John Drake

The Best Advertising in the World

Or, at least from last year as awarded by Cannes this past week. Not posting them all, just some personally selected highlights.

First, The Grand Prix for Film. Philips and Tribal DDB Amsterdam.
Seems like there were more videos and less ads taking home lions this year. (Haven't counted, it's just how it seems.)

One of the great things about videos versus "ads" is that you can use however much time you want. And when doing so, it's smart to showcase the product experience.

Best to watch "Carousel" twice.

Gold/Film
Fiat/Marcel, Paris
Hadn't seen this before Cannes. Engaging with a fantastic payoff.

Gold/Film
T-Mobile/Saatchi & Saatchi, London
Pretty much of all us have seen this... And then passed it around for others to see. Worth another viewing...

Gold/Film
MTV/JWT, New York
It's important to remember the target audience when reviewing this ad: young, first-time voters.

Silver/Film
Monster.com/BBDO, New York & Apple\TBWA\Chiat\Day, LA
Very happy to see these two take home silver lions. Some of favs of last year...

Silver/Film
Nokia/JWT, Beijing

The Titanium Grand Prix & Integrated Grand Prix went to Obama for America.

Many predicted this, and deservedly so. The cast study is pretty amazing to watch:

2 other Titaniums for Integration:

"The Great Schlep" by Droga5 and "Whopper Freak Out" From Crispin, Porter & Bogusky. I suppose in any other year these could have taken the Grand Prix in this category... But against the Obama effort, it's probably a bit like L.A. Confidential and Good Will Hunting in the year of Titanic.

Cyber Lions Grand Prix

Why So Serious?
Warner Bros./42 Entertainment, Pasadena
I continue to be stunned by this idea: particularly the massive effort to pull it off.

The Best Job In The World
Tourism Queensland/CumminsNitro, Brisbane
This is one of those ideas that the moment you hear about it you are impressed...regardless of whether you've seen the execution or not. 

Gold/Cyber
Nintendo Wii/Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
The first time I saw this it was 6am and I thought I was going crazy. 

Gold/Cyber
Duesseldorfer Tafel E.V./Ogilvy & Mather, Dusseldorf
A great site. It's fun to donate.

Gold/Cyber
Frito-Lay/Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco
Be sure to visit when it's open.

Grand Prix/Print/Press
Wranger/Fred & Farid, Paris
Looking at Wrangler in a different way...

Grand Prix/Outdoor
TheZimbabwean Newspaper/TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, Johannesburg
Brilliant. This campaign took lots of courage. Case study really brings it to life. 

Gold/Outdoor
Bayer, Alka Seltzer/CLM BBDO Boulogne-Billancourt
Stumbled on this campaign last year... glad to see it take home a lion.

Grand Prix/Design
Nike/McCann, Hong Kong

Grand Prix/Pubic Relations
Tourism Queensland/Cumminsnitro, Brisbane
This is the first year that Public Relations has been honored by Cannes. A great idea to kick it off...

Lots of other great work to see. Check it all out here...

Group Behavior in Action

Found this over at talent imitates, genius steals. Captured on film is the evolution of a group dance... how one person starts, then another copies/joins in, then another, and soon the entire scene erupts in group behavior.

Substitute the dancing and insert any societal phenomenon and this is an illustration of how it works. 

Another Good One From Stella

Stella Artois: Apparently for the gentleman and the pirate... keeping it civil and funny.

Always difficult to sell great taste & desire in new, entertaining ways.

Spot via Mother, London.

Warriors and Rock Stars

It's that time of year when college graduates are hunting for opportunities. 

For those looking to join an agency you should know that the best agencies are primarily made of up of two types of people. It doesn't matter their discipline within the agency (media/account management/design/etc.), there are two key mindsets that managers are looking for. Convey one of these in an interview and your chances of getting hired rise tremendously...

Great agencies are looking for Warriors and Rocks Stars. What's the difference? Watch the Lakers compete this week (big fan here at Campaign Planning) and you'll see an example of each...

Warriors

image courtesy

In a recent documentary, Kobe Bryant referred to Derek Fisher as "a warrior." Watch Fisher's intensity on defense, his willingness to take the charge, his aggressiveness in driving to the hoop where he often dishes to someone else in the paint and you'll see what Kobe means. Every organization needs Warriors like Fisher.

