I wouldn’t say it’s been a stellar year for Cannes-worthy work. Usually by this time of the year, there would be a bunch of guaranteed winners that everyone agreed on. But this season seems a little thin. One that did catch my eye was this beautiful piece for Kit Kat. While there have been a few “zoom in on the logo” executions from brands recently, I loved this series for how it brings the feeling of its well-established brand promise to life. Amongst all the noise of a busy world, these OOH executions perfectly deliver on “Have a break”, encouraging all who see it to slow down for a moment. Elegantly simple. The fact that it will be the most calming case film among hundreds of shouty ones, won’t hurt its chances at Cannes either.
Another idea that made me chuckle and that should play well to juries, is Huggies “Expensive Sh*t”. I loved the drummed up “high stakes” nature of it, which made something as stressful as blowouts, really fun. The live stream element of it added to the humour and overall I thought it was a really entertaining way to deliver a product demo. I think parents on juries will relate and reward.
And as a last pick, a bit of a humble brag from our own office. I just love that we managed to get a real Nigerian Prince to fight fakes in our Vaseline campaign. It’s one of those ideas that was all about authenticity and wouldn’t have worked unless we got a real, verified Prince – and by some small miracle we were able to pull it off. One of those where you literally want to bow down in “we’re not worthy” style.
Asheen Naidu is group executive creative director at Leo Singapore.
