Yesterday, at the annual ad agency confab, Cannes Lions, two of my favorite campaigns of the year won Cyber Grand Prix awards. Wieden & Kennedy's "Chalkbot" for Nike and DDB Stockholm's "Fun Theory" for VW took the top honors. Both of these campaigns are brilliant executions of strong ideas. Chalkbot continues to be a totally unique concept and one of the best uses of social media and real-time marketing that I can think of. Fun Theory is just that -- fun. Both were given awards because of their use of invisible technology and interactivity. One of the jury members was quoted saying "The stuff that was so innovative was the stuff that seemed magical. It had technology, but that's not what was showing." Most importantly, I think, is that these campaigns were clearly designed with the technology considered at the very beginning. This rarely works in traditional agencies and I think that's another reason for the high honors.
Just a few days ago, VW in Germany released three new videos clearly based on The Fun Theory called Fast Lane, produced by DDB Tribal. The ads follow the same motif as the Cannes Winners -- real world interventions that cause people to pay attention, experiment, and smile. The tag line "Driven by Fun" says it all and is garnering a ton of traffic on Facebook and other places. I particularly like the slide in the subway station, but I am sure that my son who is a fan of rocketships and glass elevators would find that one more enjoyable. Which one do you like?
