Only three entries were deemed by judges as worthy of Grand London International Awards (LIA): American Express OPEN’s “Small Business Saturday” which also took a Gold Statue in The NEW Category; Heineken’s “The Entrance” which additionally earned Gold in TV/Cinema/Online Film-Editing; and Samsonite’s “Heaven and Hell” which collected three Golds in Print and one in Poster-Personal Items/Gift Items. Judges could have awarded as many as 13 Grand honors but didn’t feel any other contenders merited such designation.
“Small Business Saturday” was created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, and Digitas as a counterpart for small local U.S. retailers to Black Friday for major big box stores and Cyber Monday for major online sites. “Small Business Saturday” was launched with a rallying cry of “Shop Small.” Governors and mayors across the U.S. officially adopted the day, Nov. 27, 2010, and consumers did as well, spending millions of dollars as American Express shop owners scored double-digit sales increases. A centerpiece spot, “Reveille,” gave a promotional push to the initiative. “Reveille” was directed and shot by Max Malkin of PRETTYBIRD, with music from Beacon Street Studios. On the music front, SHOOT readers named “Reveille” as the “Top Track of 2010.”
Heineken’s “Entrance” was cut by Tim Thornton-Allan of Marshall Street Editors for Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam. Director was Fredrik Bond via Sonny, London. This marked the first time that a Grand LIA has been awarded for TV/Cinema/Online Film-Technique.
And Samsonite’s Grand winner in Print came out of JWT Shanghai.
NEW award
Additionally, LIA created a special award, “The Greatest Award Ever Sold,” upon the recommendation of The NEW Category jury. This special statue was presented to Morgan Spurlock, the creator of Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, which is a documentary about product placement and branding.
As for the rationale behind establishing a special award, Faris Yakob, jury president for The NEW Category (and chief innovation officer for MDC Partners, NY), related, “The NEW Category is protean by its nature. Things that once were ‘new’ become established channels or concepts. The NEW is, therefore, the category for things that don’t fit in other categories–mutations that hint at possible evolutionary routes. This is why Morgan Spurlock entered his documentary film The Greatest Movie Ever Sold into it, but even in a category for things that don’t fit elsewhere, it didn’t seem to fit. Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold is a documentary about product placement, paid for entirely by product placement in it, which details the process of getting sponsors on board and the marketing deployed to promote the film, which promotes the products, and the marketing of the products used to promote the film. It didn’t seem to sit comfortably alongside the other ideas we were judging, but it did seem interesting and directional for the industry to discuss and highlight. Therefore, in the spirit of recognizing that, we created a special award to recognise it, outside of The NEW category.”
Akin to the honoree, the LIA special award had its own sponsor, JetBlue Airways. A noted documentary filmmaker (Super Size Me), Spurlock is represented as a spot director by Saville Productions.
Double win for BBDO
BBDO was named LIA Network of the Year while BBDO New York earned Agency of the Year distinction.
While there was no winner this time around for Production Company of the Year, the inaugural LIA award for Postproduction Company of the Year went to The Mill.
For a full rundown of winners, including Gold, Silver and Bronze honors, log on here.
