THE BIG WON 2009

E' uscito ieri il report Big Won 2009, che riassume in alcune classifiche il meglio della creatività mondiale attraverso i maggiori premi. Varie cose interessanti da riprendere.

'What is emerging is a new kind of advertising, which is characterised by “ideas people want to be part of.” ‘Best Job in The World’ is exactly that, an idea that encourages participation. So too does Leo Burnett Toronto’s brilliant ‘Share our Billboard’ work for James Ready. Crispin Porter’s ‘Whopper Sacrifice’ is a great example of a wildfire idea that spreads fast across social media.
BBDO New York’s ‘The Cube’ for HBO, Shackleton’s ‘Barrilete Cosmico’ for Caja Madrid, DDB Berlin’s ‘Navigation Letter’, Ogilvy Frankfurt’s disturbing installations for ANAD and AIM Proximity’s ‘iPhone Jonny’ and ‘Yellow Treehouse’ are all inspirational new ways of engaging consumers in new places.

The Big Won 2009 - The top campaigns by total creativity

1. Best Job in the World Tourism Queensland SapientNitro 200
2. Wallace & Gromet Harvey Nicholls DDB London 134
3= Share our Billboard James Ready Leo Burnett Toronto 108
3= The Store that Sells Hope Red Cross Portugal Leo Burnett Lisbon 108
5. Dance T-Mobile Saatchi London 101
6. Trillion Dollar campaign The Zimbabwean TBWA Hunt Lascaris Jo’burg
98
7. The Yellow Treehouse Yellow Pages AIM Proximity Auckland 97
8. Magic salad plate Four n’ Twenty Pies Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
96
9. TED 696 Project Lion Nathan BMF Sydney 94
10. Two Worlds campaign Jeep Proximity BBDO Malaysia
92

Looking at the Top Campaigns for the year, ‘Best Job in the World’ leads the field by a distance. This is because it is one of those ideas that defies categories. It has won major awards in Direct Marketing, Digital, Integrated and Alternative and Innovative media categories.

It is the same with most Top 20 campaigns. To score highly, they have to work across different media.

Leo Burnett Lisbon’s ‘Store that sells Hope’ for the Portuguese Red Cross at No.3 won awards for Press, Direct, Design, Integrated and Alternative and Innovative.
Saatchi London’s ‘Dance’ idea for T-Mobile at No.5 won Media awards as well as prizes for Direct, TV, Digital, Alternative and Innovative and Integrated.

The Trillion Dollar campaign for The Zimbabwean from TBWA Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg similarly won awards in Poster advertising, Direct, Design and Integrated categories.

Even the ‘Share our billboard’ campaign for James Ready from Leo Burnett Toronto won a few awards outside Poster categories – in Media.

The highest-ranking piece of film is Droga5’s ‘The Great Schlep’ for the Obama campaign at No.11 but that won in Direct, Digital, Alternative and Innovative and Integrated categories as well as TV and Film.

Even Crispin Porter Bogusky’s ‘Whopper Sacrifice’, a pure online idea, won in Media and Alternative & Innovative categories as well as Digital.

What seems to be common to many of the top-ranking campaigns is that they have some sort of consumer experience woven into their fabric.

The Store that Sells Hope was exactly that, a shop in Lisbon.
‘The House of Imagination’ from Heimat Berlin was also a store, but more of a memorable event for the 100,000 people who visited it than anything.
‘The Yellow Treehouse’ idea from AIM Proximity Auckland got people watching a young woman set about building a restaurant in a tree – and then got them to dine there.
‘Dance’ was a startling example of street theatre which has inspired many Youtube imitations.

That said, there are some high-scoring ‘traditional’ campaigns in the Top 20, chiefly DDB London’s ‘Wallace and Gromet’ campaign for Harvey Nicholls Bristol and BBDO Proximity Malaysia’s ‘Two Worlds’ work for Jeep.

These are ideas that double-up their points tallies by winning in both Press and Poster categories.

One of the ongoing problems with scam for awards shows is that many agencies see it as a no-brainer to enter every press ad in Poster categories as well.

However, obvious scam does seem to be less evident in 2009 than in previous years. Perhaps juries have been tougher, especially in Asia Pacific where the number of award winners in print has dropped from 2008 levels.

The issues for the year(s) ahead seem to be:

* No-one owns digital any longer. The best online work has consistently come from traditional agencies. And while AKQA London has the top digital campaign of the year (Fiat’s eco;Drive), for digital specialists, the writing is on the wall. Stay as digital specialists and you will soon become little more than production houses.

* Direct is becoming vital in building brand momentum as well as sales success. Witness almost everything the Obama team did in 2008/9 and almost everything Madrid agency Shackleton is doing.

* Creative departments are the tails that wag their dogs. Most agency managers see how amorphous advertising is becoming but are in thrall to large numbers of people they employ with specific craft skills. Outsourcing and crowdsourcing are on the increase.

* Media agencies will continue to compete with creative agencies not just for the right to devise strategy but to execute the ideas well.