Cannes Lions 2012: Image credit "Lionel Cironneau/AP"
Every year in June, the eyes of the advertising world turn to Cannes to see some of the finest work ad agencies from all over the globe have created in the past year. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the largest and most prestigious annual awards in the advertising industry.
Traditionally, the festival is not only the platform for celebrating achievements in the industry for the past twelve months, but also a space where creative professionals come to debate, learn and get inspired via numerous creative exhibitions, seminars, screenings and workshops for both experts and emerging professionals. This year, the festival’s jury viewed a record 34,301 entries than last year from 87 countries.
Last year, one piece of creative work stood from China that being the Samonsite “Heaven and Hell” campaign from JWT (Shanghai). This year saw a fair crop of entries from Chinese agencies, and there were a couple of big winners that certainly raised the profile of the Chinese creative industry, but as many commentators have highlighted there is still progress to be made for China to really compete with the likes of the more developed Western ad industries – but the country is certainly on the right path. Below are some of the best entries and winners from the PRC:
Toblerone Blocks
Client: Kraft, Toblerone Chocolate
Agency: Leagas Delaney (Shanghai)
Award: Entry List (Cyber Lion)
In China, most people buy one Toblerone bar per purchase. And mostly as gifts. But we were greedy. We wanted them to buy hundreds. In order to do that, we had to be as charming as possible. We devised a clever plan. We asked people to use our distinctive shape and create anything their heart desired. They built their designs on our website. We then built the real thing. Once we were finished, they could buy their designs from our online store. Read more about the campaign here.
Iceberg
Client: TUI Travel
Agency: Grey Group (Beijing)
Award: BRONZE (Press Lion), Shortlist (Design Lion)
We need to show people that, with TUI, they could expect more than just a cliché visit to the iconic places of interest. So with a small budget for the entire campaign, we needed some simple, impactful, and eye-catching visual solutions to capture the imagination of the audience. The stopping power of this newly launched campaign had successfully led people to find out more about TUI’s offerings, but measurable results had yet to be made available at the time of this award submission.
Chinese Wedding
Client: Henkel, Pattex
Agency: JWT (Shanghai)
Award: Entry list (Design Lion)
Pattex needs a new campaign to encourage usage of its Super Glue product. We developed this campaign for Pattex Super Glue. We made the Pattex Super Glue host weddings for things that need to stay together. In order to claim: In the world, Pattex Super Glue can make things together forever. Read more about the campaign here.
Civilization Egypt
Client: Maxam, Toiletries
Agency: JWT (Shanghai)
Award: GOLD, (Press Lion), Entry list (Design Lion)
The challenge is how to build a strong image for MAXAM Cavity Protection Toothpaste, and how to make it stand out among a relatively saturated toothpaste market. The brief is to build MAXAM Cavity Protection Toothpaste’s brand awareness by delivering the message MAXAM gives you strong protection against tough germs. If the germs on teeth are not cleaned immediately, they will stay and multiply, and create their own culture. We will demonstrate tooth decay in front of the consumers to emphasis the crisis awareness of tooth decay to stimulate purchase. It took 7 months to complete the 3D production and made every little detail refined. The month sales revenue increased 56%, according to the survey, 72% of consumers indicated purchase intention for this product, and brand awareness rose tremendously.
#Cokehands
Client: Coca-Cola
Agency: Ogilvy (Shanghai)
Award: GRAND PRIX (Outdoor), Shortlist (Design Lion)
Read all about the campaign on chinaSMACK here.
Sponge Street
Client: Clarks
Agency: LOWE (Shanghai)
Award: Shortlist (Promo & Activation Lion)
The Clarks Sponge Street surprises, intrigues and excites. Totally unaware, pedestrians will experience the softness once they step on the sponge tiles. The copy line ‘Clarks Softwear Tech. Walk on the Soft Side’, painted on the sponge tiles, answers the initial curiosity. Promoters distribute product leaflets to all pedestrians who walk on the Clarks Sponge Street. At the centre of the pop-up store is the Clarks booth where interested consumers can immediately examine and try on the product.
