An “interactive” YouTube video in which a man who either has a cat fetish or is half feline himself licks at the viewer’s fingers won BBDO and Skittles Gold in the Cannes Lions Cyber competition Wednesday. It was the only cyber medal for Canadian agencies.
“A lot of [judges] were kinda stressed out [when trying it],” said Christina Brown, Cloudraker VP, creative director and a Cyber judge. “Everyone was completely nervous about what was going to happen to their finger, which is completely absurd. It was a beautiful idea done in an absurdist, completely on-brand way.” (Check it out for yourself to the right.)
“It was taking a channel that is not an interactive channel in a classic sense and bringing a brilliant little experience from the consumer to the product in a really interesting way; it was almost an analogue/digital gag,” she added.
It was the only official win for Canadian Cyber entrants, though one of the three Grand Prix’s had a strong Canadian connection. Arcade Fire‘s video for “The Wilderness Downtown” was given a Grand Prix though the advertiser is Google and the agency is Chris Milk Santa Monica.
To demonstrate its new HTML5 programming technology, Google partnered with the Montreal-based band to create a customized music video experience for every viewer by using Google Maps and Streetview to integrate images from the user’s childhood home right into the video.
Reporters in the morning press conference to announce the winners asked how a music video could be considered an ad. “Google was the advertiser, so on some level it was just a beautiful product demonstration,” said Brown.
“[It is] one of the best product launches I’ve ever seen,” added juror Robert Lund, creative director of Forsman & Bodenfors in Sweden.
Jury president Nick Law said that Cyber has become the hardest competition to judge because of the diversity of the constantly changing tools and platforms used in the field. He added that the jury was struck by the quality of the work overall.
“As far as a body of work, this was the best I’ve ever seen,” he said. Banners and websites have become almost marginalized, while mobile and social media work has become especially important, but without the “digital parlour tricks that got us excited in the past.”
Aside from the Arcade Fire/Google video win, a Grand Prix was given to P&G for the Old Spice “Response Campaign” from Wieden + Kennedy. The followup to the award-winning 2009 TV campaign that included “I’m on a horse,” the “Response Campaign” had anyone with a computer glued to YouTube over two days last July as the popular star of the TV spots fielded questions and provided advice to queries sent through social media in more than 180 short videos.
The third Grand Prix went to R/GA New York for Innovative Thunder‘s “Pay with a Tweet.” What began as a promotion for the book Oh my god what happened and what should I do? became, as the agency said, the “first social payment where people pay with the value of their social network.” Anyone trying to sell something online can now add the “Pay with a Tweet” button to their site. Consumers can click on the button, tweet about the product and then download it. People have been talking about creating a system for product exchange that values social networks for a long time, said Lund. “[R/GA New York] actually broke the code.”
At the morning press conference, the judges were asked why three Grand Prix awards were given instead of just one big winner. Festival CEO Phillip Thomas explained that because of the diversity of work in some competitions the jury has the option of awarding multiple Grand Prix.
“I think it would be very difficult to choose just one for that reason,” added Law. The longer-than-usual press conference (it was an hour long) covered a wide range of topics related to the future of the industry and of the Cyber awards themselves. It included a debate among the judges about the need for bigger budgets; some said budgets have to improve before work can, while others pointed out that big ideas, such as “Pay with a Tweet,” don’t need a lot of money.
They also pointed out the preponderance of social media throughout the winners list. “I don’t think you can do anything of value in this medium that doesn’t have social value,” said Law, admitting that Twitter and Facebook are ubiquitous. But far from being an indication of lack or originality, they should be viewed as highly effective templates for delivering content, saving agencies from having to come up with new conduits for their brands.
Finally, and fittingly, two of Canada’s Young Lions earned Gold in the Cyber competition. Alex Newman of BBDO Proximity and Patrice Simone Pollack of Argyle Magazine and Women of Influence Magazine took home the top prize in the intense competition to create an online ad based on a brief from environmental charity The Planet Earth Institute.
