Taxi Toronto for Viagra (Case History, 2002/2011) – If you want a Lion, talk to your doctor
Posted: May 29, 2012 Filed under: Agency, Awards, Canada, Cannes Lions, TV/Film | Tags: antiquing, apologies, beep, Cannes Lions, Case History, Clive Desmond, Darren Clarke, funny, gold lion, good morning, Jason Hill, Lance Martin, Michael Murray, Pfizer, reading, Ron Smrczeck, strolling, talk to your doctor, Taxi Toronto, the international language of viagra, TV/Film, Viagra, wombleminki, wubbleflaps, Zac Mroueh Leave a comment »
In their January 2002 press release Pfizer, the producer of Viagra, announced that they were ready to market the antidote to male erectile dysfunction in Canada. Pfizer commissioned Taxi Toronto to provide their angle on the campaign for Viagra. They had to overcome perceptions built up by jokes on late night comedy shows. They had to show that this drug was likely to benefit not just old men and sex fanatics but ordinary men. They aimed at visibility, universality, subtlety and vitality. In doing so they had to be careful not to say a single word about Viagra as a product because of the Canadian laws on pharmaceutical advertising.
Viagra (2002) – GOOD MORNING
The ad starts with an energetic man on his way to work with the soundtrack of “Good morning” from the musical “Singing in the rain.” He bounces down the footpath, past the white picket fence, past the postie and neighbours, hops down the hop skip and jump game, slam dunks a basketball, dances past Mario’s barber’s shop, bounds up the stairs from the train, chases the pigeons, leap frogs the Journal newspaper, cartwheels up to the front door of his office. As he walks into the lift/elevator the word “Viagra” appears on screen, with the encouragement to “Talk to your doctor”.
Creative Team: Alan Madill and Terry Drummond
Production Company: Avion Films
Director: Martin Granger
Viagra (2003) – CHAMPIONS
Queen’s track: “We are the champions” plays as a man bursts through his front door with arms raised. He joins others in the street in the kind of spontaneous celebration that takes after a world cup victory. The viagra pill supers on screen. We understand the real cause for celebration
Creative Team: Alan Madill and Terry Drummond
Production Company: Avion Films
Director: Martin Granger
Viagra (2005) – OFFICE/COACH/GOLF/ELEVATOR
A constant single non-musical tone completely drowns out a conversation. You see a man drop an amazing put and still he continues to tell his friend about his morning under this tone, while a Viagra logo appears over his mouth. Chuckles are heard. Talk to your doctor.
Creative Director: Zac Mroueh, Lance Martin
Copywriter: Irfan Khan
Art Director: Ron Smrczek
Production Company: The Partner Film Company, Toronto
Director: Joakim Back
Gold Lion for the Campaign
Viagra (2007) – WOMBLEMINKI/WUBBLEFLAPS
In Canada, ad drug regulations prevented us from talking about the benefits of Viagra. So we decided to show people talking in a made-up language that was punctuated with the word Viagra.
Executive Creative Director: Tom Goudie
Creative Director: Zac Mroueh, Ron Smrczeck
Copywriter: Michael Murray
Art Director: Jason Hill
Production Company: Partizan, Toronto
Director: Eric Lynne
Gold Lion & Silver Lion for the Campaign
Viagra (2008) – DENISE/VIVIAN/BOBBY/MICHELLE
In Canada, drug regulations prevent us from saying what a product does. Yet our brief was to communicate that Viagra equals great sex. So we created the Viagra Intermission- the sexiest Intermission the world has ever seen.
Executive Creative Director: Terry O’Reilly, Chris Tait
Creative Director: Ron Smrczeck
Copywriter: Michael Murray
Art Director: Jason Hill
Production Company: Radke Film Group, Toronto
Director: Eric Lynne
Shortlist
Viagra (2009) – ANTIQUING/READING/STROLLING
When couples stop having sex, they start filling that void with other activities. And while ‘couple’ activities like antiquing, strolling, reading and watching sports seem harmless at first, they can end up taking over couples’ lives. Viagra helps them get back to just having sex again. The campaign uses outdoor/print to raise awareness of these sex replacement activities. And the television spots share stories of couples who took their activities too far. With the help of Viagra, they were able to find their way back to the bedroom. Follow-up commercials ask couples if they too suffer from chronic ‘activities’.
