With 13 shortlist nominations in film and 7 in film craft, Amsterdam should be able to win some more Lions tomorrow night. Of all these nominations 4 go to Nike ‘Write the future’, 3 to Heineken’s ‘The Entrance’, and one to Heineken’s ‘The Date’, which adds up to an impressive 8 film (craft) nominations for Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. Write the future also has a nomination for Titanium (integrated), though this case was sent in by Nike. BSUR also does well with 4 nominations for MINI Countryman’s ‘Flow’. Philips’ ‘Wake up the town’ by Tribal DDB has 3 film nominations. Other film nominations go to Volkswagen (DDB), Centraal Beheer (DDB) – we personally liked this more subtle Centraal Beheer film a lot better – De Bijenkorf (Selmore), IDFA X-ray eyes (TBWA) – a very smart film – and the beautiful Sire film ‘Marked for life‘ (180). We’ll keep our fingers crossed!

Finally, Amsterdam wins its first golden Lion – in cyber. Nike’s ‘Write the future’, created by Wieden+Kennedy has already won a truckload of prizes, but winning in Cannes, is the cherry on top, of course. The campaign won in cyber, because it used social media very effectively; the film received 40 million online views. And since the film is so impressive, we expect it to win (at least) a golden film Lion this Saturday. Two virals were rewarded with a bronze Cyber lion. The first one: TomTom’s special edition StarWars voices – created by Pool Worldwide and directed by Willem Gerritsen (CZAR). This film will surely also win another Lion at the end of the week. The other viral, was Liquid Mountaineering for Hi-Tec by CCCP – a brilliantly executed mockumentary. Interesting detail; this second viral was also directed by Willem Gerritsen. In design two silver Lions were won. One by Amsterdam agency BrandBase for its pallet project, a unique working environment, built entirely from pallets by Most Design. The other silver design Lion went to Heineken’s STR bottle, a bottle that lights up in the dark thanks to its UV-sensitive ink – created by dBOD and Iris.

Yesterday was a good day. Not just because it was our first day in Cannes and we enjoyed soaking up all its extremes – Le Palais, the sun, the beach, ‘le canard au miel’, and lots of drinks – check out our photo’s here. It was also a good day for Amsterdam, because it won 5 Lions! Two silver lions went to outdoor; Interbest ‘mail stripper’ and the Go Fast water-bike, both to Y&R Not Just Film. At the time, we weren’t too positive about the unattractive stripper, because we doubted its effectiveness. You could say the silver lion has proved us wrong. Two bronze lions went to the radio commercial ‘sexual harassment’ (Publicis) and an Allsecur outdoor ad (Ogilvy). In Media Muse and Starcom won Silver for their 3D Samsung projection. Earlier, on Monday Amsterdam won two meager bronze lions; the Dutch dress for Bavaria in promo – which definitely deserves more in our opinion – and bronze for Boondoggle’s KLM Suprise in PR – in Holland this won a golden Spin (read: cyber) award. Hopefully we’ll be able to celebrate some gold later this week.

Our first day in Cannes! We’re going to keep a photolog this week, so any tips on interesting (preferably Amsterdam related) activities are welcome – like winning a Lion for example. We look forward seeing you and (maybe) getting a little tipsy together!

You have to brace yourself a little for this one. Not just for the length of it, but also because of the dark, post apocalyptic picture it draws – it literally shows how it gets under your skin. We guess it makes sense to ask hybrid production house Post Panic to create the leader for OFFF, the post production festival held in Barcelona this year on June 9, 10, and 11 and themed ‘Year Zero’. The visual orchestra features the names of artists that appeared at the festival. And of course, if there’s one shop that knows how to majestically merge digital, real life, and a general, unsettling, even menacing feeling, it’s Post Panic. Still a huge honour when you’re asked to show off your skills to the most critical audience in this creative domain. The film was written by Post Panic founder Mischa Rozema and British graphic designer Si Scott. It was also directed by Rozema and shot in Prague (the line production was done by Savage). The sound, influencing the suggestive character of the film so strongly, was done by Hecq. We love it, because it’s so beautifully…um…offf!

