Top Tips for Cannes
Skinny/Phone it in
For a long time we’ve needed lightness and fun back in advertising. This ‘Phone it in’ campaign from Skinny does this perfectly, by allowing anyone in New Zealand to record Skinny radio ads on their mobile phones for free.
Getting ordinary folk to do their advertising fits beautifully with their brand positioning – it’s a low cost telco which claims not to be able to compete with the big names when it comes to ad spend, so they’ve found a way to be both efficient and funny.
Skinny has been doing interesting, different ads for some time – and this work actually has the talkability we are all striving for from any campaign. Ads like this are really what Cannes should be celebrating – clever, results-driven advertising.
Apple/The Greatest
From a more purpose-focused perspective, Apple’s ‘The Greatest’ stands out for me. A tiny 4% of TV adverts in the UK feature disabled people, despite 22% of the population being disabled. The ad shows people with disabilities ranging from vision, hearing, mobility and cognitive using Apple’s tech to help them in their everyday lives.
Purpose-focused ads often do well at Cannes, but often that’ll be a result of a brand piggybacking on a cause with a fairly tenuous link back to its values. This doesn’t feel like an ad created for awards – it’s a genuinely great piece of content that shows real utility in Apple’s products (as Apple’s ads often do). It also heroes its talent as people who’ve been supercharged by Apple products. An inspiring watch.
Jim Coleman is regional lead, UK & North America, We Are Social.
