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Jotz of Gotz: Cannes Part 2

ChrisCanned Lion

Our Man in Cannes: Musings from Ogilvy Cape Town’s ECD Chris Gotz

Monday morning.

I was late for Malcolm Gladwell, which meant the auditorium was full when I arrived. So, instead I got to see Malcolm Gladwell in the second-prize-for-people-who-are-late auditorium. Malcolm appeared on a 20 m high HD screen and he did not look good. HD is destined to die as a format if famous people ever discover how awful they look in their unadorned, ultra-close-up glory.

Malcolm spoke about the importance of being not first, but third. This of course interests me because we come 3rd in Ad of the Month all the time. Anyhow, turns out that he was talking about how the people who come up with stuff first are hardly ever the ones who really get the rewards. I feel a new book coming on, Malcolm.

Of course, the real story of day 1 was the horde of Shortlists that came out this morning and then the awards ceremony tonight. Yeeehaaa for Ogilvy Joburg who picked up a Bronze Lion in the Promo Awards for POWA. Other SA winners were Joe Public for their Rock 4 Aids work (Silver). I ended up sitting next to the Exec CD of Ogilvy North America. Always wary of someone with an entire continent in their job title, I tried my best to come across as a terribly fascinating person. Not sure if it worked.

South Africa once again dominated the radio category with nearly a quarter of the Shortlists. I’m not sure if that means we are really good at radio or that no-one else is interested. Radio, Outdoor and Media Lions ceremony is tomorrow night. Hopefully we convert a few more Shortlists.

I have just returned from a lavish dinner (3 largish prawns with rice = price of small second-hand car) with the members of the print jury. The invitation came courtesy of my friend Karin who was the SA print judge. Ended up sitting next to the Exec CD of Almap BBDO Sao Paulo, which, for those of you who’ve been locked in a cupboard for the last 5 years, is widely regarded as the best agency on the planet. For the second time in a day I found myself having to come across as incredibly fascinating. It’s getting a bit much.

So, work that stood out today.

Have a look at the Coke "Friendship machine" by our very own Ogilvy Argentina(who were crowned Direct agency of the year). It’s a wonderful piece. Also check out "Spread the Tedx" by Ogilvy Sao Paulo. Then there was 4th Amendment wear which was very smart and quite iwishihaddonethat-ish. Personally I thought the 2 Grand Prix that were given out to the Romanian chocolate bar were really bad choices. Go and have a look for yourselves, maybe you’ll see something I didn’t.

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Jotz of Gotz: Cannes Part 1

ChrisCannes Beachfront

Our Man in Cannes: Musings from Ogilvy Cape Town’s ECD Chris Gotz

Hello. I am in Cannes.

I know this because the men are mostly burnt orange with large gold watches and wearing boat shoes. The women wear flowy-silky expensive-looking kaftans, as if they may be called upon to board a luxury cruise liner at a moment’s notice.There are other people too. They are all much younger with lots of facial hair and seem to be competing in a vast and interconnected game of "my t-shirt is cooler than yours". These are the ad people, who have come from far and wide to this, the first, annual, "Festival of global creativity". This appears to be a feeble and badly disguised attempt by the organizers of the Cannes Advertising Festival to reinvent themselves as a more relevant and globally-impactful event. It seems to have worked. Just a glance at this year’s seminar program will tell you that. Malcom Gladwell is here. Edward de Bono too. Robert Redford is going to talk about storytelling. Jesse Eisenberg is here to talk about social media, not sure why, maybe they think he’s Zuckerberg. Patti Smith and Will.I.am are going to talk about music. Aaron Sorkin is going to talk about writing for TV. Eric Schmidt is going to talk about himself, a lot. And why shouldn’t he.

Cannes is packed to the rafters with celebs. Maybe they just rounded up everyone who was still here after the bloody film festival and gave them a topic and told them to wing it, who knows. Anyhow, all will be revealed soon.

As I write this juries of wise, discriminating and occasionally bitter creatives are sitting in judgement of the world’s best work. Already the Direct and Promo and Activation Shortlists are out. Ogilvy Joburg features twice for the brilliant POWA film. Ogilvy Cape Town once for VW Polo "Sell your car". So we are on the scoreboard folks. Tomorrow we see another flood of Shortlists released, so here’s hoping for more success. I will keep you posted. Although I am sure all the studio folks will be online and tallying up Shortlists long before I give you the lowdown. Anyhow, some very drunk Swedish people are singing loudly below my window, which is making it hard to concentrate. At least, it sounds like Swedish. Unless they are just really, really, really drunk English people. Will let you know tomorrow.

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(Ama)rok ‘n Roll For Ogilvy Interactive

Amarok

Ogilvy Interactive Cape Town scooped a bronze at the 2011 Apex Awards, recently held in Johannesburg, for its integrated digital campaign conceptualised and developed to maximise pre-launch brand awareness around the Volkswagen Amarok pick-up vehicle in South Africa. The digital division of Ogilvy Cape Town was the only digital agency to win an award on the evening – a great accomplishment for both Ogilvy Cape Town as well as Volkswagen SA.

 

The Amarok pre-launch campaign incorporated numerous digital elements such as a branded, interactive micro-site (highly ranked by Google Analytics), an integrated events campaign developed to amplify Volkwagen’s Dakar Rally sponsorship, clever teaser advertising ideas featuring rally legend Sarel van der Merwe, and diligent recording and mining of test drive leads garnered from the micro-site. All in all, it was – in the words of the client: “… an outstanding marketing achievement!”

 

“Ogilvy Interactive Creative Director Nicholas Wittenberg, has for some time now been discussing building intelligence into our digital work,” says Head of Ogilvy Interactive Cape Town, Adrian Varkel. “In other words, using the digital medium to produce hardworking campaigns and using the granular measurability of digital to improve the campaign, which is exactly what we achieved with the Amarok pre-launch campaign and what contributed to its success.”

 

Overall, the Ogilvy Group proudly walked away with six of the 14 awards and one of the two special awards at the Apex Awards; an impressive fourth year in a row the agency has dominated the proceedings.

 

Adding to the Amarok bronze award, Ogilvy Cape Town won silver for the launch of the Volkswagen Polo Vivo, and bronze for the Cadbury Stimorol Infinity campaign. Ogilvy Johannesburg won two silvers on the night; one for the Castle Lager campaign and one for the Selinah HIV/AIDS Topsy Foundation campaign. The latter also winning a special award for the best entry entered for a non profit or charity organisation.