Why it won:
Tony Hertz, jury president and the proprieter of Tony Hertz
Radio and Brand Sound, said that "it was one of those campaigns
that because you had to listen to it a lot, it didn't feel like a
duty."
The radio category sometimes awards more "gimmicky" radio work
– two years ago it gave the top prize to "Radio Repellent,"
which sent out a mosquito-repelling signal over the airwaves. But
this time, jurors awarded a straightforward ad. "It has every
element of craft," said Mr. Hertz. "It's beautifully written,
excellently produced, and there is nothing to criticize about
it."
Juror Vanessa Pearson, exec creative director at South Africa's
"House of Brave," said that the jury felt "energized" every time
they heard the ad. She also offered some context about radio in
South Africa, saying that nine years ago the work in the industry
was really bad. South Africa made a real effort to create more
quality work, and in the country clients take risks on radio. It
"speaks to a lot of people," she said of the medium.
The jury:
On the jury for the first time, said Mr. Hertz, was someone who
actually worked in radio and not in advertising: Tapas Sen, chief
programming officer at Radio Mirchi in India.
Hot topic at press conference:
The difficulty of creativity in radio was a large part of the
discussion, something that has been discussed in previous juries in
this category as well. Mr. Hertz says that while research shows
that people switch off less on radio than any medium when it comes
to ads, the reality is that "more advertising and marketing
communications are now visual, with new steps all becoming
screen-based." Because of this, there are fewer people teaching
good radio advertising skills, something he said is a problem.
Radio entries to Cannes were down 7% this year. Mr. Sen from
Radio Mirchi said that advertising on radio has to be thought of in
a different way, by treating it as branded content. On radio, the
first responsibility is to the listener, not the client paying for
the ad. "Advertising is radio is past commercial breaks," he said.
In fact, he said that in India radio channels have been letting the
editor of the programming decide on whether the radio ads are good
enough to go on air, not the business-side manager. "We have to
tailor the editorial space for listener needs," he said.
