Lions Direct Awards: What it took to win <font face="Verdana" size="1"><b><font color="#FF0033"><u>Cannes Special!</u></font></b></font>

"The quality of some of the creatives, in terms of ideas to execution, was brilliant," S Swaminathan, senior vice-president & head, iContract

Mr Daniel Morel, jury president of Lions Direct, mentioned that the Gold Lions for DM have been awarded to work that gives new direction to the DM industry, and the use of technology. In his opinion, DM has to move away from the image of being ‘envelope-stuffers and mailers', and that has been a key evaluation criterion this year. The weighting system was changed this year to reward innovation and creativity, with 40 per cent of marks being awarded to innovative campaigns, as opposed to the 25-per cent limit last year.

The Grand Prix for Lions Direct went to Y&R, Australia, for a direct response commercial for Jim Beam Bourbon. The humor in this commercial was exceptional, and it had a direct response asking consumers to call-in to a 1-900 number.

Some of the other exceptional pieces of work that won were as follows:

Financial Services: In this category, the award went to MBC Saatchi, Melbourne, for ANZ Bank. The mailer was in the form a shopping bill. The creative had baked beans purchases printed, and encouraged customers to open a Progress Savings Bank account rather than live like this.

Continuity & Loyalty: Gordon's (Gordon's Gin) loyalty programme won in this category. The quality of creative work and production values of the loyalty program was outstanding in this piece.

Direct response & Print: Saatchi & Saatchi Vienna's work on MMS won in this category. The ad was an innovative idea. On a particular day, the headlines and news in a newspaper was printed, with no photographs to go with the news. Or rather, the photographs were missing. Mobile phone subscribers had to dial-in and see how MMS works by downloading the missing photographs.

Alternative media: In this category, the winning entry was from Publicis Dialog Group, London. The agency created an interactive television commercial (perhaps the first use of interactive television in marketing communication) where the viewer had a choice of different endings. In the course of selecting the ending she wanted to see, the viewer could also click a button and make an immediate donation to a social welfare trust. The donation amount got debited instantly via the donor's telephone bill. The Jury made a special mention about this commercial and the effective manner in which it used technology in building response.

What was evident to me was that in the judging process, the results of the exercise were not so critical - cluttering-breaking ideas were in focus, and made it to the awards. Also, the quality of some of the creatives, in terms of ideas to execution, was brilliant. The involvement device in some of the direct mail pieces had great production value. In the Direct Response Press/TV category, the idea played a critical role. How do you catch the audience unawares? How to involve them and get them to interact? All these played a big role in getting a piece of work into the shortlist.

What was apparent at Cannes this year was that there is good news for DM professionals across the world. Our work is getting more creative, brands are displaying eagerness to build interactivity with customers and technology that allows us to customize and build relationships is driving the discipline.

Most importantly, there is recognition of big ideas from DM. The future looks bright! © 2003 agencyfaqs!