The Aussie Cannes Lions haul is the lowest in four years – so do we suck at creativity?
Australia took home the least Cannes Lions from Cannes in four years, but it’s the categories there was success in which tells the real story argues Mumbrella editor Alex Hayes.
It’s probably quite telling that the first thing I saw about this year’s Cannes Lions after ending a two-week media blackout yesterday was that tweet of a couple getting it on on the red carpet at the Palais.
Telling because there hasn’t exactly been a lot to shout about for the reporters who made the 24-hour journey to the south of France from an awards perspective – just 59 overall and not a Grand Prix amongst them.
In the last few years Australia has been the darling of the festival, seen as the plucky outsider punching well above its weight, largely buoyed by campaigns like Dumb Ways to Die (2013), GayTMs (2014), Best Job in the World (2009) and Share a Coke (2012).
Last year Aussies grabbed 69 awards, and the year before that 87 (largely boosted by the outstanding performance of Dumb Ways to Die which got five Grand Prix on its own), while in 2012 we managed 59 Lions, and 2011 saw us take home 35 trophies, although there are several more categories now than there were back then.
Those raw numbers don’t look great for Australia, but are things that bad? It could be argued the drop off points to there being a lack of an appetite for creativity from our marketers.
But I’d argue not. You see for my money the categories Aussies are doing best in are the ones that are the most relevant to the marketing industry today, and most importantly tomorrow.
The Lions have faced criticism for years that the current structure of the awards and the fact they are handed to isolated mediums (Print, Film, Outdoor etc) instead of holistic campaigns, but has been loathe to change the very lucrative formula for a variety of reasons.
M&C Saatchi’s Clever Buoy was this year’s standout achiever for Australia and is a good example of the new world order, picking up one of only five gongs handed out in the coveted Titanium category which celebrates “breakthrough ideas which are provocative and point to a new direction in the industry” and the Innovation category as well.
Some have commented on this site asking if it’s a legitimate campaign, mainly because it’s still a prototyped product (although M&C insists it is still very much working on making it a viable product). But it’s the very fact it doesn’t fit neatly into many Lions categories which makes it so interesting. It had success in PR, Mobile and the unfortunately named Cyber categories as well – three which are becoming more important every year.
What will be interesting to see is what M&C can come up with next to back up this work and prove its credentials next year.
Saatchi & Saatchi’s Penny the Pirate work for OPSM followed up a solid year last year with a Bronze in the Creative Effectiveness category – showing creative agencies can turn their hands to media executions successfully. It also scooped a Gold in Innovation.
And in the new Creative Data category Leo Burnett Sydney’s Run this Town game scored a Gold, the highest award handed out this year in the category, showing Aussies can mix it on the global stage in that increasingly important field. Tellingly there was no Grand Prix handed out in that category by the jury.
This year just one campaign won in Print with entries for that category dropping considerably from around the world, as the medium continues to face a tough time. As we decided not to attend Cannes we couldn’t get access to the press centre to see how many Aussie entries there were – but I’d wager they had also declined.
More concerning is the performance in the Outdoor category – another that saw a decline in entries this year – with just one campaign from Down Under picking up a Lion in that category. Australia has won the Grand Prix in for the last two years courtesy of Dumb Ways and GayTMs, and the outdoor industry has work to do to persuade marketers and agencies to up their creativity if they want to hit their ambitious growth targets.
Mobile is also on agencies and marketers would do well to put an increased focus on.
There’s no argument about the importance of creativity in the ad industry, and for many Cannes is the biggest global benchmark of that. It’d be easy to see the substantial drop off in awards as an indication Australia is slipping behind in that field – but for my money our marketers are enjoying success in the areas that really matter.
Ultimately most CEOs aren’t worried about gathering a few doorstops in the sun, but on the bottom line of their businesses. M&C, Saatchis and Leos have all created campaigns that got noticed inside the industry, but more important is the attention they are getting outside the industry – with consumers.
Just think, while the industry will probably remember the Cannes Lions 2015 for the controversy around who created a little metal fish to put in cooking pots in Cambodia, the rest of the world will only remember it for the copulating couple on the red carpet.
- Alex Hayes is editor of Mumbrella
> This year just one campaign won in Print
I find it weird you don’t mention how Mumbrella prosecuted a high-profile campaign against scam print ads at Cannes last year. Maybe the drop is a sign you had an impact.
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Cannes Lions is like FIFA.
People want to win one to advance careers. The best way to win any award is to work on something that has an inbuilt powerful story or issue. This year the prevailing issue was gender equality.
But do a quick scan and most of the big winners were for a variety of social causes. Or they were brands using social causes to uplift the brand.
Somehow Under Armour managed to win an award by making Giselle. Bundchen look like a victim! Self important tommy rot! A grand prix? Someone has to call bullshit or is Droga that powerful? Like Sepp Blatter?
And I may be alone…but the clever buoy thing is a bit of scam. Wtf is a prototype?
And besides people in the US call Buoys not “boys”…but “boowees”. So clever boowees doesn’t quite scan for mine.
Australia needs to lead the charge for legit brands. Not just the easy downhill stuff. Brands that live or die by selling and moving products not just conversation.
And do we really need another worthy Dove camapign? As a women….no thanks.
If advertising feels the need to cleanse itself from dirty commercialism, then perhaps terrorism should be the social issue to confront.
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Hi Tim,
Unfortunately we can’t tell how many Aussie Print campaigns were entered to Cannes as we haven’t got access to those numbers so it’d be tough to make that claim in the piece justifiably. Certainly if it did stop scam work being entered then that’s a good thing.
Cheers,
Alex – editor, Mumbrella
Hard to track that print stuff….in’it?
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Next year I am entering my time machine into the product innovation category.
It’s a cracker of an idea – never done before in fact – so I am sure it will pick up some ‘metal’ in the titanium category, and with any luck “PR, Mobile and the unfortunately named Cyber” categories too.
It hasn’t actually happened yet, but I am “very much working on making it a viable product” after I win at all advertising award shows.
[And the industry wonders why it has a credibility problem. When my time machine prototype starts working, and I promise it will, I’m going back to uni and becoming an accountant.]
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Go home Mumbrella, you’re drunk.
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The reactionary headline is really unnecessary. You don’t have to fall to the same standard as Fairfax.
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Just because we ain’t winning, doesn’t mean we have to be a bad loser.
Show some respect to the finest work and the highest standard (so far) in the creative world.
And remember Mumbrella positioned itself as an insider of the industry, so really rest of the world is not why we come here.
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And a few local wins look very scammy indeed. Perhaps another investigation Mumbrella?
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As a member of the jury for Cannes Mobile Lions this year I can tell you that the creative standard of entries was exceptional. Australia didn’t have a vintage year but then again our region is going to find it harder and harder to compete with big US agencies inventing brands and services, then packaging them immaculately to win awards like Cannes. The rigour of judging was surprisingly tough. All the voting is done electronically with patriotic country voting or voting up networks etc, monitored and flagged to the organisers.
Also, shock horror, we READ the submissions AND the results as well as judge the brilliance of the idea.
The fact that Australia won anything is worth celebrating because just making the shortlist is an award in itself.
Another big trend is that it’s not just agencies entering the show these days. Google and Clients are directly entering their thinking too.
It’s always subjective with creativity as to what should win Grand Prix, gold etc, but always worth looking at the bronze and silver winners as they often are great ideas too.
#justsayin
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Campaign Brief has the total of Aussie Lions for this year at 42.
Which is it?
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