Cannes 2009: Sorry! Gandhi couldn't; Stainbroidery did get a bronze in Promo Lions

The Grand Prix winner in this category was awarded to a deserving piece of communication created by Tokyo based Beacon Communications for Yubari Resort. The campaign not just changed the behaviour of a few consumers, it changed the lives of the people of an entire city

There was lots of praise for the ‘Let Gandhi Talk’ campaign but no metals. The president of the jury, William Rosen, president and chief creative officer, North America, Arc Worldwide, told afaqs!, “That one was my personal favourite but unfortunately it did not trigger too many jury members. As a president, I can only vote when it comes to the deciding situation.” However, he insisted that everyone loved the idea.

He even asked afaqs! to convey the message to the team behind the Gandhi campaign.

Not to lose hope, though!

India has still got it.
The Stainbroidery campaign
for Tide detergent by Leo Burnett has managed to a get a bronze. The jury president remarks that the campaign was a great piece of work on the innovative nature of sampling tactics, also visualising the benefits of the product.

He says, “The idea needed no translation and people were compelled to participate in such an initiative.”

Based on the premise that Tide removes stains easily, T-shirts were distributed in three cities – Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad – as part of the Stainbroidery campaign, which began in November last year. These T-Shirts had embroidery work in the form of stain marks. One end of the thread was tied up with a sample of Tide. When one picked the thread, the entire embroidery came out – thus asserting the fact that one can get rid of stains easily through Tide.

Another member of the jury, Joyce King Thomas, executive vice-president and chief creative officer, McCann Erickson New York, commented that the best part of the Stainbroidery campaign was that it was a universal idea which can be executed in any part of the world by changing some small local nuances.

The entry was also considered for a silver or a gold, but it was entered in the FMCG category, where the bar itself is very high.

However, the Grand Prix winner in the Promo Lions category was a well deserved entry, a piece of communication created by Tokyo based Beacon Communications for Yubari Resort.

The whole campaign not just changed the behaviour of a few consumers – what a promotional activity aims at – it changed the lives of the people of an entire city. Nothing could have been more deserving than this.

It so happened that Yubari city in Japan, where the economy was based on a coal mine, got into trouble when the coal mine closed down. People were out of jobs and the city was declared bankrupt with a debt of US$ 330 million. People started leaving the city. The city also turned to tourism as an industry, but nothing worked.

Then a survey revealed that the city had the lowest divorce rate in entire Japan. There was the idea – Yubari declared itself as a city of happy couples. It was a branded as – ‘No money but love’.

A ministry was formed which gave ‘happily married’ certificates to couples. As a result, couples from all around Japan flocked to this city to get the certificate.

Besides, a happy couple character, called Yubari Fusai, was created and merchandised.

The activity got media coverage 300 times, which included 100 TV programmes and 61,500 Google searches.

The results were phenomenal. The city saw a 10 per cent increase in tourism year on year and the merchandise generated revenue worth US$ 31 million.

The entire campaign was based on a human sentiment idea and it worked wonders.

Overall, this year, there were fewer golds and silvers awarded in this category. The jury explained that each entry was judged individually, and not by the number of golds and silvers that needed to be awarded.

The jury also said that this year, the Promo category was more important because this is one category which is measurable and activates people – very important for the client fraternity.