While AICP Next Awards judging chair Gerry Graf, founder and chief creative officer of Barton F, Graf 9000–along with Next jury presidents Rob Reilly of McCann (Integrated Campaign jury president), Mark Waites of Mother (Experiential), Colleen DeCourcy of Wieden+Kennedy (Social), Jaime Robinson of Pereira & O’Dell (Product Integration), Chloe Gottlieb of R/GA (Website/Microsite), Jeff Benjamin of JWT (Mobile), Tiffany Rolfe of co: collective (Cause Marketing), and Jeff Kling of Fallon (Viral/Web Films)–picked IBM’s “A Boy and His Atom” as recipient of the best-in-show Most Next honor back in June, three jurors respectfully disagreed with that selection during the course of a Next panel discussion in Los Angeles last week.
The session–part of the AICP’s annual road show, this stop marking the L.A. premiere of the 2014 AICP Show and Next Award winners–was moderated by Matt Miller, president and CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers, and featured panelists Angel Anderson, VP/experience director at CP+B, Winston Binch, partner/chief digital officer of Deutsch LA, and Javier Jimenez, CEO/exec producer of Motion Theory. Jimenez was a 2014 Next Product Integration category judge while Binch and Anderson were on the Next Website/Microsite jury.
Asked by Miller what Next Award honoree they would have picked if they had a vote for the Most Next winner, Anderson selected the UNICEF “Tap Project 2014” (honored in the Next Mobile category), Binch tabbed Volvo Trucks’ “Live Test Series” (honored in the Next Integrated Campaign and Next Viral/Web Film categories) and Jimenez went with Nike’s “SB App” (Next Mobile).
Anderson said she loved the irony of an app encouraging people to not touch their phones in order to support the clean water UNICEF “Tap Project 2014.” Admitting that she is much too attached to her cell phone, Anderson observed that deploying a First World problem, mobile phone addiction, to help solve a Third World problem, the lack of clean water for so many, represents a brilliant, effective stroke of creativity.
Both Binch and Jimenez noted that the UNICEF “Tap Project 2014” ranked high on their lists for Most Next consideration. But ultimately, Binch selected Volvo Truck’s Live Test–the centerpiece being “The Epic Split” in which action-star Jean Claude Van Damme carried out his famous stunt, a split between two trucks moving in reverse. The test illustrates Volvo Trucks new dynamic steering system in a spectacular and entertaining manner. Binch said the content was “new and novel,” making for a compelling piece of communication that viewers sought out and embraced.
Jimenez voted for Nike’s skateboarding app as an enjoyable, educational ride for the desired demographic. “The Nike SB App” was created by R/GA New York. Volvo Truck’s Live Test came from Forsman & Bodenfors, Stockholm. And the UNICEF “Tap Project 2014” was conceptualized by creatives at Droga5.
Anderson, Binch and Jimenez did not have the real-world Next Most winner, IBM’s “A Boy and His Atom,” rated that highly on their personal lists. Directed by Nico Casavecchia of 1st Ave Machine for Ogilvy New York, “A Boy and His Atom” showcased IBM’s cutting-edge inventiveness, capturing how the company could move atoms around and make a piece of content out of them. Atoms are the actors in the short.
Anderson said that “A Boy and His Atom” smacked more of technology for technology’s sake. She noted that an AICP Next presentation featuring the Ogilvy team explained the significance of the work in that the atom manipulation, if successfully mastered, could, for instance, increase a mobile phone’s capacity from two feature-length HD movies to literally HD versions of all the theatrical movies ever made. However, that and other substantive big-picture possibilities, criticized Anderson, were not conveyed in “A Boy and His Atom.”
What’s Next?
What struck Anderson about this year’s crop of Next Award-winning work was “the humanity injected into every category.” Connecting those human stories and moments with a brand is invaluable.
Binch observed, “It all comes back to a story that’s impossible to forget.” He said that’s what gets “the entire Internet talking.”
Jimenez cited Heineken’s “Departure Roulette” from Wieden+Kennedy, New York, as a stellar example of connecting with an audience. A Next Experiential honoree, “Departure Roulette” caught up with people at the airport, asking them to press a button triggering a roulette-type mechanism which ultimately will output a global destination. Heineken will spring for a vacation to that locale under the condition that the player leaves immediately on his or her trip. Jimenez said the experiential dynamic makes people wish they were at the airport to push that button.
Among his leading Most Next candidates, Binch mentioned Not Impossible Labs’ “Project Daniel,” a story told as part of Intel’s “Look Inside: Mick Ebeling” initiative from The Ebeling Group and Venables Bell & Partners.
“Project Daniel” was honored not only in the Next Cause Marketing category but also earned a Curator’s Recognition honor by a unanimous vote of the AICP Show Curatorial Committee. “Project Daniel” tells a remarkable true tale. After reading an article about a lone doctor working in a solar-powered hospital in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan, and a boy named Daniel who lost both his arms during a bombing raid, Mick Ebeling, Not Impossible Labs’ founder and CEO, turned to technology to help. Armed with 3D printers, Intel 2-in-1s and spools of plastic, Ebeling traveled to South Sudan’s Yida Refugee Camp where he custom printed a prosthetic arm for Daniel. As a result, Daniel fed himself for the first time in two years. But Ebeling didn’t stop there. With Intel’s help, Ebeling went into the Nuba Mountains where Project Daniel established the world’s first 3D prosthetic printing lab and training facility, allowing Daniel’s village to continue making these prosthetics for others.
