry's best-regarded in an excessive spate of awards shows, Cannes leaves attendees fired up to do the kind of work that has inspired their envy.
We asked some of the Canadian jury members who helped to judge the awards to share their personal favourites from this year. Do you hate advertising? You might want to actually see these.
Advertiser: Geico Corp.
Agency: The Martin Agency
Chosen by: Darren Clarke, chief creative officer at MacLaren McCann, Film jury member; and Patrick Scissons, chief creative officer at Grey Canada, Cyber jury member
On sites such as YouTube, people usually skip ads as fast as they can. Geico fought that by ending its ad and showing viewers its logo in the five- or 10-second window before the "skip" button appeared – and then kept them watching as strange things happened to the tableaux of actors. The family dog jumping on the table and eating the meal of the happy family rejoicing at their savings, for example.
"Everyone hates preroll advertising. Here's a smart way to break through the consumer hate," Mr. Scissons said.
Mr. Clarke noticed that many advertisers went for emotional campaigns and that funny ads have fallen by the wayside a bit. This approach was particularly refreshing.
"It proved that if you do advertising that people want to watch, they will engage with it," Mr. Clarke said. "I liked that for what it did for the industry."
Advertiser: Canal+
Agency: BETC, France
Chosen by: Judy John, chief creative officer and CEO at Leo Burnett Toronto, Direct jury president
Is there anything more boring than filling out a form? Canal+ wanted to solve that problem for viewers subscribing to its pay-TV channel. So it enlisted two comedic characters from one of its popular shows to walk users through the process, reacting to their choices to make it more entertaining. "Had I briefed one of the teams and said, 'I want you to do the website subscription page and make it interesting,' they would have thought, 'Why are you punishing me?' I'm going to show them that and say, 'Look what they did, creativity where no one expected it,'" Ms. John said. That attention to every detail of the customer experience is important for marketers. "Every interaction with your brand says something about your brand."
Advertiser: Gibson Guitar
Agency: Serviceplan, Germany
Chosen by: Steve Savic, executive creative director at Critical Mass in Calgary, Mobile jury member
To promote its newest signature Les Paul guitars, Gibson launched a contest giving players the chance to win one, if they showed their skill. They had to play a difficult solo well enough that it would be recognized by Shazam – a mobile app that names whatever song is playing. While Shazam is not new, Mr. Savic said he loves seeing advertisers finding innovative ways to use technology. "It's so great to use mobile in new ways," he said.
Another example was sunglasses maker Oakley, which used Google Cardboard -- Google's cost-effective tool that uses a cardboard box with lenses to transform your phone into a virtual reality experience -- in its product cases. Consumers could use the cases to see virtual reality surf videos.
"Nazis Against Nazis – Germany's Most Involuntary Charity Walk"
Advertiser: Exit Germany (non-profit)
Agency: Grabarz & Partner, GGH Lowe, Germany
Chosen by: Rene Rouleau, creative director at Proximity Canada, Promo & Activation jury member; and Michael Joffe, brand activation lead at Google Canada, Branded Content jury member
The village of Wunsiedel is menaced each year by a neo-Nazi march. This time around, the village put up signs informing the marchers that for every metre they walked, €10 ($14) would be donated to Exit Germany, which offers support to people who are quitting the neo-Nazi scene.
"In judo, you use your opponents' weight against themselves. That was a brilliant piece of judo," Mr. Rouleau said.
Colourful banners were hung along the route with messages such as, "Thank you for your donations, lovely Nazis!" Free bananas were handed out to encourage the neo-Nazis to keep up their marching strength. The campaign was so effective, it spread to other cities.
"It was a brilliantly executed idea, that I think is going to influence a lot of people's thinking about how a perfect idea can also be a very simple one," Mr. Joffe said.
Advertiser: Colombia's Ministry of Environment
Agency: Geometry Global, Colombia
Chosen by: Monique Gamache, design director at Wax in Calgary, Design jury member
The lionfish is an invasive species in Colombia. It is edible, but its spikes are also poisonous, making it hard to catch. The government wants to encourage fishermen to do so, but they often cannot afford the devices needed to catch the fish safely. Geometry created booklets showing fishermen how to build devices that were 96 per cent cheaper, using recycled materials.
"It's really about creating work that has the power to help somebody in a different way," Ms. Gamache said.
Advertisers are embracing that idea as well. One of the major trends nearly all the jurors noted this year was the amount of work in Cannes that addressed serious issues or offered services that help people. Volvo, for example, won awards for "Lifepaint," a spray for cyclists' helmets, clothing, and bikes, that is invisible in the daytime but glows at night. Samsung designed "safety trucks" with cameras feeding footage to screens on the back of the trucks, to make passing safer for other vehicles. Burger King created a "proud Whopper" – nothing new about the burger, but wrapped in rainbow packaging – with the message that we're all the same inside. Nivea made a doll whose skin turns red without sunscreen, to teach children about sun safety. "The way we can socialize these campaigns is great," Mr. Rouleau said. "Imagine doing this 25 years ago. No one would 'like' it or share it. That's part of what is inspiring corporations to do more of this."