So, a couple of weeks ago I went to see the 2006 Cannes Advertising awards at the Bytown Theatre here in frigid Ottawa. I went with the MB gang, a bunch of writers, designers and general advertising geeks. Normally K would join me - we're advertising geeks, regularly sending each other links to the strange / good / bad / ugly ads on the web, and his presence was missed. I didn't have him to make comments to, so M had to bear with me.
There were good ads and meh ads, but the commonality between those ads that I deemed good, was that I felt something. Humour mostly, but sometimes heartache. The one that is still with me is for a kids help line, where an elderly woman is visited by her daughter in a home. The mother is obviously suffering from Alzheimer's, and the daughter approaches the mother and her nurse. The daughter greets her mother, and the mother replies "We have to hide under the bed". The daughter asks why, and the mother replies, with her eyes far away that "Father will be home soon." The tagline pulls up: "An abused child never forgets." Devastating. It slays me and gives me chills. I looked on YouTube, with no luck, but if someone finds the link, please let me know. An ad like this made me feel, and think and got its message across in a thousand and one ways.
So - does good advertising mean that the marketing goals are accomplished? In an ideal world, yes, but I don't know if that happened with the Cannes 2006 winners. Maybe. Maybe someone new reached for a Guinness after watching the Grand Prix winner, but then again, maybe an ad agency was able to show off a new award, bump up the portfolio and make some money.
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2 comments:
The Guuinness commercial was cute, but forgettable, IMO.
I completely agree with you. I didn't think there was that much there, but perhaps it worked with the TM.
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