Until recently, director Charles Stone III hadn’t even heard of the annual International Advertising Festival. Nor were the 9,000 ad industry delegates who descended on Cannes this year all that familiar with Stone. For the past 10 years, the director had toiled in relative obscurity in the music video arena. But the June 24th awards ceremony proved to be a dramatic introduction for both. The Budweiser "Whassup" campaign that Stone of New York-based C&C/Storm Films helmed for DDB Chicago went home with the coveted Grand Prix as well as the Journalist Award at the 47th annual Festival.
Conversely, this year’s Palme d’Or went to a Festival mainstay: bicoastal/international Propaganda Films and its bicoastal/international sister shop Satellite. It was the second consecutive Palme d’Or-and third in the last four years-for Propaganda/Satellite, but for entirely different reasons it was as meaningful as Stone’s first Cannes recognition. Even with the successful Propaganda/ Satellite track record, Propaganda VP of commercials Colin Hickson acknowledged a state of flux since the overall company’s spot, music video and talent management businesses were acquired last year by an investment group (SHOOT, 4/16/99). "It’s been a difficult year for us," Hickson said, alluding to a number of defections among the ranks of key executives and directors. "A lot of people have been sounding the death knell for Propaganda. Hopefully, this win will go a little way towards putting that to an end."
While the Palme d’Or win represented a measure of validation for Propaganda/Satellite’s new regime, several of the directors whose work contributed to the points tally-David Kellogg and a pair of feature filmmakers who were repped for spots, Lasse Hallstrom and Doug Liman-have since left the Propaganda family.
Despite the strong showings in the competition by Propaganda/Satellite and "Whassup’s" Stone, the overall Festival was viewed as lackluster according to Cannes jury president Marcello Serpa, co-CEO and creative director of Almap/BBDO, So Paulo, Brazil. "We had 103 Lions out of almost 6,000 commercials," he said. "It was a tough year. We couldn’t repeat the performance of last year. But the winners stood up. We tried very hard to maintain the awards standards and to give Lions to work that makes sense, that is good for the client and the consumer, and I’m very proud of the results."
That sentiment holds true for the Grand Prix. Serpa described "Whassup," which consisted of "True," "Girlfriend," "Call Waiting," "Pizza Guy" and "Wasabi," as the clear winner. "It was very easy to pick," he said. "It’s so fresh, so relevant and so appealing. Oftentimes in advertising, there is a tendency to try to make things too intellectual. This is all about good advertising. It is simple and sophisticated, and also universal. Everyone likes it."
U.S. entries dominated the Festival, winning 27 Lions (10 in campaign categories) in the Film/TV derby. Of those, there were 10 Gold (seven in campaign categories), eight Silver (including one campaign), and eight Bronze Lions (including one campaign).
Great Britain was not far behind the U.S. with 24 Lions, including a Gold for Nike’s "Beautiful" in the clothing and footwear category, which Serpa said was the only other serious contender for the Grand Prix. The ad, which consists of black and white footage of several athletes’ scars and injuries, was created by Wieden + Kennedy (W+K), Portland, Ore., and directed by Frank Budgen of Gorgeous Enterprises, London.
Third and fourth overall runners up were Spain, which took home eight Lions, and France, with a total of seven. Lion winners were selected from a record entry pool of 5,757 ads from more than 65 countries.
Almap/BBDO won Agency of the Year, marking the second consecutive year that a Brazilian firm copped that honor. DM9 DDB, So Paulo, won the award at last year’s Festival. Serpa noted that his role as jury president had no bearing on the results, and that the Festival’s judging procedure impedes any such aberrant partiality.
W+K led U.S. agencies with a total of five Gold Lions, ranking second in the Agency of the Year derby. The agency’s campaigns for Stamps.com and Alta Vista-both directed by Joe Pytka of PYTKA, Venice, Calif.-won Golds in the commercial public services category. The Stamps.com work, which stars Bob Newhart, consisted of "A Shameful Legacy," "The Notorious Mr. Biggs," "Clock Radio" and "Mettman S-350." The AltaVista spots were "Testicular Cancer" and "Speeding Ticket."
