Angela Spain’s Cannes Diary: Day Eight

Angela Spain, general manager, PR & Activation at FCB NZ is New Zealand’s representative on the Cannes Lions PR jury. Spain, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is reporting exclusively for CB.

We finally decided on our PR Grand Prix, just after midnight last night, after 16 hours of final judging.

The awards show starts soon so just a quick sermon on the most overused phrases in award entries and case films:

1. “Social media exploded”

2. “Created enormous buzz”

3. “Engagement was off the charts”

4. “And that was just the beginning”

5. “It was the most successful campaign ever”

It is also a very good idea to give specific, quantified results within your entry. So not “everyone was talking about it online” or “we grew sales”. Use metrics, quote sources for data and give comparable figures e.g grew sales by x% compared to the same period last year.

This may seem obvious but there was an overwhelming number of entries that lacked this information. The PR category is looking for the most creative campaigns in the world, but they must deliver outcomes/results against specified objectives. Pure creativity is not enough to win in this category. The Lions we have awarded reflect this.

OK sermon over –  off to the show!