Ready for September?

By Tina Ly.

September is a busy month for most people: pupils and students are back to school, budgeting season is starting, for some lucky ones, some out-seasonal holidays and last weddings of the summer season are being prepared! In Istanbul, close to the Golden Horn, September is also the month where Elma Krystal Festivalı is taking place! Yes, Istanbul is THE place to be! But September is also a key milestone to start new things and show the outcomes of previous learning. What about sustainability? Last Grand Prix Winners of Cannes Lions presented amazing campaigns with great blinks to sustainability issues. In Elma Krystal Festivalı, we will see if the Turkish agencies will be competing with such campaigns. Meanwhile, let’s have a look at the last Grand Prix Winners and see what should be the lessons to be learnt for this “back-to-school” period!

1-      Be creative and stay simple

Philippines is most probably one of the rare country where teachers are telling pupils: “Please turn on your phone, class is starting!”. DM9 Jayme Syfu agency won the Grand Prix Mobile thanks to a campaign promoting “obsolete” cell phone technology rather than high services offered by super-super-smart phones. In collaboration with publishers, Smart Public Affairs managed to transfer the content of textbooks into simple SIM cards of “obsolete” cell phones. This project enables Pilipino pupils to go to school with 50% lighter school bags, reach 90% average test performance and 95% attendance. Wide access to knowledge is maybe on the tip of “old” technology?

2-      Small action can have bigger impact than expected, or, as quoted from the anime movie Epic, “Just because you haven't seen something doesn't mean it's not there”.

These tiny “individuals” were already put forward on the international scene thanks to Bernard Werber trilogy Empire of the Ants. This time, again, ants are at the heart of a big protestation movement.

With “The Ant Rally” (Grand Prix for Good), WWF and BBDO Germany showed us that sometimes, small actions have bigger impact. Indeed, what better than a protestation led by the main forest inhabitants to address and to raise awareness about deforestation? BBDO Germany managed to turn “advertising into antvertising”. Small can be actually big.

3-      Things to do before it’s too late

The Grand Prix Promo & Activation - Immortal Fans and the Grand Prix Media  - "Why Wait Untill It's Too Late?” make people step back and think about things to do before it’s too late… but in a positive manner!

Like in Brazil, one of the most famous characteristic of Turkish people is their devotion to soccer and their soccer teams! Here is what Ogilvy Brazil used to prepare its campaign for Sport Club Recife. The campaign aimed to raise the number of organs donors – a quite delicate subject in most societies – through the creation of an original fan club card: “immortal fans”.  The result was spectacular with 51.000 fans asking for this organ donor card!

“If only I told her/him…” is a regret that many people who lost a loved one have. From this observation, Ogilvy & Mather has successfully raised awareness about death by talking about love to promote the services of Dela, a funeral insurance company. Ogilvy & Mather launched a campaign inviting people to publicly declare their love to their loved ones. On the branding side, this lovely campaign enabled Dela to be counted among the 10 favourite brands of Netherlanders.  

4-      Use offbeat humor to raise awareness

The campaign “Dumb Ways To Die” won 5 Grand Prix (!):  Film, Integrated, Direct, PR and Radio.

McCann Melbourne made an astonishing prevention campaign for the Australian Metro. The purpose was to raise awareness about how stupid and lethal accidents can occur due to inattention of metro users. The campaign resulted in such an impact that it changed the behaviour of metro users by decreasing accidents by 21% after the campaign launch.

5-      Dematerialize your sustainability report

The Grand Prix Design – “The selfscan report” of Auchan shows us that by not being on paper, a sustainability report is better communicated to its target audience. Serviceplan Munich has created a smartphone application enabling anyone to get Auchan’s sustainability report by scanning one’s receipt. Not only the clients have access to the data, but the application also enables clients to send directly their questions by email. As a result, Auchan has improved both his environmental assessment and reinforced its relation with its clients.