JWT - WPP’s top agency in Cannes.

Published on June 26, 2008 in the work. 0 Comments

As we’ll soon see at the Beijing Olympics, there are no medals for 4th place. But let’s not be too hard on ourselves. Over the past few years JWT has climbed up the Cannes leaders board from 15th in 2004 with a total of 7 Lions to 4th place in 2008 with 39 Lions including a Grand Prix in Direct and a Gold for integrated campaign. No other agency has ever managed that kind of ascent. This year we finished behind BBDO, DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi and ahead of Ogilvy, Leo Burnett and TBWA - see the table below. That makes us WPP’s best creative act at Cannes this year. More pleasing still is the fact that JWT won Lions in every category at the festival.

Cannes 2008

Pictured: Raj Nair-Creative Director Contract Mumbai, Agnello Dias -Chief Creative Officer, JWT India, Piyush Pandey - Chairman and Creative Chief of Ogilvy India and former Cannes Film and Press President, and yours truly.

JWT Mumbai top scored for us with 7 Lions (1GP, 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze, 9 Shortlisted), Sydney was second with 6 Lions (1G, 2S, 3B, 8SL), San Jose in Costa Rica third equal (1G,3S) with Barcelona (4S, 2SL) and JWT London 5th (1G, 2B, 5SL).

cannes table

Now let me colour these numbers in with a little backstory. JWT Mumbai, led by Agnello Dias, made history in winning India’s first ever Cannes Grand Prix and achieved another first with the first Integrated Lion for India. Christian Caldwell and his team created history for Costa Rica winning their country’s first Gold Lion and were the 4th most awarded agency in all of South America (source Adlatina).

There will be more detail on our performance at Cannes over the next few days and I will make sure that all JWT’s Lion winners are here for you to see very soon. For now, savour the moment, feel pleased with yourselves and please do all you can to keep our great creative momentum going.

Gold Press Lions for JWT Sydney & Contract Mumbai

Published on June 19, 2008 in the work. 0 Comments

Congratulations to JWT Sydney and Contract Mumbai for winning Gold Lions last night in the Press category.
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JWT MUMBAI WIN THE FIRST EVER GRAND PRIX LION FOR INDIA WITH LEAD INDIA

Published on June 17, 2008 in the work. 0 Comments

Huge congratulations to Agnello Dias, Colvyn Harris and the team behind Lead India for winning big on the first night of awards at the 2008 Cannes Advertising Festival, with JWT Mumbai taking home this year’s Direct Grand Prix for Lead India. They’ve made their country and JWT very proud. If you haven’t seen this remarkable campaign yet, then take a look at the film JWT India cut together about it. To quote Nishad Ramachandran of Contract India, who was on the Direct jury, it’s clear that this idea is neither above nor below the line. It is beyond the line…

JWT Mumbai also picked up a Bronze in Promo for Stretch Festival and Contract New Delhi won a Silver and a Bronze Lion in Direct for Children of the World.

JWT COSTA RICA AND JWT LONDON WIN GOLD LIONS

Published on June 17, 2008 in cannes and the work. 0 Comments

Congratulations to Christian Caldwell and his team, who walked away with a Gold Lion and two Silver Lions in Direct for JWT Costa Rica’s campaign “Do It With A Car” created for Nelka Rent-a-Car. Poking fun at the nation’s pothole-filled roads, the campaign hinged on the idea that “if you drive through Costa Rica, do it with a car that’s not yours.” A judges’ favorite, some on the jury had considered it for the Grand Prix, but in the end, a majority rallied around “Lead India. This is another first - the first ever Cannes Lion for Costa Rica.

Well done to JWT London for winning a Gold Lion and a Bronze Lion in Direct. Congratulations to Jonathan Budds and Anita Davis and all the talented people from JWT London involved with creating MTV’s Anti-Slavery campaign.

