The Movie Out Here wins in Branded Content & Entertainment
A full-length feature film created for Labatt Breweries’ Kokanee brew has won two gold Lions at the 60th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The Movie Out Here, which was written and produced by Grip Ltd (and several thousand beer drinkers), was also the only other contender for the Branded Content Grand Prix, according to jury president Scott Donaton, president and CEO of Ensemble.
The film won in the Best Integrated Content – Campaign category as well as Best Fictional Program Series or Film Where a Client has Successfully Created a Drama, Comedy or Miniseries Around a Product or Brand (and yes, that second one is the official name of the category).
“First of all, [Grip] had a client brave enough to allow that to happen and understood how big that could be for them,” said jury member Jimmy Smith, chairman of Amusement Park Entertainment. “Secondly, the agency actually wrote the script… That they had the talent to pull that off was pretty impressive.”
“It was uproarious to watch the jury have so much appreciation for what was accomplished,” said Brian Dilorenzo, chief production officer at McCann Worldgroup.
While a branded full-length film is a rarity in Canada, Kokanee’s movie was up against similar projects from other regions. Love In The End, for example, was a full-length Greek film for Mondelez International’s Lacta brand that led Greece’s box office for two weeks and had songs from its soundtrack turn into radio hits.
In addition to Kokanee’s success with the film itself, Smith said the project’s integration across channels was “legendary” and put Grip’s work in the running for the top spot.
So what held it back from a Grand Prix?
“Comedy isn’t easy,” explained Dilorenzo. “I think the consensus [of the jury] was that it came out of the gate charging really hard and then ran out of steam a little bit.” Branded films have to stand up to scrutiny as films, not ads, Dilorenzo said, and by that measure, The Movie Out Here was a gold, not a Grand Prix.
“Of that genre, they were competing against Animal House, Porky’s, some legendary films, and it fell short of that genre,” said Amusement Park’s Smith. “Porky’s is legendary, a cult classic, and critics probably hated it. That’s what we were comparing it to.”
Smith said the film’s humour likely hit its target demo – 18- to 21-year-olds – right on the nose, but probably missed the mark beyond that. “You want it to have a broader audience as well. You want to be where everybody can enjoy it.”
The top prize ultimately went to “The Beauty Inside,” a six-part online film for Intel and Toshiba created by Pereira & O’Dell. It revolves around a protagonist who wakes up with a different body every day and his/her pursuit of a relationship. Consumers were invited to film themselves making video journal entries as this character, and several entries were included in the final film.
“When we came across this piece of work, we didn’t talk about anything else for the next hour,” said Donaton. “It was an indicator to all of us how powerful this piece of work was… It was born out of a very powerful brand truth – that it’s what’s inside that counts.”
“The Beauty Inside” is a multi-Grand Prix winner, taking the top spot in the Cyber and Film contests as well.
