Cannes Lions review: Young and Direct

Now that the dust has settled, the TrendWatch team is reviewing the awarded entries at Cannes Lions 2009 Advertising Festival. We’ll be focusing mostly on digital work, but that doesn’t mean it’s only about Cyber, as this year as proved that the digital divide is blurring even further, with agencies delivering integrated campaigns where interactive takes a active role.

Let’s start with the Young Creatives competition, were my 2 friends (and former colleagues) won the Press category. Great work Clara and Nuno!

It was a risky approach but in the end, the jury recognized the value of the creative concept. A lesson for young creatives: Playing safe only brings you ordinary results. Be bold.

As for Cyber, Antonio di Battista and Massimiliano Bibbo from Italy took Gold, with a play on the omnipresent search box, placed inside a leaderboard.

Direct had as Grand Prix one of the most effective campaigns last year: Best Job In The World. Created by CumminsNitro for Tourism Queensland, it managed to draw worlwide attention, when it initially was expecting only 1000 signups.

With a small team and the initial budget of 1.7 million AUD$, it proved quite effective with over $80 millions dolars worth of spontaneous advertising, from blog posts to user generated content and a massive spread on social web services like Twitter and Facebook, with contestants promoting their applications with the help of friends.

Not that the award matters to Ben Southall, the lucky guy who is now blogging and having a really hard work scuba-diving in the coral reefs.

It’s about a great idea, but it’s mostly about consumer behavior (and not technologies). With people insecure due to the financial crisis, offering the chance of a dream job was the right answer.

Winning lots of Lions, were also the Banner Concerts for Axion, created by Boondoggle, Belgium. The rich media formats were welcomed on a gloomy year regarding the efectiveness of display advertising, with the winning entries pointing the way how to engage users on a personal level.

Several bands playing concerts on a 300×250 or 728×90 scale really gets one’s attention. If you’re interested on how the agency did it, check the making-of blog.

Other worthy mention to the viral success of T-Mobile’s Life’s For Sharing, a branded flashmob.

Having been a part of some ImprovEverywhere’s missions, let me tell you: people love to be surprised. And, imagine that, they love to share it.

Last words to the case above, a Bronze winner for Volkswagen’s NavigationLetter, a perfect example how award categories are blurring.