JWT BARCELONA WIN A SILVER FOR KEY TO RESERVA

Published on June 17, 2008 in the work. 0 Comments

And last but by no means least, a big congratulations to Alex Martinez and JWT Barcelona for winning a Silver Lion in Promo for Freixenet’s The Key to Reserva.

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User Generated Content meets TQM

Published on June 3, 2008 in Nestle and ice cream. 0 Comments

The dark fear of advertising creatives is that some kid with nothing more than a cheap camera and Mac ProTools - a kid who doesn’t even work in this business, for crying out loud -makes a short video that happens to feature a product, and he/she slaps it up on YouTube and the next thing you know, it’s headline news on AdAge.

Although it rarely happens that way because it’s usually too much for the user, of user- generated content fame, to create an entire film from scratch. Not because users aren’t extremely clever people and capable of great things, but because there has always been a paucity of the kind of genius that can write, produce, star in and upload advertising content from start to finish, and do it all brilliantly.

But JWT Paris saw a way to turn the Spielbergian fantasies of who-knows-how-many generations into an opportunity to create a web-based editing suite with a choice of footage, music and dialogue, and see what kind of three-minute film they come up with.

The basic footage suggests suspense, mystery, conflict. It’s 1:29 AM. Betty Spooner’s sleeping. The phone rings. She listens, reaches for her keys. Now she’s driving in an ancient sedan. Does she react to the laughing man? Pick up Joe, the grizzled cop? Or is Joe already in the car?

There’s a nasty couple from a shady organization. And scenes in a hanger. Disagreement? A fight? An exchange? Choices, choices!

The music: You pick the music you think is appropriate for each scene. The range is vast: eleven themes, from traditional thriller and romance to disco, opera and banjo.

The most dazzling element: the dialogue. You type the characters’ lines and a voice program converts binary information to speech.

Because professionals have filmed the elements, you can’t make a bad choice - every completed film is a winner. And every film includes one great image that resolves the story. For when that all-important briefcase is opened, the object that was worth all this trouble has to be a Nestlé Extreme ice cream.

The ice cream can be everyone’s reward. But it’s far from the only one. Finish your edit, design a poster and upload your film- and now you’re in a contest. After a jury chooses a winner, it will get the full Hollywood – oops, Paris treatment, with real actors speaking the dialogue. Then it will be shown this summer in a dozen theaters on Champs-Élysées.

Because it’s a considerable time commitment to complete a film, expectations were modest. The hope was 600 entries in six weeks. The reality was 1200 films in the first two weeks.

So the introductory line had it right: the characters in this movie try to manipulate one another. But you, the viewer, the editor - you’re the one who manipulates us all.

And there are plenty of us who find that power seductive.

We like to think they’ll go on to cast Nestle Extreme ice cream in the documentary of their daily lives.

www.extreme-studio2cine.fr

Google Zeitgeist

Published on June 2, 2008 in conference, google, gordon brown, mia rose, queen ranier and zeitgeist. 0 Comments

When it comes to assembling an inspiring line up of speakers Google knows no peer. I was lucky enough to be invited to Zeitgeist two weeks ago for the second year running and came away having heard Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of England, Queen Rania of Jordan, Sir Salman Rushdie, the original Googlers, Sergey and Larry, Chad Hurley from You Tube and a raft of other extraordinary over-achievers. This video gives you a glimpse of the inner workings of this two day event (ignore the golf) and provides some sense of the prevailing atmosphere - that between Google and the people in the room, there is nothing that can’t be done. Google’s mantra of “do no evil” seemed to pale alongside the desire to actually make the world a better place. It’s no simple matter reconciling the economy, the human condition and the biosphere. But JWT needs to be a part of pioneering this future and there’s a role for us in helping our clients navigate a path between growth, greed and generosity as we reach a point where marketing meets, quite literally, the meaning of life. If any of you have a view about the role of brands going forward, or this video sparks any other thoughts, please don’t be shy. Post your musings here.

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