Poking at the “not in my backyard” weak spot of an upper class Toronto neighbourhood won Leo Burnett a Bronze Direct Lion Monday night in Cannes.
Designed to put homelessness on the radar ahead of the federal election, “Coming Soon” for Raising the Roof raised eyebrows when a notice went up on a storefront in the upscale Toronto community announcing a shelter would soon be opening.
Eight submissions from five different agencies were on the shortlist released Sunday, but the “Coming Soon” stunt — part of a larger pro bono advertising campaign for the not for profit — was the only Canadian entry recognized with a Lion in the Direct competition.
Steph Mackie, owner of Mackie Biernacki in Toronto and a member of the Direct jury, admired the powerful simplicity of the execution, calling it “unignorable” and a “billboard at its most basic core.”
“We all loved that it’s not pretty, it’s not fancy, it just works really hard,” she said. “I’m really proud of that one. I fought really hard for it.”
The campaign was awarded two golds and silver at this year’s Marketing Awards.
The Direct Grand Prix went to Ingo Stockholm for “The Swedish Number.” To mark the 250th anniversary of the country’s abolition of censorship, the Swedish Tourist Association launched a phone number that allowed callers from around the world to connect with random Swedes to chat about whatever they pleased.
According to the campaign website, more than 177,000 incoming calls from 186 countries have been received since April 6, 2016. The average call duration is 2:54.
Discussing the Grand Prix at a morning press conference, Direct jury president Mark Tutssel called the campaign “direct at its core” and “an incredibly brave idea that generated an immediate response.”
“In a world where we text, tweet, we snap and we have a million options at our fingertips, it is easy to mistake technology for human connection,” he said. “It is refreshing to see an idea and a campaign that unites 9.5 million brand ambassadors with the world through the most direct form of communication, which is speaking and talking.”
“I think the fact that they got their entire country and government behind this logistically is pretty phenomenal,” Mackie told Marketing. “We all called the number and it works… I filmed us calling,” she said. The jury also discussed how the idea wouldn’t work for a lot of countries.
“It’s so perfect for Sweden. It’s a Swedish insight and it’s so dead simple. This idea you can tell somebody in five seconds what it is, I love that.”
Tutssel said REI’s “#OptOutside” and Heineken’s “Brewtopia” were also strong contenders for the Grand Prix.
Promo & Activation
While four made-in-Canada campaigns made the Promo & Activation shortlist, none of them converted to Lions.
The Grand Prix was given to REI and Venables Bell & Partners for their idea that closing for business on the busiest shopping day of the year could be good for business.
For Black Friday in 2015, the outdoor retailer closed all 143 of its stores across the U.S. to send the message that, rather than going shopping, people should go outside.
Without knowing the impact on short term sales, the jury was certain it would have a positive long term impact on the brand, said jury president Rob Reilly, at the press conference to announce the winners.
It is a great example of a brand living its purpose, he said, suggesting the next time anyone in the room was thinking about buying outdoor gear, REI would be top of mind.
It was simple, but also impressively brave, he added, “especially in America where capitalism was invented, or at least perfected. To do something like this takes such bravery.”
Reilly said the Promo & Activation jury was guided by a few key themes when reviewing the work and picking their winners. “First and foremost, we wanted to focus on big brands,” he said. In recent years, awards shows have seen a proliferation of charity and NGO work; this year they were extra rigorous about evaluating the charity work, giving only one gold.
However, charity work is different from “purpose-led marketing,” he said, specifically citing one of the biggest winners from 2015, P&G’s “#LikeAGirl,” as an example. “It took a stance on an issue and did a very good thing for young women. But it is marketing at its very finest, for me.”
While the Grand Prix went to REI, Reilly said it was not an easy decision with some of the judges very strongly behind “Brewtroleum” from Colenso BBDO Auckland and Heineken for its beer brand DB Export.
“Brewtopia” gave consumers a new reason to drink more beer and save the planet by creating biofuel from yeast leftover from the DB Export brewing process. According to the official submission, Heineken turned 58,000 tonnes of yeast slurry into 300,000 litres of biofuel.
“We went back and forth, and I thought there was going to be some wrestling,” said Reilly.
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