This is not going to be a long piece as I skipped the third day seminars to spend the day trawling through the shortlists and Lions winner entries along with films which were put after the announcement of the PR, Direct and Promo Lions. A special venue has been created where all the shortlisted, winning work is displayed and it was an educative exercise. More about that later but first to the PR Lions.
Last evening saw the first ever PR Lions being introduced at the 56th International Advertising Festival. The PR Lions are the 11th awards category being introduced. This by itself is a growing recognition of Public Relations and Public Affairs in the overall marketing and business strategy mix. Also, the Lions provide a well recognised and a very highly aspired for platform, which till now was sorely missing. If you don’t know about it yet, visit www.canneslions.com for more.
Overall there were 400 plus entries that were shortlisted down to 30 plus by 18 members of the PR Lions jury. Boy, they were made to work like slaves for 12-14 hour a day for over a week. I know this, as Prema Sagar, Principal & Founder, Genesis Burson-Marsteller was one of them. Although I reached Cannes on Saturday and started attending the Seminars, I met Prema ONLY after the Lions were awarded yesterday, despite the fact that she has been here since the 16th June! Such was the rigour in the process. So really, congratulations to those who took home the Lion, they truly earned it!
I won’t bore you with a long list of winners, I am sure you can get that from the press reports that are being filed by our Indian press contingent (www.exchange4media.com), (www.theeconomictimes.com). They are doing a wonderful job of covering the event. Thanks guys.
So, now back to the shortlists, what struck me as I saw entry after entry was a common theme that ran across most of them and what I learnt about producing great work is:
1. The brief has to be meaningful; the mission of the programme to influence ‘real change’.
2. The campaign has to be built around a ‘central idea’, which is created through the depth of ‘insights’.
3. The idea has to be able to ‘stand apart’. It needs to be ‘creative’, ‘innovative’, ‘powerful’ yet simple.
4. The activation has to be engaging. It’s about getting people involved.
5. The activation has to be without boundaries: internet, mobile, ATL, BTL and press exposures.
6. The results have to ‘measurable’ and ‘meaningful’.
After the awards, I asked Prema, as a member of the jury – “what did the judges look for?” She said, “A simple idea, executed well, that made a real difference!”
Simple, yet Powerful.
Think it over.
Tags: advertising festival, Brand Communication, cannes, cannes lion, cannes lions, cannes lions 2009 festival, cannes lions winners, Corporate Communication, international advertising festival, PR Lions, Public Affairs, Public Relations, public relations campaigns
-
Vikas Sharma
