Marianne Harvey’s Cannes Diary: Radio wrap
Marianne Harvey, CD, Clemenger BBDO Brisbane is Australia’s representative on the Radio Lions jury. Harvey, along with most of the Australian and NZ jurors, is reporting exclusively for CB.
Inside the jury room
On the last day, the jury debated three Grand Prix contenders until 1am. There was KFC Every Man Meal (South Africa), Libero Football Memories (Spain) and Dove Tongue/Breathing/Blinking (UK). But the one most people loved the most was KFC, with the catchphrase ‘you’re still a man’ becoming a running joke between the jury over the week.
So yes, it’s a traditional radio ad done very well. And we should celebrate that. We also celebrated ideas that embraced the breadth of the category definition – radio and audio.
I encourage people thinking about next year to broaden their thinking on that as well.
Personally, I was really interested in ideas like Auto Diagnosis for Opel (GM). It’s not sexy but it’s damn smart to use a radio ad to alert drivers to a mechanical problem that is diagnosed by sound.
And School Zone Radio. Sure there have been various signal jamming ideas. But this one was executed so well, it will save lives. Everyone with kids wished there was one at their school.
So as I sign off and head down to the ceremony, I’ll leave you with a few trends and the advice that goes with them:
1. We heard a lot from the monologue-with-classical-music genre. We’ve got to give this structure more thought. In fact, dialogue can be a lot harder to pull off.
2. We heard quite a few big metaphorical leaps between the ad content and the product. Spots where the product was better integrated into the content were elevated.
3. There was a tendency to overproduce some spots – restraint can be just as important.
4. The PSA/charity categories were not well awarded with such a high bar set previously. There was heavy competition in scriptwriting but not much in use of music.
5. There were a couple of ads about Trump, and more topical radio ads would be great to hear. A good way to keep long-running campaigns fresh.
Outside the jury room
Saw David Copperfield on Sunday. Random but worth it for the look back at his hair through the 80s and 90s. Impressive stuff, and the illusion was good too.