Executive Creative Director: Darren Clarke, Clive Desmond
Creative Director: Ron Smrczeck
Copywriter: Stefan Wegner, Nathan Monteith
Art Director: Nathan Monteith, Stefan Wegner
Production Company: Soft Citizen
Director: The Perlorian Brothers
Gold Lion for the Campaign
Viagra (2011) – VIAGRA APOLOGIES
When men take Viagra having sex becomes the priority, so it’s no surprise they want to spend ‘quality time’ with their wives. Unfortunately, this can come at the expense of missing some scheduled time with their buddies.
Just so there’s no hard feelings, Viagra has given these men an opportunity to apologize to their friends.
Executive Creative Director: Steve Mykolyn
Creative Director: Darren Clarke
Copywriter: Mark Lewis
Art Director: Nicole Ellerton
Production Company: Go Film
Director: Christopher Guest
Bronze Lion
Villarrosas Barcelona for Honda (2007/2008) – The Power of Dreams (Imported from Spain)
Posted: May 11, 2012 Filed under: Agency, Animation, Art, Cannes Lions, Car, Graphic, Graphic Design, Illustration, Press/Outdoor, Spain, TV/Film | Tags: Animation, Barcelona, Brosmind, dreaming about, Fernando Codina, gold lion, Honda, Landscapeometer, Michele Salati, Nacho Gayan, Oriol Villar, the power of dreams, Villarrosas Leave a comment »Honda Motors – Dreaming about Campaign (2007)
Creative Director: Oriol Villar/Fernando Codina
Illustrator/Typographer: Brosmind
Gold Lion and Silver Lion for the campaign
Honda ACC – Starlings (2007)
Campaign to present the latest technological innovation by Honda, ACC. A system that allows you to keep your distance from the vehicle in front.
Creative Director: Oriol Villar/Fernando Codina
Copywriter: Miguel Angels Alizalde
Production Company: Agosto, Barcelona
Director: Nacho Gayan
Shortlist
Honda CR-V – Landscapeometer (2008)
The idea is to replace the numbers of a odometer with images of landscapes because with the Honda CR-V you don’t cover miles, you experience them.
Creative Director: Oriol Villar/Fernando Codina
Art Director: Michele Salati
Production Company: Agosto, Barcelona
Director: David Ruiz
Honda CR-V – Landscapeometer/Internet Film (2008)
SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicle) are very appreciated by the consumer because of their versatility. However, although their technology has evolved a lot, SUVs are still less efficient on asphalt. Honda engineers designed the new CR-V with the idea to get a SUV with real on-road performance – basically because it is where consumers cover the biggest part of the kilometers.
So the communication objective was to present a car made to enjoy any kind of travel from the beginning till the end and to do it with the specific Honda’s tone of voice: human and passionate. The idea behind this internet commercial is to replace the numbers of a mileometer with images of landscapes because with the Honda CR-V you don’t cover miles, you experience them.
Creative Director: Oriol Villar/Fernando Codina
Art Director: Michele Salati
Production Company: Villarrosas, Barcelona
Director: Brosmind
C&A/Clothing Retail Stores – Father’s Day
Posted: March 19, 2012 Filed under: Ambient, Belgium, Case History, Press/Outdoor, Promotion | Tags: best use of outdoor, C&A, Clothing Retail Stores, DDB Belgium, Father's Day, gold lion, Outdoor, Promotion Leave a comment »
The Brief
For Father’s Day, C&A presented an original idea to its clients – on the purchase of an adult-size garment, an identical child-size item was offered free.
The Creative Execution
We therefore created small bus-shelter posters along with the large ones. In the large format there was a father and, in the small one, his similarly-dressed son. This action took place close to C&A shops.
Results
From the first day, C&A was out of stock on certain articles. The national press was in uproar about this action. For the first time in 10 years, C&A was ahead of H&M in terms of overall reputation.
