40+ amazing digital campaigns (Cannes)

Digital advertising campaigns are big business. Seriously big business. YouTube alone brought in US$876-million for Google in 2011.

It makes sense too. Digital campaigns “fix” a lot of the issues that exist in traditional advertising. It’s trackable, and third-party players such as Google Adsense mean that there’s a lot more space for negotiation when it comes to price than there in traditional media.

That said, you’re still not going to sell any product unless you’ve got a good campaign. The Cannes Lions, one of the world’s biggest international advertising festivals has revealed some of the best digital campaigns from the past year. Every year around 9 000 registered delegates from 90 countries visit the Festival, which receives more than 28 000 entries across various spheres of advertising.

This year, emerging markets countries have made a strong showing, with digital entries from South Africa, Brazil and India all making the shortlist for the digital section of the prestigious Direct category of the awards.

Some of the campaigns have won big at other award shows. Nike’s Back 4 the Future campaign for instance won a Webby award earlier this year. Ogilvy Cape Town’s “Be the Coach” campaign meanwhile recently won “Best use of Mobile” at the Bees social media awards.

Other standout campaigns include the VIP Fridge Magnet, which allows you to order a pizza from a Dubai restaurant just by tapping on it and Intel’s Museum of Me, which takes your Facebook feed and turns it into a virtual museum.

The festival has been around since 1954 and includes seven days of workshops, exhibitions, screenings, master classes and high-profile seminars by industry leaders such as Dan Wieden, Sir John Hegarty, Bob Greenberg, Maurice Lévy, David Droga, Mark Tutssel, Sir Martin Sorrell and Tham Khai Meng, as well as people like Mark Zuckerberg, Ben Stiller, Yoko Ono, Kofi Annan, Steve Ballmer and Bob Geldof.

Below are the shortlisted digital campaigns in the Direct category. Winners will be announced during the course of the week.

