The winner of the 2022 Outdoor Grand Prix is ‘Liquid Billboard’, an adidas campaign created by Havas Middle East, Dubai.
Explaining why the adidas campaign beat off Gold Lions-winning work from the likes of Pepsi, Netflix and Burger King, jury president Eugene Cheong, chief creative officer of DDB Asia, described it as “the kind of spectacle that stops traffic”.
‘Liquid Billboard’ was built around the insight that vast numbers of women in the Middle East feel uncomfortable swimming in public (88% in the region compared to 32% worldwide). The campaign involved building a huge 3D billboard in which women could swim. Women of any shape, ethnicity or ability were invited to swim in the billboard, in the process becoming ambassadors for the brand’s new inclusive swimwear collection.
Amplified across a range of digital and outdoor activations, the ‘Liquid Billboard’ campaign sparked a global conversation in 60 countries and generated $6m in earned media. Cheong said:
“For me, this campaign said ‘adidas, welcome back to the game’. For too long, they sat on the sidelines while Nike ran rings around them.”
All told, the jury awarded 12 Gold Lions to 10 different campaigns. The US dominated, but there were wins for Brazil, Argentina, Poland/Netherlands and Singapore/Malaysia.
Asked to comment on sector trends, Cheong said: “The jury discussed the fact that a lot of brands want to be seen to be doing good. But consumers can spot bullshit from 100 paces. So it’s important not to do good just for the sake of appearances or to jump on a bandwagon.”
Jury votes for ‘Elections Edition’
A Lebanese newspaper that decided not to publish its hotly anticipated elections edition is the winner of the 2002 Print & Publishing Grand Prix.
Jury president Natalie Lam, chief creative officer of Publicis Groupe APAC & MEA, said Impact BBDO Dubai’s disruptive work on behalf of An-Nahar Newspaper “cut through the clutter and sent a strong message it to its market”.
The decision to cut a key edition was taken against a backdrop of political volatility, with the incumbent Lebanese government seeking to delay elections. One reason cited by politicians was a lack of paper and ink — so the An-Nahar Newspaper dropped an edition and sent its supplies to the government printer. This helped ensure the elections kept to schedule.
“We wanted to support a big idea that would make print exciting for the next generation of creatives coming through,” Lam said. “’The Elections Edition’ was bold, fresh and simple.”
Lam was initially worried about print’s ability to stand out as a medium in a fragmented and fast-moving landscape, “where all the talk is of NFTs and the metaverse”. She added: “But there was a lot of inspiring, powerful and beautiful work on show.”
The Print & Publishing jury awarded six Gold Lions to four distinct campaigns. As in Outdoor, ‘Better With Pepsi – McDonald’s’, from OMD New York, picked up three.
Dentsu makes history for Vice in Radio & Audio
The Winner of the 2022 Radio & Audio Grand Prix is ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’, a thought-provoking campaign for Vice Media by Dentsu Creative Bengaluru/Mumbai/Gurgaon.
Jury president Mariana O’Kelly, global executive creative director at Ogilvy, said the campaign was “brave, disruptive and articulated the best value in the world, which is the truth”.
‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ centres on 10 iconic artefacts currently located in the British Museum having been plundered from their homelands. It takes the form of a podcast series and interactive mobile experience in which the true stories of how these objects ended up in the British Museum are told. The objects featured include the Benin Bronzes and Rosetta Stone.
To use the Tour, visitors to the British Museum point their phones at the objects in question and unlock the multimedia content via an augmented-reality feature. The stories are brought to life by experts with a connection to the homeland of the disputed objects.
O’Kelly said the Radio & Audio category had demonstrated high levels of innovation in 2022, with entries drawn from gaming, NFTs, podcasts and Whatsapp as well as radio.
“We wanted to celebrate the widest possible selection of work to make sure we open this category up,” she added. “Our list of winners reflects this diversity of approach.”