Advertising Agency: DDB BELGIUM, Brussels
Creative Director: Jean-Charles della Faille
Art Director: Julien Thiry
Copywriter: Bertrand Gascard
Year: 2006
Gold Lion (Best Use of Outdoor)
LG SolarDOM Microwave – Seafood Aquarium
Posted: November 17, 2011 Filed under: Ambient, Cannes Lions, Case History, Thailand | Tags: Ambient, Deep-fried Shrimp, Fried Mackerel, gold lion, Grilled Saba, LG SolarDOM Microwave, ready to eat, Seafood Aquarium, Y&R Leave a comment »
Objective: to launch LG SolarDom with its selling point: “The new microwave that can cook food faster.”.
Creative Solution: we create robotic-seafood in multiple varieties that you can cook in our microwave. We selected one of the biggest department stores in South East Asia as the scene for our creative solution. This fish tank is located within the food court. We let Grilled Saba with Soya, Fried Mackerel and Deep-fried Shrimp swim like real fish in a tank inside the food court. With the headline – “Ready to eat. LG Solardom cooks food 4 times faster.” This clearly demonstrated our idea that the LG SolarDom can cook food faster so it’s like taking fresh fish out of a tank and eating it right away.
Results: the electronic section within the department store saw 60% increase in consumer inquiries.
Advertising Agency: Y&R Thailand
Chief Creative Officer: Trong Tantivejakul, Marcus Rebeschini
Executive Creative Director: Jon Chalermwong
Art Director: Somchok Kunjaethong
Copywriter: Parist Auttayatamavittaya
Year: 2011
Gold Lion
Asahi Newspaper – The Asahi Newspaper Moves
Posted: October 19, 2011 Filed under: Best Use of Print, Cannes Lions, Case History, Direct, Japan | Tags: Asahi Newspaper moves, Dentsu, gold lion, Japan, Media lions, movement, paper, the moving ad Leave a comment »
The Asahi Shimbun, the top share newspaper in Japan, renews greatly its layout and figure. To communicate the “movement” we made all the ads on the paper move. Most readers watched the advertising much longer than usual (about 20min per person) because of the surprise that the newspaper ad moved and the accuracy of the movement.
The Moving Ad told both of the renewal of Asahi Shimbun and what clients (of Asahi Shimbun) want to say at the same time.
As a result, the Moving Ad was watched by 1.3 million families of the reader and attracted the attention from over 100 of internet media like blogs, SNS, videos on Youtube and TV news.
Advertising Agency: Dentsu Kansai, Osaka
Executive Creative Director: Takaaki Yamazaki
Creative Director: Jurichi Harima
Art director: Mamoru Ichino
Year: 2008
Gold Lion
BETC Euro RSCG for Canal+ | Never underestimate the power of a great creativity
Posted: October 12, 2011 Filed under: Cannes Lions, Copywriting, France, Press/Outdoor, TV/Film | Tags: action, animated, Baker Smith, Benjamin Sanial, BETC Euro RSCG, black bands, Brokeback Mountain, bronze lion, Canal +, Canal pus, Cannes Lions, car bomb exploding, carlos, closet, David Troquier, Eric Astorgue, Flowchart, France, Fredrik Bond, funny, gold lion, Gregory Ferembach, Harvest, horror, huffing, Jean-Cristophe Royer, Les Graphiquants, Luc Rouzier, Mafia, March of Emperor, Matthijs van Heijningen, Nathalie Dupont, parody, Partizan, paul bearman, Pierre Riess, porn, Press, puffing, radical media, Raphael Halin, Romain Guillon, Santa Monica, silver lion, Stephane Xiberras, The bear, The Glue Society, the inclination, tick, trailer, TV/Film, Versailles, Visigoths, Wanda productions, Wilfrid Brimo, Xavier Gianolli Leave a comment »VISIGOTHS/BLACK BANDS
A spectacular battle scene between two tribes, featuring thousands of warriors. We are on a film set. The take has to be re-shot, which will help us understand why actors are so good at playing dead.
