Region wins four awards at Cannes

The region won four awards – one silver and three bronze – at the Cannes International Advertising Festival.

The third night of the annual festival honoured the winners in the Press, Design and Cyber Lions categories.

Most awards in the region went to UAE-based agencies.

Out of the three categories announced at the third night, the regional agencies seemed to excel in press advertising, with a silver and two bronze Lion awards and a bronze in the design category.

Y&R Dubai received a silver Lion award for its campaign for Land Rover.

Another award, a bronze, was also presented to Y&R Dubai for its campaign for Harvey Nichols.

TBWA\Raad Dubai received a bronze medal in the press category for its Beiersdorf Hansaplast campaign.

Creating a first for Saudi Arabia's advertising industry at Cannes, the TBWA\Raad Saudi Arabia team, received the first Saudi Arabian award for advertising for their client Masa (pest control).

Speaking from Cannes, Reda Raad, Group Managing Director, TBWA\Raad Middle East, said: "The Middle East has just added to its Cannes medal haul yet another trophy and it is a testament to the creative culture we are fostering at TBWA\Raad and across our 14 network ad agencies."

A design bronze medal was won by Landor Associates, the UAE, for their campaign on Aswaaq Supermarkets. The third night saw the Press Grand Prix go to Fred and Farid, Paris, for their campaign for Wrangler: 'Dakota 1', 'Dakota 2', 'Dakota on Road', 'Coco White Flare' and 'Coco Crouching'.

Two-year-old Paris agency Fred and Farid, lead by the creative duo, Frederic Raillard and Farid Mokarthas, won a press Grand Prix for its European campaign 'We Are Animals' for Wrangler.

The idea was that people, buried in daily urban life, have lost touch with their animal instincts.

Different executions portrayed young people in nature-filled settings posing as animals in the wild. Some ads show people in Wrangler jeans or denim shirts. In 'Dakota on Road', a woman clad in white jeans only stands in the middle of the road's yellow lines, caught like a deer in approaching headlights. In 'Dakota 1', a woman is submerged in water up to her nose, like a crocodile or a hippo.

In addition to the Grand Prix, the jury presented 11 Gold Lions, 23 Silver and 36 Bronze. In total, the press category included 71 winners out of a shortlisted 290.

Meanwhile, the Design Jury awarded 83 winners out of its 159 shortlisted entries and Cyber saw a total of 208 entries shortlisted with 80 winners awarded.

The Design Grand Prix was awarded to McCann Worldgroup Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, who designed Nike's 'Paper Battlefield' ad.

The campaign is a series of posters made by and featuring the teenage stars of the Nike Basketball League. The posters were designed to capture the energy of basketball competition as well as promote the games.

The design jury, lead by Sylvia Vitale Rotta of Team Creatif, France, cited the campaign for its simplicity, its culture-spanning communication power and for embodying the marketer's brand value, as reported by AdAge, the advertising web-portal. The jury handed out 22 Gold Lions awards, 22 Silver and 38 Bronze.

The Cyber Lions Grand Prix went to CumminsNitro Brisbane for 'The Best Job in the World'.

This is the third Grand Prix bagged by the multi-platform tourism promotion campaign, besides the PR and Direct Grand Prix.

The jury said the digital tied everything in that campaign, took over and ran with the entire campaign.

Joining the Queensland campaign on the Grand Prix stage were Fiat's EcoDrive campaign, out of AKQA, London, in the Website and Interactive Campaigns category, the Online and Other Interactive Digital Media.

Fiat's EcoDrive application allows Fiat owners to monitor their driving techniques and gives them recommendations on how to drive more efficiently.

Viral Advertising Grand Prix was won by the 'Why So Serious?' alternate-reality-games effort for Warner Bros' 'The Dark Knight' from 42 Entertainment. AdAge said jurors praised that campaign for multiple reasons, including its ability to take alternate-reality gaming and storytelling in general to the next level.

Through multiple websites, user-generated content, live events and variety of other vehicles, the game unfolded its own story line parallel to the Batman film during an 18-month period.

They lauded the reach of the campaign.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was presented with the Media Person of the Year Award. A total of 15 gold, 29 silver and 33 bronze were awarded. Interactive Agency of the Year was given to Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francsico.

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