Sunbathing
Client: A.O Smith, Solar Powered Water Heater
Agency: Leo Burnett (Shanghai)
Award: GOLD (Design Lion), Entry list (Promo & Activation Lion)
In our idea, the sun is the water column sprayed by the shower, and this is compliant with the features of solar water heater. The activities of this consumer experience, compared to the conventional market promotion are more provocative and more spreading.
The Keyboard Of Isolation
Client: Family Care For Grassroots Community, Less online time and more family time
Agency: DDB China Group (Shanghai)
Award: SILVER (Design Lion)
Read all about the campaign on chinaSMACK here.
Hair Cut
Client: Media Markt
Agency: Leagas Delaney (Shanghai)
Award: Entry list (Promo & Activation Lion)
Media Markt needed a Chinese New Year campaign. In China, people want to start the New Year with good luck and a new haircut is one way to bring luck. Media Markt also wanted to get lucky by getting people into their stores to buy their products. Leagas Delaney Shanghai created a promotion whereby customers decided how much they wanted to cut the prices of product by cutting their hair. The more they cut, the more the prices were cut.
PETA Skin
Client: PETA, Animal Rights
Agency: Ogilvy (Beijing)
Award: Entry list (Film Craft Lion)
This film has created a disturbing world where animals farm humans in order to wear their skin and display their other parts for the sake of fashion. In a world where humans don’t see the vice in doing the same with other species, it asks the question, ‘who’s the animal?’.
Watch the video on The Reel / Metacafe
Electric Cafe
Client: Volkswagen
Agency: Ogilvy (Beijing)
Award: Entry list (Promo & Activation Lion)
Volkswagen sought to educate the general public about how little energy is required for a VW Golf EV to run, via this digital installation that compared the electricity required by the car to that needed by everyday household appliances.
Love Letters
Client: Jason Smith, Font Library
Agency: BBH (Shanghai)
Award: Entry list (Promo & Activation Lion)
Fontsmith developed an art exhibition with BBH Shanghai using typefaces to show messages from people dating online in Shanghai. Read more about the work here and here.
Crop Circles
Client: BMW
Agency: Interone (Beijing)
Award: Entry list (Promo & Activation Lion)
A viral campaign promoting the BMW 1 series entrance to the Chinese market. Read more about the campaign here and here.
Unbeatable (Season 2)
Client: Unilever, Clear Shampoo
Agency: PhD (Shanghai)
Award: Shortlist (Branded Content & Entertainment)
In 2012, China’s official TV regulator issued a string of rules restricting everything from spy dramas and crime stories to programmes about time travel. It’s also banned foreign dramas during prime time, and has targeted what it calls ‘over-entertainment’. New rules from the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) went into effect that restrict commercials from interrupting TV dramas, allowing them to air only back-to-back between programmes. Ads are limited to 12 to 18-minute blocks between shows. For marketers it becomes an interesting challenge and an opportunity. Unilever forecast early on that the biggest winner of the new legislation will be digital media. In order for Unilever to sustain the success of its ‘Clear Unbeatable’ franchise into 2012, it would need to explore alternative platforms and channels to deliver its brand message. It sought to use 2011 as a test bed for multi screen strategies and turning up the volume on online video platforms. Clear succeeded at this goal. It increased its share of market by 40%, by delivering over 90% of its media impressions through online video channels.
Results
The online distribution strategy for Clear ‘Unbeatable2′ and the “’ am an Unbeatable Expert’ engagement campaign generated impressive results.
– A 48% increase in online video views (over 1.3bn) compared Clear Unbeatable (Season 1)
– Over 1m people complete the digital challenges to become Clear Unbeatable Experts, generating over 11m earned page views and 9m views of consumer generated videos.
– Overall the campaign delivered a 66% increase in media impressions and a 9% reduction in CPM and 36% reduction in cost per video view compared to 2010. Helping Clear achieve a 40% increase in market share in 2011.
Click below to like us on Facebook.
.