This is a humorous spot revealing that the black bands you often see within the television viewing box are actually created, they are not the filming format which has not been adapted to the televisio
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Marc Rosier
Art Director: Jean Marc Tramoni
Production: Premiere Heure/Harvest, Santa Monica
Director: Baker Smith
Year: 2003
Shortlist
MARCH OF EMPEROR
March of the penguins but with actual emperor’s not emperor penguins.
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Pierre Riess/Luc Rouzier
Art Director: Romain Guillon/Eric Astorgue
Production: @radical.media, New York
Director: Glue Society
Year: 2006
Gold Lion
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
A woman tells her friend about a really good film that she had seen on CANAL+ ‘Brokeback Mountain.’ From this description, her friend interprets a totally different, totally absurd, scenario.
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Production Partizan, Paris
Director: Les Elvis
Year: 2007
Shortlist
HOLD UP
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Nathalie Dupont
Art Director: Francis de Ligt
Production Company: Sonny PH
Director: Fredrik Bond
Year: 2008
Shortlist
VERSAILLES/MAFIA
We are taken back in time to a period film set in the Chateau de Versailles where the characters are all bizarrely huffing and puffing through their lines. Final scene cuts to a woman jogging, recounting the plot to another woman, and huffing and puffing as she recounts it. The signature reveals “CANAL+ Movies are made to be seen”
We see a stereotypical scene from a mafia movie where all the characters have a strange tick. Final scene cuts to a boy recounting the plot to his friend, constantly flicking his hair as he does so. The signature reveals “CANAL+ Movies are made to be seen”
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Nathalie Dupont
Art Director: Francis De Ligt
Production Company: Irene, Paris
Director: Xavier Gianolli
Year: 2009
Shortlist
CLOSET
Canal+ launched its new ‘Original Creativity’ campaign in September 2009. The objective highlight to Canal+’s showcase of original programming, consisting of series, documentaries and fictions, created exclusively by and for Canal+, scripted by prestigious writers such as Olivier Marchal and Jean- Hugues Anglade. To launch this new campaign, we produced THE CLOSET. The film unites quality, humour, originality and a touch of impertinence inherent to the brand’s communications: ‘Never underestimate the power of a great story’.
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Jean-Cristophe Royer
Art Director: Eric Astorgue
Production Company: Soixan7e Quin5e, Paris
Director: Matthijs van Heijningen
Year: 2010
Gold Lion and 2 Bronze Lions
THE INCLINATION (IPHONE)
The agency created a campaign that fits in with the advertising success story of Canal+: diving into the world of TV programmes with the now classic disrupting phenomenon, played out here through the characteristic functionalities of the iPhone. In the TV ad, it is the iPhoneʼs trademark tipping to the side into landscape format that completely disrupts the romantic scene of a great Hollywood film. A couple are about to kiss, when suddenly the entire set falls over to one side.
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Benjamin Sanial
Art Director: Raphael Halin
Production Company: Moonwalk Film, Paris
Director: The Glue Society
Year: 2011
Shortlist
CARLOS
The trailer begins with a car bomb exploding. As the clip goes backwards we discover that the scene takes place in the middle of a tranquil Paris. Ending with a characteristic “Tick Tock” sound the trailer is designed to intrigue the viewer to watch the series and find out more about the character behind the bomb – Carlos – the terrorist who threatened the world. We wanted to pitch the right tone, a suitably sober approach across all media, to avoid controversy and to avoid falling into the trap of eulogising a character that is, after all, a murderer.
Creative Director: Stephane Xiberras
Copywriter: Charles Lefort
Art Director: Viken Guzel
Production Company: Wanda, Paris
Director: Wilfrid Brimo
Year: 2011
Bronze Lion
FLOWCHART CAMPAIGN: ACTION/ANIMATED/HORROR/PORN/SHORT FILM
Learn how to deal with tight budgets, hung over cameramen, actors not showing up and grumpy directors. TV Channel, Canal+ supports those who make movies simply because making a movie isn’t easy.
Executive Creative Director: Stéphane Xiberras
Creative Director: Olivier Apers
Art Directors / Copywriters: Gregory Ferembach, David Troquier
Illustrator: Les Graphiquants
Year: 2011
Silver Lion for the Campaign
THE BEAR
Canal+ has always been committed to cinema. It is more than a mere broad- caster. It has always sought to go the extra mile for its subscribers and portray the film industry as no one else has done: emphasising the diversity of the genres, deciphering current and future trends, empowering actors and directors, and in general, transmitting the passion of all those who work in the film industry to its subscribers.