In advertising, a warrior is a person who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. They will work a 36 hour day. They will drive three hundred miles to deliver a proposal. Whatever is needed to make the project perfect they're up for it. Warriors have an insatiable love of their role and chosen career field. They may not be the #1 player but they know their contribution is necessary for team victory. For entry level talent, organizations get a feel of a warrior by those who don't focus on their title but rather just convey their passion for the business and desire to join the team.

Rock Stars

image courtesy

Kobe Bryant is a Rock Star. His style of play stood out when he was in high school and continues to inspire every night he takes the floor. Very few can do what Kobe does. He is often confronted by outstanding one-on-one defense, but his spectacular one-on-one offense usually wins out.

In advertising, Rock Stars are people like Alex and Lee. Naturally gifted individuals who shake things up. Like literal rock stars these people are so unique that others gravitate to be around their talent. In the end it's the vision and mastery of Rock Stars who take organizations to the next level. For entry level people, companies can get a feel of potential Rock Star talent through a blog, a Flickr account or a portfolio made up of spec work.

Both types of people are needed... and this is true for almost any group. If an organization was all Rock Stars there would be confusion in leadership and direction. And if an organization was all Warriors the work output wouldn't rise to notoriety.

For those hunting for jobs, identify which type of team member you might be, and make sure that it shines through when you interview. And, for what it's worth, here are some general interview tips. Hope they're helpful.

The Most Interesting Man In The World

I love this campaign. Dos Equis has created a winner that's now in its third year and going national. Together the beer brand and their agency, Euro RSCG, have reportedly increased volume sales by 20% and total dollar sales by 33.7% (exceeding the 2.7% category growth rate as measured by Nielsen).

I think this campaign is a testament to risk taking. "The Most Interesting Man" is an a-typical approach to 'traditional' beer marketing. And no matter the category, it always takes guts to approve and initially invest in something that's a-typical.

I think it's a testament to details. Everything about the writing, the casting, the filming and more throws the viewer into the world. It makes us able to appropriately embrace the idea.

I think it's a testament to using both mass media and one-to-one media. Check out the Facebook fan page if you haven't already...

And finally, I think it's a testament to honesty. "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis." The words "I don't always drink beer" and "prefer" stand out. It would have been tempting to say something like "My beer is Dos Equis," or "Drink Dos Equis." That's something a beer ad might typically say... but that's not how humans talk and definitely not what the most interesting man in the world would say.

Three Minute Web Commercials

Several weeks ago, Seth wrote a great post on making commercials for the web. The advice: keep them short, have quick cuts, be provocative. Makes total sense. Then, interestingly, a couple of longer videos circulated the agency and I discovered another thing about web ads: they don't necessarily have to be short... If they're really interesting and engaging then many people will stick around.

Or, at least I did.

But at three to four minutes long, the brand payoff becomes essential because the viewer has invested lots of time. (Three to four minutes is an eternity on the web.)

Here are the two videos that circulated...

The first is very well done. Pulls you in and touches the heart through a classic storytelling arc of conflict-crisis-resolution. But as a commercial message the brand does put itself at risk for disappointing the viewer since it's a stretch to link the product as the resolution to the conflict and crisis displayed in the film. You do feel good about the brand (and if that was the goal, excellent) but when it comes to sales, art may trump commerce here. 

I prefer what Adobe and Goodby did with their three minutes... They used the time to showcase the possibilities and imagination of what can come from the product itself. In this execution the brand payoff strings back through the full film adding even greater depth to the piece just viewed. A smart use of time and production investment. Art and commerce are equal parts.

Wieden Adweek Video

Dan Wieden finally appears in one of Adweek's videos. Good to see and there were two points that especially intrigued me...

On the state of advertising today: No one is certain where things are going which means it's an amazing opportunity to experiment and do different things... just like W+K and Nike did in the early years when they were uncertain.

On Nike: Throughout the years, the company has always given W+K the opportunity to compete. And as long as W+K could compete Nike would be loyal. This way of doing business, the loyalty to give them a chance, has "meant everything" to W+K.

Check out the full video here. 

Well Done Corporate Branding Ad

Here's a well done Herman Miller ad found in Fast Company. It teaches. You learn something new about the company and something new for yourself. (Who knew bees could fight off wasps?)

Per Herman Miller's site (which I fully perused after seeing this ad), the company is about: live, learn, work and heal. The below execution embodies these words wholeheartedly without excessive chest-beating or ever mentioning a furniture product--which, of course, we already know is fantastic.