Australia’s Cannes Contenders: Leo Burnett Melbourne, DDB Melbourne and Iris Sydney

After last year’s brilliant effort at Cannes – Australia was ranked #6 in the world – how will OZ perform at Cannes this year?Over the next week in the lead up to the Festival, Campaign Briefwill be showcasing the work we hope will impress the judges…

Scope ‘See the Person’

Scope, a not-for-profit organization that supports people with disabilities, seeked to encourage people to ‘See the Person’ and not the disability. In this campaign the rock band, Rudely Interrupted, in which five of the six members live with disabilities, was chosen to represent Scope’s purpose. To bring the purpose to life, the idea was simple: the agency became band promoters and launched Rudely Interrupted’s new song to spread Scope’s message. The poignant single, ‘Close My Eyes’ was chosen from the band’s album and artwork was created and released in the music industry. Because every successful single starts with the release of a music video, the well-known music director, Tov Belling, was enlisted to help with the band’s music video. 

Slurpee ‘It’s so very cold in the cup’

It’s colder than a penguin’s undercarriage, an Alaskan barbeque and an Eskimo’s deodorant stick. Yep, there’s only one beverage that’s chilled to -3C and that’s Slurpee. And then there’s its most iconic feature that distinguishes it from all other drinks – it was the first frozen beverage to be served in a cup. 7-Eleven agency Leo Burnett Melbourne capitalised on these two unique properties by creating a television campaign based on the Slurpee cup itself and its below zero interior. Each spot poses a different world that might exist inside the Slurpee cup. These worlds are cold for two reasons, the freezing temperature and the unfortunate situations that befall its inhabitants.

Sportsbet ‘For people who like to bet on the net’

It’s a universal truth that putting your bets on in person isn’t always a pleasant experience. Betting outlets across the globe are renowned for attracting all kinds of questionable characters. That’s why Leo Burnett Melbourne reminded people that they can avoid these seedy joints and punt in peace at Sportsbet.com.au.

Morning Fresh ‘Dirty Dishes’

To highlight the dishwashing power of Morning Fresh, DDB Melbourne developed a range of dishes that when submerged in hot water, magically transform from super dirty to super clean in seconds. It’s all thanks to its cutting edge, Aqua Beefcake Transition Technology. Inspired by the sort of dirty calendar a cash-strapped Fire Station would produce, this multi-media campaign uses web, viral, point of sale and interactive technologies (including a Facebook quiz ,and a ‘Dirty Message’ the user can design themselves) to bring the Dirty Dishes range to life. www.dirtydish.com.au

ACMI ‘Tim Burton Pie Bag’

After a huge success in NYC, Tim Burton: The Exhibition arrived in Melbourne. It was DDB Melbourne’s job to encourage people to go. People knew Burton’s films, but not the artist behind them. They needed to get people to the exhibition and we had few pennies to do it. So, the agency recreated a bloodshed scene from his movie Sweeney Todd, which tells of a Demon Barber who bakes his customers into delicious meat pies. They teamed up with local pie vendor, Pie Face to deliver 100% Human Meat pie bags – complete with red-hot contents – to the people of Melbourne (and Burton himself). The bag itself acted as a 2-for-1 ticket pass. Opening week saw 23,150 attendees, making it ACMIs most successful opening week ever. Daily visits hit another record at 4,227 attendees. So far Tim Burton: The Exhibition is on track to be the most successful ever in ACMI history.

Sony Ericsson ‘Social Xperiments’

Sony Ericsson was launching the new range of Xperia smartphones. Technical difficulties in the past meant there was some pretty bad brand sentiment on one of their most critical launch channels: Facebook. Iris Sydney was tasked to turn that around. The Idea? Iris staged a live online experiment with emerging comedian, Tommy Little, locked in a room, with very little except his Xperia and a live video link. Over the next 8 hours, Tommy had to get as many people as he could to like him on Facebook. By doing whatever it was they asked him.

Sony ‘The Great DVD Amnesty’

Action movie legend Jean-Claude Van Damme declares an Amnesty on Australia’s unwanted DVD’s via Iris Sydney. Play with JCVD on the homepage, shame a ‘mates’ collection using Facebook connect, and check out the Wall to see the culprits. “Send in your DVD’s, or we send in Van Damme.”