The results are in and the news is not good, I’m afraid. UK advertising agencies have failed to win a single gold at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. It’s the second year this has happened and now there’s talk of an industry that isn’t trying, losing its lustre and throwing up work that is simply not good enough.
Our popularity – as a nation, as a whole – isn’t exactly at a premium and we’ve probably been too superior about our creative chops for too long, but these are petty excuses. If British work wasn’t good enough for the big gongs, then it wasn’t good enough.
That’s certainly how Justin Tindall, group executive creative director at Leo Burnett sees it:
“No, we weren’t good enough. We need to do better. It was not a great year last time either. Production [company] wise we are doing really well, but creative agencies didn’t hit the mark.”
This showing is particularly weak when we consider that the UK placed the second highest number of entries, with 275, and our track record at Cannes is historically a good one. Not long ago, the grand prix was pretty much owned by UK agencies. Firms from this country won three years in a row, starting in 2005 with a campaign for PlayStation, then Guinness and Honda. The last UK grand prix winner was Fallon in 2008 for the infamous Cadbury’s Gorilla ad.
So, what has gone so badly wrong since that simian, Phil Collins board-sweeper?
Well, a recession for one thing. When good times turn bad, high concept, brand awareness work tends to be replaced by hard sell, unit shifting campaigns, as clients clamour for cold cash and market share. Of course, there’s no reason this sort of direct response advertising can’t be creatively adventurous, but the concept is suddenly, considerably less important than return on investment.
I know, I know, strong creativity should deliver the desired sales – but the agency has its work cut out, persuading the client to focus on ideas rather than discounts and promotions.
And, let’s be honest, sometimes it is easier to acquiesce to a demand for lowest-common-denominator, quick wins than to jeopardise a lucrative relationship – but that becomes a real problem when the agency’s work is scrutinised in the judging process.
However, this is a challenge facing the global business, and other countries have managed to build ads worthy of awards, regardless of the economic climate. In truth, I guess we’ve just become complacent.
British (and especially London) creative businesses have long enjoyed a worldwide reputation for innovation and excellence, so it’s entirely possible we have begun to imagine the glittering prizes are ours by right. Glowing reputations are hard won however, and even harder to maintain, so when investment and energy drain away from the industry, we are quickly exposed.
If the bar is at a height we are struggling to reach, exactly how high is it? Well, this year’s grand prix went to Nike’s slick World Cup TV ad, “Write The Future”, which featured famous footballers as well as guest stars like Homer Simpson, Roger Federer and Gabriel Garcia Bernal. The clip is from Wieden & Kennedy in the USA, who also picked up the prize in 2010 with Old Spice’s spoofy ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’.
True, Americans placed the most entries, but that aside, it seems they genuinely are leading the way. BBH New York also won a gold with their work for Google Chrome, which ran during the Super Bowl in January. It cost almost £3m for the airtime alone, but the client, chief executive Eric Schmidt, admitted the ad had paid for itself, delivering both high creative standards and return on investment.
This is not simply the preferred model for every campaign in the foreseeable future, it is the only model. Unless we have a burning desire to be seen as also-rans in an industry we have always led. And summed up with the disparaging comment many of us remember from school: ‘Could do better’.
Magnus Shaw, blogger and copywriter
www.magnusshaw.co.uk
www.creativepool.co.uk/magnusshaw
