Already for quite a few years Grolsch claims to be the beer brand for original individuals – which makes it beloved in the advertising scene, for that matter. Quite a unique positioning, since most of the other big beer brands make their advertising for Joe Sixpack – or at least they create very similar advertising. So Grolsch easily stands out as the sophisticated brand for unique individuals. That’s what made the brand decide to come up with an unorthodox piece of advertising; the sponsored magazine, titled Eigen.Zinnig. This translates more or less into original, authentic. It was created by G+J Publishers and freelance editor-in-chief Rob van Bracht. With its 148 pages and thorough articles, the magazine luxuriously feels more like a glossy (costs: €5) than a sponsored magazine. Together with the magazine Grolsch launched a commercial – created by DDB Amsterdam – that toasts “op” originality in different ways. Though the content and pay-off (“As authentic as Grolsch”) match well with the magazine, we were really surprised that the magazine title Eigen.Zinnig is never being used. In other words, there’s no obvious link between the commercial and the magazine. And that lack of synergy, automatically means a waste of money. In any case, it’s very refreshing – or eigenzinnig, if you will – to see a different kind of beer ad for once.

For a moment the 30.000 people watching the World Cup final on the ‘Binnenrotte’ in Rotterdam were scared shitless. Just when the Dutch players entered the arena, the connection went dead. Fortunately insurer Centraal Beheer was behind the joke; “Just call us” [if anything goes wrong] was the pay-off. This is how simple advertising can be. Well done, DDB Amsterdam.

On Saturday the last Cannes Lions were awarded to Amsterdam agencies in the categories Film and Film Craft. Silver went to the intelligent commercials made by TBWA\Neboko for IDFA – international documentary festival Amsterdam. Though we liked the previous concept a little better, the one showed in this post brings the message ‘You can’t make up reality’ in a similarly convincing way. 180 Amsterdam won silver in the ‘Film Craft’ category for their Adidas film ‘Every team needs the spark’. Indeed, a lot of craftsmanship. XXS and N=5 won bronze for their Dierenbescherming (animal protection) and Live Interactive Billboard ads respectively. The latter is an aggression awareness campaign that shows a billboard with ambulance personal being harassed. Bystanders that watch the billboard are being filmed and integrated in the film – so they watch their selves being inactive. Quite smart, though in our opinion this case would have been better of winning in Outdoor or Cyber. Like last year Philips won a Grand Prix (this time in ‘Film Craft’) for The Gift, “a sci-fi thriller in a dystopian future” that shows quite some skills being brought together. It was created by DDB London in assocation with RSA Films. We mention it, cause Tribal DDB Amsterdam was responsible for the overarching Parallel Lines campaign that included the 5 short films – of which The Gift was one. O.k., enough chest pounding already. Let’s get back to work!

Amsterdam won 5 silver Lions in Cannes yesterday. Big winner was Kong with 3 silver Lions for Stanislav – 2 for Promo & Activation and 1 for PR. Not really a surprise, since the online viral, that used people’s photo’s from social network site Hyves in an online film, already won several national and international prizes – though Cannes, of course, is the Wimbledon of the Grand Prix shows. Salient detail, according to Adformatie, Zwier Veldhoen, ECD at THEY and part of the P&O jury, said the case probably would have won gold, if submitted better. DDB also won silver in Promo & Activation for Centraal Beheer (CB), the insurer, known for its pay-off ‘Just call us’, created 3D outdoor spectaculars with typical accidents. The consumer could photograph itself in the accident and upload it on a dedicated website. The best ones – judged by the online audience – were used in a (2D) outdoor campaign. The fifth silver Lion went to MINI’s Christmas Box (see picture), by UbachsWisbrun/JWT. The message; only €99 per month. That is what we call, a big idea.

“You always need more than you expect” is what this builder tells his colleague when the cement flows away in the mouse’s – beautifully filmed – shelter. It is followed by the pay-off ‘Just call Apeldoorn’. Insurer Centraal Beheer (CB) – based in Apeldoorn – and agency DDB Amsterdam probably have the longest relationship in Dutch ad history. Since 1985 DDB creates humorous small stories – with the exact same pay-off that illustrates how well you are insured at CB. The only thing we always ask ourselves, when seeing these films, is whether CB will pay up when the shit does hit the fan. Don’t insurers always try to tell you that this particular situation is one of the exceptions referred to in Appendix X,Y and Z of the general conditions? Maybe not CB. Anyway, the film is quite entertaining. Especially because of the the Walt Disneyesque cinematographic quality of the cement-mouse chase. It was directed by Jeroen Annokkeé (CZAR).

