The Lion says we Cannes do it

Let’s be honest for a minute. Despite what we all say, over 90% of creatives are in the advertising business to win shiny awards. Yeah it’s all a bit wanky, but we like wanky. I like wanky.

Aside from wearing smart shoes and getting pissed-up at Grosvenor House/The Hilton on Park Lane, awards bring with them many other benefits. You receive adulation and instant respect from pets, a small piece of metal (if you ‘done well good’) or a certificate (if you ‘done not so nice’), and, most crucially, reassurance that you’re reasonably OK at what you do. And you get to keep your job for another 6 months. Probably.

Personally, I enjoy having my picture taken and I revel in the praise. I like my head being patted with a shiny sharp-edged paper weight. It makes me feel warm inside. But I want a big one. And a big one in my opinion is, for example, going to Cannes and winning a Lion. A Clio would be nice, but I really want a big, angry-faced Lion.

Now, because I work for a pharmaceutical ad agency, many believe that succeeding at such a consumer-dominated show is pretty unlikely. They see pharma advertising as “shit”. Not very creative. They believe there’s no way that an ad produced by a pharma agency could even throw a stone at the faeces of a Cannes Lion, let alone win one.

Well, I present to you Exhibit A.

Match

 

Orchestra

Speech

This is a campaign for Tabcin, a flu medicine by Bayer. Some chaps at Y&R Buenos Aires did it. And it won a Gold Lion in the 2011 print category. It’s simple, I guess. I don’t particularly like the headline, but the ad definitely says, “coughs and colds are bloody annoying for everyone. So don’t be a selfish a-hole, take Tabcin.” Winner.

Pharma advertising is getting better all the time, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I’m standing at Nice airport, trying to explain to the lovely French check-in girl why I need extra baggage allowance.

Oh, please excuse the punny headline, I couldn’t help it.

A new Old Spice ad

Everyone's seen at least 33 of the 425 ad executions for Old Spice. Here's the latest one starring former NFL player, Terry Crew.

 

I have to admit, although I think it's good, it's not my favourite. That honour lies with BUILDING KICK EXPLOSION, again featuring Cruz. W+K outdid themselves with that one. It's brilliant because it takes the promise of power to ridiculous levels using pure stupidity. And stupidity gets my vote everytime.

In case you haven't seen it, feast your eyes.

Takeoff (sort of)

When I was a wee boy, I wanted to be an air traffic controller. There was something about that job that really hit the spot for me. Maybe it was the money. Maybe it was because I’d get free flying lessons. Or hoon around in a Porsche. Basically everything that John Cusack did in Pushing Tin. Including sleeping with Angelina Jolie. Maybe.

Fast-forward roughly 20 years. I’m not an air traffic controller. And I’ve not slept with Angelina Jolie. I’m actually glad I never passed that final interview because, looking back, it would have been ridiculous. Let’s see, I can’t get out of bed. I can’t concentrate for more than five minutes at a time. I can’t see very well. I have to accept that I would have probably (accidentally) killed a lot of people. Remotely.

I’ve been working in advertising for a while now and it suits me. Sure I have to get up in the morning. And I’m not driving a Porsche yet. But I do get to lie about how glamorous my job is: ”What do I do for a living? Well, have you seen Mad Men? Well, basically it’s pretty much like that. Every day.” And, because I’m a copywriter, I get to mess around with words and spend a disgusting amount of time watching YouTube for ‘inspiration’.

This blog contains the fruits of all that laborious YouTube crawling, as well as other random thoughts. Some might be shit. Some might be really shit. Some might be brilliant. Hopefully all of it is interesting and useful. We’ll see.

At least I’m not killing anyone.