ARNOLD BEETLE ADS JUST BARELY LOST Contrarian Approach Was Widely Admired June 19, 2001 By Jim Hanas CANNES (Creativity) -- Arnold Worldwide of Boston came tantalizingly close to snagging its second Grand Prix in four years for a Volkswagen Beetle print campaign that features seemingly distracting spectacles -- from space shuttle launches to volcanic eruptions -- that fail to take attention away from the shiny new Beetle. Clad only in lettuce leaves, the posing model doesn't distract attention from the real star -- the silver Beetle in the distance. Arnold's print campaign for the Beetle reverses the conventions of automotive advertising by relegating the car to the background. In the foreground we see a man covered in bees or a model clad in nothing but lettuce. But the allure of the apparently eclipsed Beetle cannot be overcome. "Hey. There's a silver one," the copy quips. 'Very bold' "It is very bold but it has something in addition to that," said juror Hans-Joachim Timm of Timm's Communication, Frankfurt, who favored the Arnold campaign. "Volkswagen has been around for such a long time and the Beetle means something to the American community. It's rejuvenating and I see that reflected in the campaign. It's great. I think it's a great job." Arnold's previous work for Volkswagen landed the Press & Poster Grand Prix in 1998. But on Monday, after three and a half hours of deliberation that went late into the evening, the Press & Poster jury voted, by a margin of 12-9, to award Cannes' top print advertising honor to a recent Diesel campaign from Paradiset DDB, Stockholm. Related Stories: DDB CHAIRMAN LAUDS DIESEL WIN Says His Company's Ad Ideas were 'Much More Complex' DIESEL ADS WIN PRESS & POSTER GRAND PRIX Offbeat African Images Edge Out Volkswagen Campaign JUROR: U.S. ENTRIES 'WEAK' IN PRINT CATEGORY Are American Agencies 'Losing Interest'? Deliberations were so tight the jury had to vote to suspend the two-thirds vote normally required and award the Grand Prix based on a simple majority 'Totally locked as a jury' "We had two fantastic Grand Prix campaigns on the floor and we were totally locked as a jury for many hours," Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Creative Director and jury president Bob Isherwood said at a press conference earlier today. "It's fair to say that the Diesel campaign won, but it won by a smallish majority in the end." At this afternoon's press conference, some mulled the meaning of awarding the Grand Prix to work that had failed to retain the client -- after a long relationship with Paradiset DDB, Diesel moved its account to Kessels Kramer, Amsterdam, in December -- but Timm says that was never a factor in the deliberations. Arnold still walks away with one of only five Press & Poster Gold Lions awarded to U.S. agencies this year. Jim Hanas is associate editor of Creativity magazine. © 2001, Crain Communications Inc. Editor@AdAge.com ..