Write the future did what most of us expected, it won big last night at the Dutch Art Director’s Club (ADCN) Awards: the Standing bulb (read: Grand Prix) and three golden bulbs (Integrated, Film, and Print/Magazine). Massive Music also won an award for the music in this commercial. Overall, TBWA\Neboko won most awards, taking home 2 golden (in Film for Pearle and in Print for Heineken’s Social Networks) and 4 silver bulbs. Live Interactive billboard (n=5) won gold in Outdoor. Bavaria’s DutchDress (Selmore) – causing such a big stir at the World Championship football last summer – also received a very deserved golden bulb in Activation. Christian Borstlap’s posters for the overview exhibition of Dutch advertising classics won gold in Graphic Design. In Interactive there was no gold. This could mean that digital creatives are still mostly tech driven, rather than aiming for the big idea. It could also mean that the ‘traditional’ creatives (the largest part of the Jury) are not able to fully appreciate digital innovations. Or it might be a bit of both. In any case, there were three silver bulbs in Interactive for Philips ‘Wake up the town‘ (Tribal DDB), Live Interactive Billboard (see above – a big digital idea, created by a ‘traditional’ agency), and Vodafone’s Madame TreSesti (Achtung!). Our very favourite film ‘Drama Queen‘ for the Young Director Award (TBWA Helsinki, directed by Rogier Hesp) got a bulb in the category Young Directors, but unfortunately not gold.
In December we wrote about Heineken discovering Facebook as the perfect medium to talk with its consumers. But to become ‘Liked’ on Facebook as a brand you need to produce content that has the potential to be liked. The Entrance by Wieden+Kennedy definitely did have that quality. It helped Heineken to reach one million Facebook friends within no time. To thank its new Facebook friends, the Dutch beer brand returned the favour offline by making another special entrance. What is odd about this gesture is that it seems only targeted at men who drink Heineken – not at the actual (female) ‘Likers’ of the fanpage. But maybe we’re being too critical. After all, this crossover between a commercial and a guerrilla ad didn’t cost much, comes across as sympathetic and sexy, and generates some exposure. We don’t know who created it, but recognized some AKQA faces, so maybe they’re behind it.
Update: Yes, AKQA is behind it.
We are a bit late with this post, but only last Friday did we receive a copy of the ADCN (Art Directors Club Netherlands) book 2010. The annual, featuring the best (as in, most creative) work conceived in Dutch advertising, was accompanied by a little note saying “We look forward to receiving your review in our inbox”. In other words: “Quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter”. A bit cheeky, but fair enough. After all, we were quite happy to receive our personalized (“No. 790”) Limited Edition ADCN book. So to post about it, is the least we can do. The book that celebrates the ADCN awards – including the prestigious ‘lamps’ – is created by a different agency every year. This year the honour went to …, Staat, an ad agency that specializes in design. Though years ago VBAT created a mandatory grid for the book, …, Staat took the liberty to change the fonts into Helvetica and Times. The reason was that the fonts had to fit the concept, which is putting classic bookbinding on a pedestal. And that is why the book breathes craftsmanship; it has a distinguished gray textile cover, is gilt-edged, and has a traditional ribbon-marker. The concept was further translated into a sub-cover underneath each chapter, with a pressman’s jargon equivalent of the chapter itself and a matching photo. So for example the chapter “Print and Outdoor”, is subtitled “Landscape”, with a short explanation. All in all, …, Staat’s concept fits the holy bible of advertising like a glove; craftsmanship meets craftsmanship. Cause when you leaf through the work and see things like Philips Cinema 21:9 , Kit Kat Jesus, and Stanislav, you realise that apart from all the mumbo-jumbo, advertising still thrives best through craftsmanship.
This is episode 1 of an online film about the shoot of a Philips product demonstration – a story within a story, so to say. It didn’t sound very appealing to us, but ‘Nigel & Victoria’ turns out to be a fairly watchable boy-meets-girl ‘comedy’. At the same time it’s a pretty clever and friendly way to showcase your products to the world. The story revolves around Nigel, your typical Philips brand manager – British actor Ben Willbond – who falls in love with the actress starring in his product demo film, Victoria – Dutch actress Victoria Koblenko. The format allows Philips to very bluntly integrate its products into the story, instead of using (relatively expensive) subliminal product placement. Still, the relevance of the products is sometimes taken with a grain of salt – “They’re washable headphones, ok? It’s revolutionary”. It is refreshing to see Philips take itself not too serious. The series was made by online production company Wenneker TV and Hoot Comedy – a London based ‘Comedy Department for hire’. Though a very interesting new form of product placement, one question remains; are people willing to spend 8 x 4 minutes watching a moderately funny comedy with Philips written all over it? The fist 4 episodes raised little over 50.000 views in total. Though we think it deserves a few more, the story is either not very well seeded or simply not viral enough.
On September 13th the World’s youngest Fomula 1 racer, Lewis Hamilton, will compete against a virtual racecar, built up from 28.800 Facebook profile photos – we’ve also uploaded our own. The question is, who will finish first; Hamilton in a racecar, on a 2.7 Km track, or the 288 MB Facebook car that will be downloaded with Vodafone’s mobile network. It wouldn’t surprise us if the Facebook car wins, since the campaign is there to display the speed of Vodafone’s new, upgraded network. According to Vodafone, it is as fast as the average computer connection. That is quite a claim. And if true, how about communicating; “Vodafone’s new network; as fast as a landline”. Anyway, if you would like to see the actual race, it will be shown live on Facebook. Created by Achtung!.
Update: Sept. 13th: Lewis Hamilton won!
Proof of the pudding is that just 7 out of the hundreds ADCN members integrated their social network pages into their ADCN profiles………..wonderful strategy, brilliant execution but shouldn’t any campaign cause action???
You have a point there, Pedro. Seven is not many (although, maybe its succes needs a little more time). So the question is, can a strategy be ‘wonderful’ (and execution brilliant), if the advertising is not effective? We think it can. What we liked (and still like) about Anna strategically, is that she engaged the target and made it experience what it’s like to interact with each other within a community. Theoratically the target should become so enthusiastic about it, that it immediately ‘runs’ to the ADCN site to build up a similar community. But if that doesn’t happen, there could also be something wrong with the product. For example, maybe the (old school) ADCN creatives aren’t interested in the functionality the new website offers. There can be many reasons why only seven creatives enriched their profile, but we like the idea behind the Pink and Poodle campaign anyway.
I witnessed a few ADCN members as they “discovered” Linkedin, about 9 months ago. Like kids in a candy store, they where overwhelmed, could not believe their eyes. Their is a wide, and growing, gap between the average advertising creative’s online knowledge and skills, and the connected and interlinking community in the big bad world out there. He who, at any moment, thought this project was for real, should be out of job tomorrow. He who learned new things by this campaign, too.
Horrible.