The survival of the fittest battle this awards season has been won by Guinness’ “noitulovE” (“Evolution” spelled backwards), which capped its stellar industry show performance in 2006 with the Grand Prix at the 53rd annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
The coveted Grand Prix came on the heels of the spot–directed by Daniel Kleinman of the now former Kleinman Productions for Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO, London–copping such honors as Best of Show at the One Show in New York, the Best of Show GRANDY at the ANDY Awards, as well as two Golds and a Silver at the Clio competition. (Kleinman has since partnered with director Ringan Ledwidge in London production house Rattling Stick.)
The Guinness ad opens on three male pub-goers who down glasses of the ale with delight. But this seemingly slice of mundane life takes a sudden turn backwards as the guys start walking rapidly in reverse out of the watering hole–eventually winding up, literally, in a watering hole thousands of years ago.
On the way to their destination are assorted stops along the evolutionary path. Their walk becomes a slouch as the men transform into Neanderthals, get frozen in the Ice Age, then turn into apes, primitive mammals, amphibians–with a glimpse of some dinosaurs along the way–and then finally we see three newt-like creatures drinking from a puddle. These newts, though, are clearly disgusted with their libation. It’s certainly a far cry from the Guinness to which they were accustomed as men, and the puddle doesn’t compare to a lively pub. The end tag message puts this surreal journey into perspective: “Good things come to those who wait,” which is Guinness’ time-honored slogan.
This sojourn back through time is a visual tour de force, with not only the three guys but their surroundings changing at warp speed. Modern buildings recede into different historical periods, concrete morphs into green landscape in an overhead like satellite perspective shot. A mix of live action, CGI, stop motion, stock footage and other visual tricks is sprinkled throughout the :60. Akin to the expression of one’s life flashing before his or her eyes, we are treated to seeing the evolution of earth and man–and man on earth–zip by in a minute.
The AMV BBDO team consisted of creatives Matt Dornan and Ian Heathfield (a.k.a. Matt & Ian), with Yvonne Chalkey serving as producer.
Johnny Frankel produced for Kleinman Productions. The DP was Jess Hall.
Visual effects were done by Framestore CFC, London, with William Bartless the visual effects supervisor and Scott Griffin the effects producer. Lead animator was QAuentin Miles, with Alex Thomas serving as Inferno artist, and Andy Boyd as CGI supervisor.
Editor was Steve Gandolfi of Cut+Run, London (which also has bases of operation in New York and Santa Monica). Audio mixer was Johnnie Burn of Wave Recording Studios, London.
For the Grand Prix honor, “noitulovE” ultimately beat out two other finalist contenders: “Big Ad” for Foster’s Carlton Draught, directed by Paul Middleditch of Plaza Films, Sydney, for George Patterson Y&R, Melbourne; and Sony Bravia LCD Televisions’ “Balls” helmed by Nicolai Fuglsig of bicoastal/international MJZ for Fallon, London.
DEJA VU For the second consecutive year, MJZ’s U.S. operation won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes for best production company. Furthermore, MJZ’s London shop finished seventh in the Palme d’Or derby.
Stink, London, and bicoastal Hungry Man tied for second, with Phenomena, Bangkok, in fourth place, followed by Gorgeous Enterprises, London, in fifth.
Bicoastal Moxie Pictures was sixth. Next was MJZ, London. Kleinman Productions finished eighth and there was a three-way tie for ninth among Biscuit Filmworks, Los Angeles, Plaza Films, Sydney, and Academy Films, London.
Meanwhile, DéJà vu was experienced yet again for the agency of the year honor, which went for the fourth straight year to TBWAParis.
GOLD VOID However, there was no DéJà vu for the U .S. with respect to Gold Lions. Last year, the U.S. ad industry topped all countries with five in the film competition. This year, the U.S. didn’t win a single film Gold Lion.
For that matter, the world didn’t fare as well this year as compared to ’05, when 18 Gold Lions were awarded in film. This year there were but 12 Gold Lions–half of which were earned by the U.K. Next was Thailand with a pair of Gold Lions, while Australia, Italy, France and Portugal each garnered one Gold Lion.
Leading the U.K. Gold rush in film was Wieden+Kennedy, London, with Honda’s “Choir” and “Impossible Dream.” The former was directed by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet of bicoastal/international Partizan. “Impossible Dream” was helmed by Ivan Zacharias via Stink, London. (Zacharias is repped in the U.S. by bicoastal Smuggler).