Thanks to its varied and cutting-edge program- ming – from blockbus- ters to art films. Thanks to the unique, quality insight that it provides into what goes on in front and behind the camera. Thanks to the unique ties that it maintains with the film industry (Studio CANAL, partnerships, financing, Cannes Festival, the César awards, etc.).
Canal+ and BETC have now come up with a film, The Bear, to remind audiences of the channel’s continuing commitment: to transmit the passion of film- making to its subscribers.
The more you watch Canal+, the more you love cinema.
To make this film, BETC chose to work with Matthjis van Heijningen, who also directed The Closet, which was the most awarded film in 2010 (The Gunn Report).
The tone remains unique, enhanced by the use of 3D to make the bear as expressive as possible. The same creative team, which worked on The Closet, Éric Astorgue and Jean-Christophe Royer, under the supe vision of President and Chief Creative Officer of BETC, Stéphane Xiberras, once again contribute to the distinguishing tone that is so familiar about the ma- jor advertising campaigns of Canal+.
Global Creative Director: Stéphane Xiberras
Art Director: Eric Astorgue, Julien Schmitt
Copywriter: Jean-Christophe Royer
Production Company: Soixante Quinze
Director: Matthijs Van Heijningen
Year: 2011
Wild Bird Society of Japan – Voice of endangered wild birds
Posted: October 10, 2011 Filed under: Ambient, Cannes Lions, Case History, Direct, Japan, Promotion, Social | Tags: albums, Beacon Communicatons, gold lion, Japan, ounds of endangered wild birds, Promotion, retro vynil, Tokyo record stores, vynal records, Wild Bird Society of Japan 3 Comments »
Brief: to create a sense of urgency around the extinction of endangered wild birds in Japan (Japanese red-crown crane, stork, albatross and yellow-breasted bunting).
Idea: we thought the best way to value these wonderful birds was to not just see them but actually be able to hear them. However, to get their beautiful songs in front of a younger target we needed a contemporary and relevant execution. So we went out and actually sampled the bird’s songs and mixed them into contemporary dance tracks. The tracks were then pressed into retro vinyl and placed in hip Tokyo record stores. Each endangered bird was given their own album with the quantity equaling the estimated number of that species left.
To create awareness with the younger Japanese generation of the many endangered birds species in Japan, we created the “Sounds of endangered wild birds” albums. The music was created by actually sampling the unique bird songs. We then pressed retro vinyl records and put them in the shelves at records shop in the young areas of Shibuya. We placed the same number of albums as the actual number of each bird left in Japan.
Results: although the number released was limited, the idea attracted the attention of local DJs. These artists have been purchasing the album and playing it in clubs throughout Tokyo which has been a successful tool in spreading the extinction message. In addition, the proceeds of the sales are used to further fund the endangered bird project.
Advertising Agency: Beacon Communicatons, Tokyo
Executive Creartive Director: Whit Friese
Creative Director: Hidekazu Sato
Copywriter: Haruo Yoshida
Year: 2008
Gold Lion
Knorr Cupsoup – Frosty Window
Posted: October 7, 2011 Filed under: Ambient, Cannes Lions, Case History, Guerilla, Japan | Tags: Ambient, cupsoup, Frosty window, gold lion, Guerilla, Hakuhodo, Japan, Knorr, stickers, train Leave a comment »
Brief and strategy
The communication goal was to establish, both literally and figuratively, a warmer connection between Knorr and Japanese customers, enhancing Knorr’s brand image. Because the budget for the campaign was quite small, we needed to make big impact through a surprising campaign. The insight is timeless: when people are cold, they want something warm to eat and drink. With that insight in mind, we also sought a touch point where the target could ponder the pleasure of warm soup on a cold day, without shivering in the cold. We aimed to give people a true sensation of sitting next to a cup of warm soup on a cold winter day.
