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Judging the Cyber LionsQuinton Mills gives an inside view on the judging of the Cyber Lions at this year's Cannes Advertising Awards. This year there were 1 244 entries in the Cyber Lions category. The 15-member jury was split into three groups and each had their own set of categories to judge so all the judges did not see all the work in the first round of filtering. Our group had 539 entries to cover and the only South African work I saw was for Osram, the VW Bus Tribute, Nando's Street Brawl and Bluebean's "You, 12 hours, R150 000" e-mail campaign. I think our performance this year could be due to many things. The exchange rate does not allow companies to enter as many items as they would like, perhaps eliminating some good work before it is even seen by the jurors. And I suspect that some of the interactive design companies do not enter simply because they are not as 'award ceremony aware' as their advertising and design cousins. From a local point of view, we need to present and produce stronger ideas; agencies need to push their clients harder on good ideas; and clients need to be a little braver. One area that cannot be ignored is that of budgets. If you do not have a reasonable budget, you cannot even consider spending the right amount of time brainstorming good ideas. If you have three days to conceptualise and produce a campaign using photography shot in the studio with a digital camera you are not starting on a good platform. Overall, though, I was happy with the results. The Volvo Grand Prix, in my mind, was the best entry. Fantastic that Volvo advertised the car in a way that only showed you the car online. All the ads directed you to the site - and what a site. So out of the norm for a car site. The production values were top class and you just want to keep going... The other Grand Prix winner, Nike Europe's "Panno Ko", was a great example of listening to your customers. They saw a game being played on the streets, took it in and made it a sport. The website was so different from the other Nike stuff, fresh with street credibility - just like the game. Generally speaking, the medium best practice seems to be taking over from the conventional good advertising idea/concept. Every site needs a game, preferably pinball, and you must be able to send an e-card. A car site is not a car site without being able to configure your own car and order it from the website. About the authorQuintin Mills is the founder of a small design studio in South Africa called Kitsch Design (www.kitschdesign.co.za) specialising in interactive and graphic design projects. Starting off in the advertising industry, Quintin progressed through the ranks becoming an Art Director at TBWA Hunt Lascaris (Johannesburg) before deciding to explore the digital medium. Today, four years after its inception, Kitsch Design is still as passionate as ever and intent on providing practical and creative solutions for its clients. |