A mobile app created to help develop better pain management programs for children suffering from cancer earned Canada its first two Gold Lions in Cannes on Tuesday.
After making the Mobile shortlist three times Monday morning, “Pain Squad” from Cundari and the Hospital for Sick Children won Gold in two categories: Best User Experience and Charities, Not for Profit and Public Information.
As not-for-profit work, Pain Squad was not eligible for a Grand Prix, though the judges did discuss it. “We checked to make sure the hospital was not for profit,” said jury president Tom Eslinger, Saatchi and Saatchi’s worldwide digital creative director.
Joining Cundari on the Mobile winners list was Blast Radius Vancouver for “Choose Your Flight,” created for Nike’s Jordan brand. The HTML5 site gave users a totally unique preview of the AJ2012.
The Mobile Grand Prix went to “Hilltop Reimagined for Coca-Cola” by Grow Interactive from Norfolk, Virginia. The campaign let users view the classic “Hilltop” TV ad for Coke (“I’d like to buy the world a Coke…”), then actually buy someone a Coke on the other side of the world with a few taps of their smartphone.
While the campaign was based on Coke advertising, the client is actually Google. Coke was just the brand the search giant used to demonstrate the power of its display ads.
It was part of the Google’s Project Rebrief, an “experiment to re-imagine what advertising can be.” The project included similar initiatives with Avis, Alka Seltzer and Volvo.
Asked about giving a Grand Prix to what was effectively a trade campaign for the advertising industry, Eslinger said it wasn’t a concern for the jury. “Advertising people are just as viable an audience as anyone else,” he said.
“I’d rather see an amazing idea recontextualized than have a sales person come in with a PowerPoint presentation trying to sell me on the wonders of mobile. This campaign is, I feel, going to open up people’s eyes all over the world to the possibility of what you can do [with mobile].”
Eslinger also said “Backseat Driver” for Toyota by Party Tokyo was a strong contender for the Grand Prix, calling it a “dead heat” when the judges first held a secret ballot for the top prize.
Described as Toyota’s first “digital toy,” the iPhone app lets kids drive a virtual car along the same roads as the actual car they are riding in.
“Backseat Driver” isn’t traditional advertising, said Eslinger. “This is Toyota adding value to an experience.”
This was the first year for the Mobile competition, which saw 965 entries. Several judges spoke to how “exciting” the work was and how important mobile has and will become to marketing.
However, they also had some advice for agencies considering entering next year: be more careful about what and how you enter.
“Some entries were just fantastic pieces of work… but just in the wrong category,” said Geoffrey Handley from The Hyperfactory. “It’s not up to us to move things around. It is the entrants’ responsibility to enter work in the right category.”
Agencies also need to rethink using one case video for multiple entries, added Paul Gunning, CEO for Tribal DDB Worldwide.
If judges are trying to evaluate a very specific part of a campaign for its craft, for example, the main case video which is focused on the idea may not explain that dimension as clearly as it needs to. “Take a little more care in what [you] enter, not just where [you] enter,” he said.
For more updates and articles from the 59th International Festival of Creativity, visit the Marketing@Cannes microsite.