Last Friday the digital Podge was held in Amsterdam. The podge (meaning ‘small belly’) was founded in 1994 by Phil Jones (right in picture). What started out as an informal dinner between design professionals has now branched out into sports and digital. The digital podge now travels through Europe. When Achtung! visited the event last year in Stockholm they liked it so much that they decided to invite the event to Amsterdam. Together with Bert Hagendoorn (left in photo) Achtung! invited about 100 CD’s and MD’s from the best digital agencies from the Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Germany and Sweden. The day started with a reception at Herengracht 502, the official residence of the mayor of Amsterdam, clearly breathing the wealth of the Dutch 17th century and creating a nice contrast with the modern, mobile addicted, casual scene. The podgers were welcomed by Achtung!’s Dick Buschman (second left in photo) and Caroline Gehrels – responsible within the municipality for selling Amsterdam to the world – together with jenever (Dutch gin), haring (herring), and kroketten (meat croquettes). The creme de la creme of digital was then taken on a ‘rondvaart’ boat to view Amsterdam from the water – though the presence of an abundance of cold Heinies and interesting conversation partners made sightseeing a little difficult. We were then taken for a late lunch to ‘De Goudfazant’, a restaurant on the Northern, industrial, hip and happening shore of the IJ river. After a rich lunch there was time for coffee and ping pong. Through the rain – to remind everyone to be in Holland – the online professionals were finally taken to café Nol, a bar in the Jordaan that used to be visited by true Amsterdammers. Unfortunately Amsterdam Ad Blog didn’t make this, because the intense conversations about the future of digital in combination with a considerate amount of alcohol persuaded us to call it a day – a wonderful day! A visual impression can be found here.

The Digital Podge is a get together of ECD’s and MD’s that work in digital. It was founded in 1994 by Phil Jones. The idea is to get the creative digital leaders together in an informal way to talk about their business. When Achtung! visited Podge last year in Stockholm, the agency successfully picked up the idea to take the event to Amsterdam. The theme of this year’s podge is ‘Kopstoot. The wrong side of Amsterdam’. A ‘kopstoot’ is a traditional Dutch drink: a beer with a jenever (Dutch gin) on the side. The attendants will also visit some other Dutch classics, like the Red Light District (no shit?), FEBO (eating out of a wall), and *tada* a coffeeshop. Sounds like things are going to be very informal. The Amsterdam Podge will be held on June 10th. If you would like to attend, you can visit the website to register – make sure to turn off your sound when you do so.

Here’s yet another agency that converted its creativity into a special Christmas concept. Last week Wieden + Kennedy organised a Virtual Holiday Dinner via Skype. It allowed the many expats ‘living’ at Wieden to enjoy their Christmas dinner with their relatives overseas. The software was quite ingenious, allowing the Skypers to move their own virtual doll by turning their heads left and right in front of their webcam to face the other people at the virtual table and have a real conversation – that is, as ‘real’ as the paper turkey, of course. Traditional and innovative at the same time. Now we think of it, a little more tweaking and W+K might be able to do all its international conference calls like this.

Nice! You got to love these 3 minutes of advertising that opened the H&M flagship store on Dam square in Amsterdam on November 22nd. And, yes, the idea is not entirely new – literally 200 meters away agency Muse did more or less the same – though slightly more impressive – for Samsung last May. But we don’t care; it’s an awesome brand experience anyway. It was done (again) by Muse and the 3D projection was designed by Elano Collaço do Monte Teixeira. Well done.

Who would have ever thought ‘Sinterklaas’ could pop up in London. Thanks to KK Outlet (KesselsKramers’ London office) he will. Sinterklaas is basically Santa Claus’ grandpa. The tradition originates from the 15th century when the poor could leave their shoe in church to collect alms. This event evolved into a shoe (or stocking in anglo-saxon countries) underneath the chimney and a bishop-like figure visiting the Netherlands at the end of November by steamboat accompanied by a white horse and an army of black Piets. On the 5th of December children get their presents and on the 6th he’s gone. Together with Sinterklaas, KK Outlet also invited HEMA – according to KK something like a cross-over between Ikea, Woolworths, and Muji. The beloved HEMA is also part of a strong Dutch tradition, so that’s probably why KK Outlet combined the two; Sinterklaas will pay the outlet a visit on December 2nd and the ‘gallery’ will be selling ‘chocolate letters’ and other typical Sinterklaas related products from HEMA. Let us say, an ‘interesting’ joint promotion.