It started out in 1987 as a fun contest for employees, conceived by Donald Gunn who at the time was creative resources director at Leo Burnett. (Gunn now heads the annual Gunn Report chronicling the industry’s most awarded agencies, advertisers, production houses and directors.)
Gunn’s notion was to help connect Burnett artisans with the Cannes experience even if they weren’t going to be in Europe. And it’s a connection that has grown in size, scope and analysis over the years as the relatively modest employees guessing game has become so much more.
This year a team led by Mark Tutssel, Burnett’s worldwide chief creative officer, viewed thousands of campaigns, monitored global and local award shows and followed industry buzz to select the work for the agency’s now much anticipated Cannes Predictions reel.
“It’s quite astonishing what this has evolved into,” said Tutssel. “The reel is now presented in 40 major cities around the world. People in Moscow were reportedly waiting in line one year to get tickets to a theater screening. It’s become a big scalable event that’s gotten better and better, and represents a great way for the agency to keep its finger on the pulse of this business and new creative directions that are emerging.”
Here’s a look-see at some of the general observations gleaned from Burnett’s research that went into the making of the reel, which contains 50 pieces of what the agency regards as work that will likely gain Cannes recognition, representing varied media and disciplines:
Integration Burnett’s reference to integration refers not just “to efforts merely executed across a handful of media. Rather, we’re talking about ideas that harnessed a confluence of technologies to produce truly engaging experiences. Many of this year’s entries, did just this, though Doritos ‘Hotel 626’ was one standout [from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco], linking mobile, Twitter, Facebook and a faux documentary to a rich, terrifying, three-dimensional web universe. And Fiat’s ‘eco:Drive’ [AKQA, London] provided a detailed peek into motorists’ driving habits courtesy of a USB flash drive that connected their cars and computers.”
Politics Burnett singled out Barack Obama’s groundbreaking ‘netroots’ movement that ultimately helped win him the 2008 U.S. presidential election. “Could a political campaign land a Titanium Lion?” asked a Burnett summary. “Meanwhile ‘The Great Schlep’–also on behalf of Obama via the Jewish Council for Education Research [Droga5, New York]–served up a side-splitting and unique appeal to voters that broke a few barriers and taboos of political advertising.”
Online progression Among the efforts cited by Burnett were: Burger King’s “Whopper Sacrifice” [Crispin Porter+Bogusky, Boulder, Colo.] which “leveraged Facebook so boldly that even the social networking site wasn’t sure what to make of it”; Sprint’s “Plug Into Now” [Goodby] which “transformed PC desktops into a stunning real-time data dashboard”; and Mentos’ “Kiss Cam” [BBH London], providing anyone with a webcam the opportunity to share a virtual, interactive “kiss” with his or her choice of a hunk or babe.
Street wise Burnett also pointed out several successful instances of agencies and clients “taking it to the streets,” including: Pampero Rum’s “Ephemeral Museum’ [Burnett, Lisbon] which “turned an entire district of London into a bona fide art gallery, while Oasis gave New York City residents a sneak preview of their new album by means of street musicians with the ‘Dig Out Your Soul’ effort [BBH New York]. And it’s hard to resist T-Mobile’s ‘Dance’ [Saatchi & Saatchi London], which employed the impromptu joy of a flash mob to amuse passersby at a Liverpool railway station.”
Leveraging the press
Among Burnett’s favorites were creations that “wove their way into the cultural fabric, effectively using the media to add traction to their stories. In what many public relations mavens declared to be the best effort of its kind, Tourism Queensland invited jobseekers from around the world to apply for ‘The Best Job in the World’ [Cummins Nitro, South Brisbane]. And the very essence of the NBA’s ‘There Can Only Be One’ campaign wound up gracing the cover of Time magazine and being spoofed by Saturday Night Live.”
Film–a mixed bag The Burnett Cannes Predictions summary assessed, “Unlike most years, there were few blockbusters in the lot, though we should add a quick caveat: as history tells us, many in this category make their first appearance at Cannes, so it’s almost certain we’ll be delighted and surprised by a few stellar debuts.”
Still there was outstanding work with Burnett citing: ‘Go On Lad,” for Hovis bread [MCBD, London]]; ‘House of Cards,’ for housing charity Shelter [Burnett, London].; the racy Levi’s ‘Secrets and Lies’ [BBH London] and Diesel’s ‘SFW XXX’ [The Viral Factory, London]; and the humorous Pepto-Bismol ‘Empanada’ [Lapiz/Burnett, Chicago] and Esthe Wam Hair Removal’s ‘Beauty Bowling’ [Ogilvy & Mather, Tokyo] .
Burnett also advised the advertising industry to keep an ever watchful Cannes Lions eye on “Versailles” for Canal+ [out of BETC Euro RSCG, Paris], as well as JCPenney’s ‘Doghouse,’ the hilarious instructional short [from Saatchi & Saatchi New York] for wayward men everywhere.”
