The morning after the first full night of Cannes parties began right at 9 a.m. today with the release of the short lists for the Cyber and the inaugural Design competitions.
While Canadian marketers and agencies have enjoyed strong Cyber performances in recent years, including a Grand Prix and two Golds last year, Canada seems to have the best chance for a Lion in the new Design competition.
Canada’s 81 entries in the Cyber competition yielded just six placements on the short list. On the other hand, Canada had 54 entries in the Design competition, and 10 of them could still win a Lion.
Created to “celebrate the creative and innovative use of design as a lever to influence consumers,” the Design competition received almost 1,200 entries in its first year. Because interest was so high, Gold Silver and Bronze trophies will be given out—unusual in the first year of a new competition where there is usually just one category of winner, a “Lion” without any gold, silver or bronze distinction.
Broad Design categories focus on packaging design, brand identity and environmental design with entries judged on creativity, originality, execution and consumer engagement.
Five Canadian agencies each made the Design short list twice:
• Both of Leo Burnett’s shortlisted entries are in the Posters, Flyers, Etc. category; once for the invitation to the 2007 Bessie Awards and once for “Better” for the Toronto Humane Society.
• MacLaren McCann Calgary is also on the list twice for two different clients. In the Logos and Trademarks category, MacLaren made the list for work for Fantasia Bikini Lounge, and in the Publications category it’s in the running for “Please help” for the YWCA of Calgary.
• Taxi is both client and agency for two pieces the agency produced for 15 Below—a project that saw Taxi create newspaper-insulated coats for the homeless. The “15 Below Holiday Card” and the “15 Below Emergency Blanket Poster” are in the running for a Design Lion, both in the Posters, Flyers Etc. category.
Both of GJP’s entries are for Toronto beauty salon, Down Below; one in the Publications category for a Down Below brochure and again in the Point of Sale category.
Finally Montreal design shop GSM Design is on the list twice for work it did for the National Museum of Singapore.
Of the six entries on the Cyber short list, three are for Taxi 2’s BMW Mini work: “Minimalism” “Trackster” and “Winter worst case scenarios.”
“Nike Jordan suite 23” from Nike and Blast Radius in Vancouver; Saatchi & Saatchi’s “Sticks to the road” for the Toyota Matrix are both on the list and the well-received marketing campaign from Random House for the The Gum Thief continues to garner accolades, earning a spot on the short list thanks to Toronto agency Crush.
Speaking to the Lions Daily, a glossy 40-page tabloid-size summary of the key events at the Festival, Canadian Cyber judge Dominique Trudeau, said he was disappointed in the quality of the work he had seen to that point.
“So far, I’ve only seen poor quality stuff,” he said. “However, I’m hoping the standard will get better when we get to the short list. But it’s surprising to see such low quality work at a place like the Cannes Lions,” said the Taxi Montreal design and interactive creative director.
Martijn Sengers, of Euro RSCG 4D, in the Netherlands, echoed those sentiments. “I was shocked at first, because there are so many entries of such poor quality. Online is a bit static—people are using the same tricks over and over again.”
“I presume many agencies are struggling, because budgets have been so much smaller in the past year,” said Trudeau. “I think this is a transition period that will lead to many questions—such as whether what’s good on TV is as good on the Web.”
Winners in the Radio, Outdoor, and Media competitions will be announced at an awards show beginning at 7 p.m. this evening (1 p.m. EST), with full coverage in this afternoon’s PM Daily.
The awards show will be followed by the Opening Gala at 9:30 p.m. though some here have already observed the timing is not good with France taking on Italy in a crucial match for the European soccer championships.
