Cannes Lions 2009 - My Personal Top 10 Cyber Picks

July 1, 2009

1. Warner Bros/The Dark Knight Film: Why So Serious? - 42 Entertainment, Pasadena, USA.

Epic! I’ve discussed this Grand Prix viral already in an earlier post.

2. Fiat: eco:Drive - AKQA, London, UK

Given the complexity of Fiat’s eco:Drive system, I think the main success of this digital tool is its simplicity. I also think that the strategy of positioning eco:Drive as a ‘no brainer’ in terms of the economical and environmental benefits it offers is spot on. More info is this enlightening article from Revolution.

3. Tourism Queensland: Best Job In the World- Nitro, Brisbane, Australia.

Results speak for themselves on this one. According to the award submission site:

36,648 applicants from 201 internet-coded countries created 610 hours of video content.
In 56 days islandreefjob.com had 6,849,504 visits.
Media coverage has been estimated at over $US100 million from a campaign budget of $US1.2 million.

4. Doritos: Hotel 626- Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francisco, USA.

I love the level of innovation and detail in this genuinely frightening online game marking Dorito “bringing back two intense flavours from the dead”. For example the use of webcams to sneak pictures of you which later appear in a psycho’s dungeon, the creepy sound design, and the fact you can only play the game between 6pm and 6am. Look on Youtube and you’ll find that loads of people have uploaded their experiences of playing the game.

5. Axion: Banner Concerts - Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francisco, USA.

Creatively and technically innovative, this well-targeted and interactive online campaign had a viral effect on social networking sites - the ‘embed’ feature resulting in over 40k additional impressions.

6. Nintendo: Wario Land Shake It - Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, San Francisco, USA.

An interactive first for Youtube creating over 4 million views in a month.

7. Diesel: Diesel XXX SFW - The Viral Factory, London, UK.

Brave, controversial, ’on-brand’ and ultimately a great ’safe for work’ viral (if only just)! 14 million people have seen this, and counting…

8. Jewish Council: The Great Schlep - Droga5, New York, USA.

In an example of shrewd targeting, this campaign was designed to encourage pro-Obama grandchildren to get a persuasive message direct to the key silver-haired voters in Florida. An idea and execution which in itself had an almost inevitable viral effect.

9. VW: Hand On Challenge - Droga5, New York, USA.

An idea derived from the product attribute of the VW Golf’s endurance, this online version of the ‘keep your hand on the car’ competition had a couple of hundred participants sitting in front of their computer screens for WEEKS with only a 5 minute comfort break per hour! More details here.

10. OVK/Parents of Child Road Victims: Let It Ring - Happiness Brussels, Belgium.