Also prominent in the U.K. Gold Lion mix were: the aforementioned “Balls” which was recognized in both the home electronics and music categories; Stella Artois’ “Ice Skating Priests” directed by Jonathan Glazer of Academy, London, for Lowe, London; and the U.K. Department of Transport’s teen road safety PSA “Cameraphone” directed by Chris Palmer of Gorgeous, London, for Leo Burnett, London. (Palmer directs stateside via bicoastal Anonymous Content.)
Other notable Gold Lion winners included: Canal Plus’ “March of the Emperor” directed by The Glue Society of bicoastal/international @radical.media for BETC Euro RSCG, Paris; a four-part serial campaign for Smooth-E face foam from JEH United, Bangkok; and Bangkok Insurance’s “Tyre,” “Twister” and “Robbery” which collectively earned Gold in the banking category for Creative Juice/G1 (TBWA), Bangkok.
SILVER Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, led the U.S. with three film Silver Lions: one for Burger King (“America’s Favorite,” “More Mayo,” “Extra Cheese”); another in concert with Arnold Worldwide, Boston, for their joint effort on behalf of the American Legacy Foundation (“Twinkies,” “Contaminants,” “Mother-in-Law”); and the third for Gap’s “Pardon Our Dust.”
The latter was directed by Spike Jonze of MJZ, a shop which also produced a Silver Lion-winning package for Ameriquest Mortgage (“Concert” and “Doctor”), directed by MJZ’s Craig Gillespie for DDB Direct, Los Angeles.
TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, scored a pair of film Silver Lions: one for a Combos Pretzels’ four-spot campaign, the other for Starburst’s “Factory.” The latter, a darkly humored piece involving limb loss as workers try to recover a package of Starbursts that fell into a vat of acid, was directed by Matt Aselton of bicoastal Epoch Films.
Meanwhile the noted Xbox 360 spot “Jump Rope,” considered in some circles to be a Grand Prix contender going into the competition, came away with Silver for agencies McCann Erickson, San Francisco, and 72 and Sunny, El Segundo, Calif. The commercial was directed by Gorgeous’ Frank Budgen.
The U.S. copped a total of nine Silver Lions in the film competition.
BRONZE The American tally was 11 film Bronze Lions, including one for a six-spot Miller Lite campaign (“Raccoon,” “Turtle,” “Goose,” “Bear,” “Penguin,” “Otter”) directed by MJZ’s Jonze for Young & Rubicam, Chicago.
Among other U.S. ad shops scoring Bronze Lions were: Grupo Gallegos, Long Beach, Calif., for Energizer Max Batteries; Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles for Toyota Tacoma’s “Tide,” as well as a PSA campaign for Innocence in Danger; Taxi, New York, for Amp’d Mobile; Ogilvy & Mather, New York, for the Tribeca Film Festival; Crispin Porter+Bogusky for Coca Cola Zero; TBWA/Chiat/Day, New York, for Skittles; BBDO New York for Federal Express; Cramer-Krasselt, Chicago, for Careerbuilder.com; and Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, for Nike.
CYBER GRAND PRIX Beyond its Silver and Bronze Lions in film, Crispin Porter+Bogusky also scored in terms of Cyber honors, garnering the Cyber Grand Prix and three Gold Lions.
Crispin’s Cyber Grand Prix came for a Volkswagen interactive campaign that included viral videos and a Web site while featuring sexy German engineer “Helga.” Earlier, Crispin’s VW “Fast” campaign won the Promotion Grand Prix.
VW wasn’t the only Cyber Grand Prix recipient. Also winning that honor this year was New York agency Droga5 for Marc Ecko’s viral film Still Free.
TITANIUM LION There was but one Titanium Lion winner this year, presented to Design Barcode, Toyko, for reinventing packaging barcodes with customized designs. The work was deemed most deserving by a Titanium jury chaired by David Lubars, chief creative officer of BBDO North America.
At the same time the lone Titanium honoree clearly defined what that competition is about: to recognize work that is totally new. That’s a departure from what at one point had been the norm, with the Titanium envisioned as primarily honoring integrated campaigns. The Design Barcode win left some to bemoan the lack of recognition for integrated fare at Cannes.
(See separate story in which Lubars addresses this perceived void, the creative breakthrough worthiness of Design Barcode’s work, and his take on Cannes in general.)