Last week the Dutch Art Director’s Club (ADCN) awards, or simply the ‘Lamps,’ were divided between the most creative Dutch agencies. DDB was the big winner, with 3 silver Lamps – and 29 nominations, out of 204 nominations. DDB’s best silver Lamp went to its commercial made for Ziggo. DDB’s digital sister, Tribal won two times gold with Carousel for Philips, which is no surprise after having won already so many international prizes. Indie won 2 golden and one silver Lamp; all for Domino’s pizza. Indie’s golden awards both went to ‘Delivery Point‘ (outdoor and activation), silver went to ‘Builders‘. Kong won 2 golden lamps for Stanislav (interaction and activation). Out of the 7 golden and 15 silver Lamps, our most favourite Lamp (gold) went to Kit Kat Jesus by Ubachs Wisbrun/JWT. It’s brilliant in its simplicity and shows you don’t need an incredibly big budget to come up with a great idea.

What an inspiring event it was. Here are the insights we took home. The first key note speaker, Ed Ulbrich from Digital Domain, talked us through the process of getting the multi-platform remake of Tron to market. He showed what looked like a trailer of the movie ‘Tron Legacy’, but later revealed it was ‘just’ a teaser to get Disney excited; they could make a movie, a game and a theme park ride out of this single concept. He called this a ‘transmedia content prototype’; a piece of content that mitigates the investor’s risk, because it provides a tangible window into the opportunities of the concept. Ulbrich founded a  company, Mothership, that single mindedly builds these kind of prototypes. More…

We love animation. Especially because it makes so much more possible than traditional film. This commercial is a combination of real stage design and animation – how skillfully made! It tells the story of Achmea – a Dutch healthcare insurer. 200 years ago some farmers decided to work together and share the risks – what a great bolt of lightning! It was these kind of cooperations that led to the foundation of Achmea. According to the narration a lot has changed over the years, but Achmea’s principles have stayed the same. Then the animation changes into a new area; Achmea wants to ‘unworry’ society with initiatives that no one expects from an insurer and that make the working environment safer. And also, providing better food for school children. However big a ‘probleem’ is, it becomes smaller when you tackle it together. If we had to place one critical note; no real choices were made. The ad contains more information than the average consumer can handle and the myriad of styles doesn’t convey one single visual identity. But maybe that’s just us being anal. It’s a wonderful ad altogether. Created by DDB Amsterdam and directed by Raphaël Bartels.

Just like in Cannes this film by Tribal DDB won a Grand Prix in the TV/Cinema category at Eurobest in Amsterdam, last Friday. The commercial, only distributed through the internet (how could it win in TV/Cinema?), advertises the new Philips cinematic widescreen standard in a mind blowing way; a violent bank robery filmed in freeze frame and done in one single take. Cinema 21:9 also won Gold in the category Interactive – on the dedicated website you can (among other things) influence the speed and direction of the timeline of the film. The DDB network also won the best network award. At the awards ceremony, DDB asked Gary Raucher (VP Head of Integrated Marketing Communication) to accept this prize on behalf of DDB, which was a nice gesture given the fact that Philips trusted DDB with such a big budget to advertise a TV that is still in a very early stage of its product lifecycle. In general, compared to last year, the Netherlands (read: Amsterdam) did quite well. It won 22 prizes, of which 1 grand prix, 3 gold, 8 silver and 10 Bronze. Compared to the European competition, however, we didn’t. Belgium and Sweden for example – with a lot less inhabitants – scored significantly better. Amsterdam interactive agency Kong (N=5’s online agency) won Gold in the Media category for Stanislav, a short video spread through Hyves (Dutch Facebook), using your profile details to show how personal information shared on internet can easily fall in the wrong hands. Another favourite of ours, the IDFA films “You cannot make up reality” by TBWA\Neboko, won gold. ‘It’s all about the suit’ by Selmore for Van Gils won Silver in the Media category. Looking at the competition in this category, it easily deserved Gold in our opinion.

Through this commercial Volkswagen introduces the Blue Motion Technologies (BMT) in the Netherlands. The pay-off ‘Easy on the engine, Easy on fuel’ clearly communicates that this new technology saves energy. We’re no car experts, but to us BMT sounds a bit like a marketing invention, rather than an innovation that will prevent the north pole from melting. However, we think DDB did a great job in explaining it in a simple way. In fact, the metaphor of the bicycle, the clean visual identity and the distinctive execution fit very well with VW and even make BMT look sexy! DDB creatives Dylan the Backer and Joris Kuijpers asked Paul Postma and Yani to direct the commercial – the DDB team earlier told Adformatie they were inspired by the leader the creatives made for the TV program 12 murders. We hope the commercial will persuade many consumers to buy an environmental friendly car. Or better even, to ride their bicycle more often.