Title	Advertiser/Client	Product/Service	Entrant Company	Country
A03 Direct Response Digital: Email Marketing
FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD? ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION US / ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION			GRUPO GALLEGOS HUNTINGTON BEACH	USA
LEAKED EMAIL INVITE THE COMMUNICATIONS COUNCIL / AWARD SCHOOL			DDB GROUP NEW ZEALAND Auckland	NEW ZEALAND
WORLD’S YOUNGEST JOB APPLICANT PLAN INDIA / CHILD WELFARE FUND			BBDO INDIA Gurgaon	INDIA
A04 Direct Response Digital: Mobile Marketing
VIP FRIDGE MAGNET RED TOMATO PIZZA / RESTAURANT			TBWA\RAAD Dubai	UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
SUNNY SALE EMART / EMART			CHEIL WORLDWIDE Seoul	SOUTH KOREA
HAPPINESS REFILL THE COCA-COLA COMPANY / COCA-COLA			OGILVY BRASIL São Paulo	BRAZIL
BE THE COACH SOUTH AFRICAN BREWERIES / CARLING BLACK LABEL			OGILVY CAPE TOWN	SOUTH AFRICA
MOBILE MEDIC AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE / DEFENCE UNIVERSITIES SPONSORSHIP			GEORGE PATTERSON Y&R Melbourne	AUSTRALIA
PICK N PLAY McDONALD’S SWEDEN / PIES, ICE CREAM AND MILKSHAKES			DDB STOCKHOLM	SWEDEN
KID RESCUE FUNDACIÓN TELEFÓNCA / TELEFÓNICA/ FUNDACIÓN TELEFÓNICA			Y&R COLOMBIA Bogotá	COLOMBIA
HIJACK ALIAS / MEAT PACK			4 AM SAATCHI & SAATCHI Guatemala	GUATEMALA
A05 Direct Response Digital: Websites, Microsites & Banners
THE 28 DAY PERSECUTION OF ROMMY GULLA PANASONIC AUSTRALIA / BTW 800 DIGITAL RECORDER			THE CAMPAIGN PALACE Sydney	AUSTRALIA
GAME FACES ADIDAS / ADIDAS			TBWA\BERLIN	GERMANY
MEMORIES FOR THE FUTURE GOOGLE JAPAN / GOOGLE			HAKUHODO KETTLE Tokyo	JAPAN
SEE FROM SOUND AMARIN BOOK CENTER / NAIIN.COM BOOK STORE			McCANN WORLDGROUP Bangkok	THAILAND
#WESLEYNOVERDAO MOP / BRAZIL FOOTBALL			WIEDEN + KENNEDY São Paulo	BRAZIL
MISSING ADD-ON INITIATIVE VERMISSTE KINDER / MISSING CHILDREN			KEMPERTRAUTMANN Hamburg	GERMANY
THE LIBERATION ONLY / JEANS			UNCLE GREY Copenhagen	DENMARK
THE HEIST PAUSE HOME ENTERTAINMENT / HIFI CHAIN			ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm	SWEDEN
THE BEAUTY OF A SECOND MONTBLANC INTERNATIONAL / NICOLAS RIEUSSEC CHRONOGRAPH			LEO BURNETT Milan	ITALY
ESCAPE THE MAP MERCEDES / C-CLASS AMG COUPE			ABBOTT MEAD VICKERS BBDO London	UNITED KINGDOM
BACK 4 THE FUTURE NIKE / NIKE			WIEDEN+KENNEDY Portland	USA
DIG DEEPER HBO / TRUE BLOOD			BBDO NEW YORK	USA
A06 Social Media & Viral Marketing
TASK FORCE INVESTIGATION FIREWORK BOMB-MAKERS CONSUMER SAFETY / TACKLING THE PRODUCTION OF HOMEMADE FIREWORK BOMBS			LEMZ Amsterdam	THE NETHERLANDS
SMART TWITTER SPOT MERCEDES-BENZ ARGENTINA / SMART			BBDO ARGENTINA Buenos Aires	ARGENTINA
#MILLIONHOODIES FOR TRAYVON MARTIN THE PARKS & CRUMP LAW FIRM / PUBLIC AWARENESS MESSAGE			McCANN ERICKSON New York	USA
BACK AT YA SANTAM / INVESTMENT COMPANY			KING JAMES Cape Town	SOUTH AFRICA
BOOK BURNING PARTY LEO BURNETT DETROIT / TROY PUBLIC LIBRARY / TROY PUBLIC LIBRARY			LEO BURNETT DETROIT	USA
THE DOVE AD MAKEOVER UNILEVER / DOVE BRAND			OGILVY & MATHER London	UNITED KINGDOM
A WOMAN’S NIGHTMARE SAMUSOCIAL / CHARITY			PUBLICIS CONSEIL Paris	FRANCE
MUSEUM OF ME INTEL / INTEL CORE I5 PROCESSOR			PROJECTOR Tokyo	JAPAN
HUNTER AND BEAR’S 2012 BIRTHDAY PARTY BIC GROUP / CORRECTOR FLUID			BUZZMAN Paris	FRANCE
COCA-COLA POLAR BOWL THE COCA-COLA COMPANY / COCA-COLA CLASSIC			WIEDEN+KENNEDY Portland	USA
CHAOS IN YOUR TOWN STATE FARM / INSURANCE			DDB CHICAGO	USA
MINI MAPS MINI FRANCE / MINI			DDB PARIS	FRANCE
GUTI’S QUINIELA SPANISH STATE LOTTERY / LOTERÍAS Y APUESTAS DEL ESTADO / LA QUINIELA LOTTERY			SHACKLETON Madrid	SPAIN
LOOK BLOCK C&A / C&A			DDB BRASIL São Paulo	BRAZIL
THE CNN ECOSPHERE TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEMS / CNN			HEIMAT Berlin	GERMANY
A07 Direct Response Digital: Other Digital Platforms
THE GOOGLE PUZZLE GOOGLE / GOOGLE CHROME			HAKUHODO Tokyo	JAPAN
CONNECTING LIFELINES HONDA MOTOR / INTERNAVI			DENTSU Tokyo	JAPAN
GROUP SALE ALEH / ALEH			SHALMOR AVNON AMICHAY/Y&R INTERACTIVE TEL AVIV	ISRAEL
THE STEVE JOBS MOMENT OF SILENCE MOMENT OF SILENCE / THE STEVE JOBS MOMENT OF SILENCE			KNARF New York	USA
SWEBUS JACKPOT SWEBUS / LONG DISTANCE BUS			ÅKESTAM HOLST Stockholm	SWEDEN
SMALL BUSINESS GETS AN OFFICIAL DAY AMERICAN EXPRESS / AMERICAN EXPRESS			CRISPIN PORTER + BOGUSKY Boulder	USA
SONG ON AIR = CLIP ONLINE ABSYNTHE MINDED / ABSYNTHE MINDED			MORTIERBRIGADE Brussels	BELGIUM