What if you had to start the advertising industry from scratch? That’s basically the situation in which the former Soviet bloc countries found themselves. It’s been 10 years since the break up of the USSR, and throughout Eastern Europe, advertising is new, fresh and without cynicism.
Now, more than anything, they want their work to be world class. And you know what? Some of it is.
That’s the topline report on my week in Riga, Latvia, where I was a juror for the 4th International Baltic Advertising Festival, a.k.a. The Golden Hammer Awards. This year’s slogan set the stage with "In Ad We Trust."
Laila Ozolina, the festival director, sees the event as integral to the continued rise of advertising professionalism in the region. For that reason, it’s much more than the standard awards banquet. There are two full days of seminars and workshops on media and creative. There are plenty of opportunities to network. And the wrap party is an awards bash that goes all night. (Not surprising in a town where the clubs stay open until 5 a.m., and the local drink, Riga Black Balsams, is a numbing 90 proof.)
As might be expected, the bulk of the entries are from the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. From there, the next largest group comes from Russia, the Ukraine, Romania and Hungary, as well as the Czech Republic, Poland and Belarus. Of course, neighboring Scandinavian countries take part. The word’s getting out, though. Non-neighboring Spain and Japan were represented among the international entries.
As for agencies entering, there were plenty of the usual suspects. Many carried local names hyphenated with Y&R, Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi, Bates, DDB, TBWA, McCann-Erickson. These and other multi-nationals early on spotted the business and talent opportunities in Eastern Europe. (The Baltic region alone is catching up with annual GNP growth rates in the 7.5-percent-a-year range. They’re also getting ready to become part of the European Union. Keep that in mind for your 401Ks!) And I should also say that the general sponsor was Clear Channel.
It’s not all globalization, though. Since I’m chair of Worldwide Partners, the agency-owned network of owner-operated agencies in more than 45 countries, I have a special curiosity about what the independents are doing. Happily, the indies picked up awards in almost every category and are thriving in this fast moving economy.
My fellow jurors were from the U.K. (Y&R and Bates, London, and CPS International, Cambridge); Finland (Publicis-Törmä and Hasan & Partners, both in Helsinki); Norway (Leo Burnett, Oslo); Lithuania (Adell Saatchi & Saatchi, Vilnius); Latvia (SIA Wizard Communications, Riga); Estonia (TANK Advertising Agency, Tallinn); and the Ukraine (BrandAid, Kiev). The entered spots all used English, either with subtitles or dubbed.
Maybe we were supposed to keep in mind that these are tiny countries with small populations, and that the budgets are small and hard to come by. No matter. We judged on the basic gold standard. And the work stood up to it. Obviously, they’re studying the same awards books as everyone else. Better yet, there’s also some unique work that took advantage of location and language.
The Grand Prix winner was a surprise to the Latvians, since they considered it a highly local spot. From McCann-Erickson, Riga, for Aldaris Latvian Beer, produced by Vilks Studio and directed by Viktors Vilks, the spot starts in a rustic sauna with a farmer arguing with his wife about their grown son not being his. The suspicious husband decides to check by asking the young man, who happens to have oversize ears, whether he would rather go fishing or have an Aldaris Beer. The son chooses the beer, and that’s enough to convince the proud father. The spot ends with dad offering an Aldaris Beer to his big-eared neighbor, who turns it down. It is not only colorfully local—it could work anywhere.
Tempo Advertising, Bucharest, Romania, pulled a Golden Hammer for their commercial for a local business daily. A man is reading the Ziarul Financial News at an outdoor café when he looks up and makes eye contact with a woman at another table. She decides to move things along by walking over and writing her phone number on the page he’s reading. All business, he’s furious that she’s defaced his financial newspaper and uses it to swat her away.
Pro bono spots are still unusual in these developing countries. McCann-Erickson, Bucharest, won a special Public Service Award with their campaign to overcome discrimination against their large Gypsy (Romany people) minority. In "Accordion," a Gypsy father helps his son fit in with his schoolmates by fashioning the family accordion into a backpack. The announcer points out that Gypsies are willing to integrate into the community. Tolerance will help them.
Indigo, Tallinn, did a series of low budget spots for Automaailm auto parts retailer. The commercials are targeted at cash strapped amateur mechanics who try to fashion new auto parts out of used ones. It parodies TV cooks using spare parts to "create" replacements. (Leftover oil makes a fine marinade.) The point is it’s far safer to buy parts already made to fit.
Hamburg, Germany’s Inhaus Films for the World Wildlife Federation was a popular favorite. It follows a teenaged boy walking in the countryside with a fabulously endowed young woman. He keeps trying to guess aloud what the highly distorted WWF on her T-shirt says. She smiles patiently as he keeps trying. Finally, he thinks he’s got it. His last guess is "Wanna Wild F—-?"
Grey Worldwide, Moscow, took advantage of the Asian steppes to do an epic spot featuring nomadic horsemen vying for the hand of a beautiful princess. The final hurdle is a contest over who has the muscle power to clean the cooking kettle fastest. The princess slips her preferred champion a bottle of Fairy Dish Washing solution and true love wins. Yeah, it’s P&G, but for location and action alone, this should be required viewing in Cincinnati.
TANK turned away from special effects to get across the selling proposition of a well-known, all natural powdered drink, Felix Kannujook 1+4 (one part powder, four parts water). By shooting a box of the product through a curved glass pitcher, they managed to magnify it perfectly. Not a CG in the whole thing.
In a way, there would be a benefit to let the Baltic Advertising Festival stay regional—the local work would develop further. You can’t tell that to them, though. They want to compete on the world stage.
I’m hoping to be back next year to see the next installment.