Creative Executions
Our media choice was unique: train windows. Our creative material was special stickers that, when placed on the windows, gave the impression of condensation caused by a streaming cup of soup. In the midst of the “condensation” apparently written with a finger, was the product message. We placed these ads in a cold, snowy region during the winter, so the real landscape beyond the train windows became part of the creative, too. Using train windows as the medium offered us two key advantages. First, passengers had to move from the cold outdoors to get into the warm train, so the sensations of cold and warm were fresh in their minds. Second, during a train ride, passengers spend much time observing their surroundings. The unique creative stirred people’s curiosity, becoming a topic of conversation inside the cars. Many passengers used cellphones to take pictures of it.
Results
With a budget of only US $10,000 for creative, production and media, we exposed this advertising to approximately 600,000 passengers. Since passengers interacted with the creative intimately, the campaign had the desired effect of establishing a warmer bond between the Knorr brand and its customers.
Advertising Agency: Hakuhodo, Tokyo
Creative Director: Mutsumi Bando
Creative: Makoto Fujita
Year: 2005
Gold Lion
Sydsvenskan Daily News – The First Media Choice
Posted: October 5, 2011 Filed under: Cannes Lions, Case History, Direct, Sweden | Tags: Direct, direct mail, gold lion, malmo, newspaper, Sydsvenskan Daily News, the fan club, The First Media Choice Leave a comment »
In a fiercely competitive media and advertising market, it is vital to build effective relationships. Sydsvenskan Daily News’ target market consists of media agencies, advertising agencies and advertisers – a group that usually is very hard to please. Our objective was to remind them that when they have something important to tell the world, they should choose Sydsvenskan Daily News.
Our aim was to reach only the most prominent and influential people in the business. We decided on an approach based on a sense of community and chose to emphasise the very first milestone in these people’s lives – their birth. In Sweden, it is customary to place an announcement in the births column of the local newspaper, to manifest this unique and blissful event. Therefore, the target group quite simply received a DM package with their own birth announcement – a simple reminder to them that Sydsvenskan Daily News is “the first media choice”.
The response rate was fantastic, almost everyone (more then 90%) mailed or called and expressed
their thanks. Some of the comments: “Maybe the best direct mail ever sent to me.” “Even my
mother was touched.” “I was totally astonished and surprised.” “What a great idea! It made me very happy.” “I just wanted to say thanks for the package with my first ad. What a lovely idea”
Advertising Agency: The Fan Club, Malmo
Creative Director: Christian Barret, Ola Obrant Andreassom
Year: 2005
Gold Lion
Ariston – And on, and on, and on…
Posted: September 26, 2011 Filed under: Cannes Lions, Legendary, TV/Film, UK | Tags: and on and on, Ariston, Cycle, Gold Greenless Trott, gold lion, Graham Fink, Richard Dean, Tim Mellors, UK, washing machine Leave a comment »
Ariston was a brand of kitchen appliances manufactured by Merloni Elettrodomestici SpA, a 1975 establishment and the predecessor entity to Indesit Company. Giuliano Gnagnatti, the Managing Director of Merloni Domestic Appliances UK in the early- to mid-1990s, was credited with the ingenious ”On and On” Ariston marketing campaign, the apex of which was a 1994 advertisement; the long form runs to two-and-a-half minutes.
This masterpiece features – with increasing intensity and ingenious use of repetition – various family members utilising Ariston washing machines, fridges and cookers for their quotidian needs: a young lady pulling a glitzy party dress from the washing machine and gliding into the night with her handsome dance partner; a boy throwing his football jersey at the floor, with his loving, exasperated mother popping it into the same appliance; a father teasing his child with the prospect of ice lollies from the freezer; and the lady of the house in modest finery, playing the role of hostess.
This cyclical drama was played out to the aural backdrop of the theme from the Nintendo Game Boy iteration of RoboCop, soundtrack as unlikely as it was perfect.
Advertising agency: Gold Greenless Trott
Creative Director: Tim Mellors
Copywriter: Tim Mellors
Art Director: Graham Fink
Production company: The Moving Picture Production Company, UK
Director: Richard Dean
Year: 1992
Gold Lion
