The Cannes Radio Lions jury gave out a Grand Prix, seven Gold Lions, 21 Silver Lions, and 33 Bronze Lions in this year’s Cannes International Festival of Creativity held last June 17-24, 2017. The category saw Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg winning the Grand Prix for their “Repeat the Punchline”, “Long Red Thin Shape”, and “No One Cheerses” series for KFC’s Double Down Burger. Notably, McCann Worldgroup Philippines snatched a Gold Lion for “Lives 1 of 4 ‘Frank’, “Lives 2 of 4 ‘Hanna’, and “Lives 3 of 4 ‘Nicky’” campaign for Fully Booked and a Silver Lion for the “Dim Dads ‘Rufus’” and “Dim Dads ‘Pedro’” series for Nestlé Philippines’ Maggi Magic Sarap.
To gain jury insights on the deliberation process for the category, adobo magazine caught up with Marcus Rebeschini, Chief Creative Officer of Y&R Asia and Radio Lions Jury member.
1. How was the Radio Lions Jury experience?
Imagine driving Route 66 for 3 hours and 59 minutes listening to no music and just back to back radio spots. Welcome to my week of judging Cannes Lions radio.
Honestly it was a great experience and I’d do it all again. That said, the week kicked off with roughly 1698 radio spots and by mid week we’d ended up with a rounded 170 shortlisted spots prior to the final decision of what was shortlist worthy. But by weeks end the Route 66 example was a true test of, was the work consumer engaging or just mind numbing annoying.
2. What makes a great radio campaign worth getting recognition in Cannes? Give us some examples.
Ian Reichenthal once taught me that I should always question — would my radio spot make a great TV spot? Think about that for a moment. As a consumer, no one wants to visually bring to life a terrible radio spot in their minds. For me, there was one clear winner. KFC’s “That’s sad”. Every time I heard it I laughed to myself, not one of those little laughs that no one hears, but a laugh that other judges heard. These spots not only spoke to me as a consumer but back to Ian’s theory, they’d definitely make amazing TV commercials. So was it Grand Prix worthy? For me, no, but I stick by the Gold I gave it.
Grand Prix Campaign
• REPEAT THE PUNCHLINE KFC
• LONG RED THIN SHAPE KFC
• NO ONE CHEERSES KFC
3. How does the Industry define this medium based on the body of radio entries you judged in Cannes?
I think Cannes hotels define the importance of a category. If you are put up at the Martinez you’re judging an important category. Mine was rather far back (not complaining of course) but it was evident I was in a less desirable category which was crazy as radio for me is a very hard medium to master.
Maybe the fact that there was only 1,698 (entries) speaks volumes of just how tough it is to create great radio?
4. Where do you see creativity in radio heading?
Before judging started, I would have responded to this question which words such as experimental, tech driven or even talked about the new ways we listen to radio these days. But it was very evident that the jury just wanted to hear the art of radio and not matter what you did with the medium people just wanted to be engaged in a traditional way or as some would say which I hate the term, theatre of the mind.
5. What were the interesting discussions in the Cannes jury room?
Craft, the art of writing or I should say the art of storytelling were constant discussion points and entries’ “origins”. To clarify on what “origins” means — if you are sending in radio spots, send in the original version and a translated version. For a non-English speaking market sending in “English” versions only as how the spot was originally run, we all found that odd. Of course, we did due diligence and reached out to the agencies to seek original recordings. In most cases 99% responded with English as the original version.
6. Is radio still a viable media channel for brands and creative agencies?
Yes, definitely, but make my drive along Route 66 one that doesn’t require me to tune into another radio station.
adobo magazine is also sharing some pictures below taken by Rebeschini during his stay in Cannes:
Walking to the Cannes Radio Lions judging
Early morning judging
adobo’s Angel Guerrero in view
Only in France would you have olives as snacks
Inflatable Future Lions
