The campaign for Evolution

Sitting in the nosebleed section of the Grand Auditorium at the Palais des Festivals, waiting for Al Gore to give his save-the-planet speech, DDB’s Frank Palmer joked that Cannes is like the movie Groundhog Day: it’s the same people going to the same parties and doing the same thing year after year.

Sure, there were obligatory Kronenbourgs on sunny patios, late nights (make that early mornings) at the Gutter Bar and the ever-present mantra “what happens in Cannes stays in Cannes.” But the 54th International Advertising Festival was Groundhog Day with a different ending: Canada and a viral video stole the show.

On the closing night of the week-long festival, Ogilvy & Mather Toronto and Unilever Canada walked away with the festival’s most glamorous prize-the Film Grand Prix-for “Evolution,” an ad that was never meant to run on TV. The spot also received a Cyber Grand Prix in the “viral advertising” category.

Evolution’s Film Grand Prix signals a huge shift for the ad world’s most prestigious festival. And it shows the rest of the world that Canada is producing great, ground-breaking work.

As millions of people around the world already know, Evolution is a 75-second video for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund that shows how makeup, lighting and technology transform a natural-looking woman into a glamorous billboard supermodel. The spot, which was considered off-brief when Ogilvy & Mather first proposed it to Unilever last spring, went global within days of being posted on YouTube last fall. It later ran on TV in The Netherlands.

“What we tried to do was award the best idea. We tried to react to the work on a gut level,” said Bob Scarpelli, Film jury president and chief creative officer at DDB Worldwide in New York, at a press conference. “We felt the one that really stayed in our minds, the one that resonated the most, the one that had the most power was Evolution.”

Other strong contenders for the Film Grand Prix were: Nike’s “I Feel Pretty” by Wieden+Kennedy Portland; Sony Bravia’s “Paint” by Fallon London and the Wind Energy Initiative’s “The Power of Wind” by Nordpol+Hamburg.

Evolution’s win may give a much-needed jolt to the Film competition. This year, there were 4,474 entries in the category, down 8% from last year, while the greatest jumps in entries occurred in the newer competitions like Titanium, Integrated and Promo.

“We all still believe that film on television is still a powerful medium,” said Scarpelli. “Some day viral videos, mobile phone films, any kind of film should be in this category because it’s not the television category-it’s the film category. I think that would be more reflective of the reality today.”

Nancy Vonk, co-creative director at Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto, says the fact that a viral video won Film Grand Prix is “a very good signal from Cannes, that they can keep that category relevant and alive by making that shift to any screen because of course that’s the way communications is moving at blinding speed. I think it’s great that the jury [said] we’re not going to penalize this in some way for not having originated as a television commercial… It’s going to be a jolt of adrenalin at Cannes for having had that decision prevail.”

Evolution was controversial from the start. In fact, it was one perfectly coiffed hair away from winning nothing. During the week, the buzz among film jurors was that Evolution wasn’t a legitimate TV spot. “People thought it was a viral ad that wasn’t meant to be a television spot in the traditional sense. So it was a strike against it,” says Zak Mroueh, vice-president and executive creative director at Taxi and a Film jury member. “But in the end, as we debated it, we turned that into a positive [by saying] this is the future and we should embrace the fact that this is the way things are going.”

Mroueh also made the argument that Evolution is “brave and breakthrough. Here we are at an ad festival and the best ad is the one that makes fun of our own industry in a way. It makes fun of the way we portray women in advertising.”

Also standing in Evolution’s way of winning the Grand Prix was the fact it wasn’t even eligible. The ad was entered in the Fundraising and Appeals category, making it ineligible to win the top prize. After much wrangling, the jury switched it to the Corporate Identity category. “Was it allowed,” asked one reporter at the press conference announcing the winners, “or did you cheat to give Dove the Grand Prix?”

“This is Dove and they created the Self-Esteem Fund but it’s a corporation and they sell beauty products,” said Mroeuh, explaining why the ad belonged in the Corporate Identity category.

Vonk says no one at the agency had thought about it being ineligible for the Grand Prix when they entered. “Of course, it dawned on us at the 11th hour. We thought… is that going to be a problem? So we were very worried about it.”

In the Cyber competition, Evolution’s win in the viral advertising category was a no-brainer. “It was unanimous right away,” said Geoff Teehan, partner at Teehan + Lax Toronto and Cyber Lions jury member. “Evolution was it. There wasn’t even a debate. In fact, we didn’t even have to vote on that one.”

Interestingly, it was also a breakthrough year for consumer packaged goods companies, with Unilever Canada winning two Grands Prix, Unilever Argentina and its agency Vegaolmosponce winning the Integrated Grand Prix for Axe 3 Fragrance, and Procter & Gamble picking up a record 12 Lions, nine of which were won by Saatchi & Saatchi, including the Press Grand Prix for Ultra Tide Stain Remover.

“I think we’re seeing an evolution, no pun intended,” said Scarpelli, who was also the Press jury president. Household products, cosmetics and beauty “were some of the strongest categories we saw. I think some of the larger marketers are understanding that you have to really engage people… They’re understanding that the consumer has changed and the way we have to reach the consumer has changed.” In total, Canadian agencies picked up 17 awards, including two Grands Prix, five Gold, four Silver and six Bronze. As for Cannes 2008, Canada’s top creatives are hoping for a little more Groundhog Day.