Missing in action is Ogilvy's innovative 'barber shop' for Center Shock <u>Cannes Special!</u>

"Ads that win awards in one part of the world, end up being banned in others," Rohit Chawla vice-president & national film chief, JWT India

Since the advertising & marketing industry forms a sizeable chunk of BMW's prospective customers, it makes sense, from their point of view, to take the whole business a trifle more seriously. BMW presented Herman Vaske's ‘Who killed the idea?' - a seminar that explored mediocre art and advertising, using the premise of a detective spoof, a-la LA Confidential. It highlighted how self-censorship and peer pressure stifles art.

The biggest applause was again reserved for Tarsem, at the Getty Images' Advertising And The Movies seminar. "I came to do Bollywood in Hollywood," naturally drew huge cheers from the Indian camp. He felt seriously compromised during the filming of his feature, The Cell. He felt his imagery took over content and, hence, he couldn't hold the storyline together. Tarsem is comfortable when "the storyline inevitably comes from the agency and the visual component is from me."

Elsewhere, panelists debated the growing trend of Extreme Advertising. Ads that win awards in one part of the world, end up being banned in others. According to Phil McAveety, vice-president, marketing, Nike, "If you don't have a point, upsetting people or trying to get laughs cannot be objectives." Andy Tidy of Club 18-30, said, "Club 18-30 is one of Britain's most notorious brands and a generic term for a certain type of holiday. The brand is unashamed of what it is and does not take itself too seriously."

But at the seminar of Creativity for the Greater Good, all felt the need to dwell on public service advertising. Hunger, AIDS, intolerance… all demand immediate attention. Linda Wolf, chairman & CEO, Leo Burnett, said, "We need to use the same techniques as we do for building brands for clients. There has to be a fine line between persuasion and pressure."

Finally, the much-awaited Film Jury's shortlist of 537 commercials is out. Only three India entries made it. One in the Public Health & Safety category (for Birla Sun Life by Concept Communications), and two in the Public Awareness category (the ‘Save the Tiger' and ‘Save the Girl Child' campaigns, both by Leo Burnett). But missing in action is Ogilvy's innovative ‘barber shop' for Center Shock - probably edged out by some equally fresh work from J Walter Thompson, Bangkok, for Chiclets, another strong contender in that category.

The strongest contender in the Car category is Honda's ‘Cog', tipped for the Grand Prix. The two-minute ballet poem, created in UK by Wieden + Kennedy, shows car-parts coming together. And the buzz portends well. Other contenders are Saturn's ‘sheet metal' (which shows a world without cars) and a spot for Peugeot by Euro RSCG shot in Jaipur (about a man trying to re-shape his Ambassador like a Peugeot).

The shortlist has its share of extreme ads. Levi's ‘Rub', an artsy rendition showing people rubbing themselves and their Levi's. Budweiser's ‘Wedding Toast', about the best man and his wedding guest from hell. MTV Latin America, with a baby enjoying the mother's breast milk and more. Miller-Lite's ‘Cat Fight' between two buxom ladies. Nike's ‘Love', which shows the underground world of street acrobats (it has the largest number of entries, 25). Talking of entries in the list, the US leads with 164. The UK has 91, Canada 29, Spain 28, Netherlands 25, Argentina 20, France 19, Germany 15 and Brazil has 13.

Bob Garfield (of Advertising Age's widely read column, Ad-Review) sums it best: "Are you a screenwriter, copywriter, director, art-director? Rush to that stage. Hoist that Lion. Get the big salary. Get your art agency, not necessarily because you're moved much merchandise, but because you are clever, clever, clever. And all the whistling wannabes want to be like you. Only they are too clever, clever, clever by half, half, half. Now hit the Martinez bar, while back, the client sits at his desk, sweating market share and thinking of firing your award-winning ***e." © 2003 agencyfaqs!