W+K’s remaining Gold Lions went to individual Nike ads, including the aforementioned "Beautiful"; "Driving Range," which features Tiger Woods and was directed by Hallstrom via Propaganda Independent (a division handling feature filmmakers for select spots); and "The Morning After," which was helmed by Satellite’s Spike Jonze. The two latter spots were judged in the corporate image category. (Hallstrom has since moved to bicoastal/international @radical.media for commercial representation).
Rounding out this year’s award-winning Nike work out of W+K were the Silver Lion-winning spots "Hackeysack" and "Asteroid," which were produced by Propaganda Independent and bicoastal/international Partizan, respectively. Liman directed "Hackeysack," featuring Tiger Woods, while Traktor helmed "Asteroid," starring Ken Griffey, Jr. Both spots were recognized in the corporate image category. (Feature filmmaker Liman is now handled for spots by bicoastal RSA Independent.)
W+K’s "Racing Marion" and "Snowball"-part of the "Whatever.Nike.com" campaign that begins on TV and ends online-took home a Bronze Lion. Johan Renck of bicoastal HSI Productions directed the campaign. W+K won an additional Bronze for Nike Latin America’s "Cars" out of Harry Nash, London, and Altana Films, Buenos Aires. Fredrik Bond directed the ad.
An additional Nike ad from Spain won a Gold Lion. "Manifestation" was created by Remo Asatsu, Madrid, and directed by Fernando de France out of Tesauro, Madrid.
Besides Propaganda/Satellite’s Gold Lion-winning Nike work, the production house copped a Gold Lion for Budget rental cars’ "Propulsion," "Ranger," and "Aromatherapy." Part of the transportation, travel and tourism category, the campaign was created by Cliff Freeman and Partners, New York, and directed by Dante Ariola.
Also contributing to Propaganda/Satellite’s Palme d’Or were a Silver and a Bronze Lion: Dairy Management’s "Election," via DDB Chicago and directed by Kellogg, took a Silver, while adidas’ "Sideline" via Leagas Delaney, San Francisco, won a Bronze. Josh Taft of Satellite directed the corporate image ad. (Kellogg is now with bicoastal Anonymous.)
Meanwhile, Cliff Freeman won a second Gold Lion campaign in the publications and media category for FOX Sports Net’s "Baby," "Nature Channel" and "Milk." Rocky Morton of Los Angeles-based Morton Jankel Zander directed the ads.
Cliff Freeman also won a Gold for Church’s Chicken’s "Grandpa" for the U.K. via Outsider, London, and bicoastal Omaha Pictures. Paul Gay helmed the ad.
Additional U.S. Gold Lion winners included two campaigns in the publications and media category, which were created by Fallon, New York. MTV’s "Jukka Bros." campaign-which consisted of "Intro," "Sexy Dance," "Wrong Shoes," "Fashion Check" and "X-mas Story"-was helmed by Traktor of Partizan. (Partizan ranked second to Propaganda/ Satellite in the race for the Palme d’Or, while Fallon finished third in the Agency of the Year derby.)
Fallon’s second Gold Lion winner was a two-spot campaign for FOX/Liberty Networks’ The X-Show. Frank Todaro of @radical.media directed "Anthem" and "Lawyer."
The Katsin/Loeb, San Francisco, campaign for Cyber Cash. com won a Gold Lion in the banking category. Jeff Gorman of JGF, Hollywood, directed "Neighbourhood," "Lifestyle Choice" and "Stared At."
Rounding out the U.S. Gold Lion winners was E*Trade’s "Monkey." The ad was created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, and directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/ international hungry man. Some of Goodby’s additional E*Trade spotwork was honored with Silver Lion campaign distinction in the investment, insurance and property development category. Hungry man produced and Buckley directed the spots "Basketball," "TriMount" and "Broker," while David Ramser helmed a fourth spot in the campaign, "Cop," via bicoastal/international The A+R Group.
Next week, SHOOT will continue its Cannes coverage, including further insights from the judges into this year’s competition.
