The first-ever Grand Prix for promotions was presented at the Cannes International Advertising Festival today to Crispin, Porter + Bogusky for a viral-marketing campaign for Volkswagen of America.
Twenty eight other campaigns—three of them from the U.S.—won Promo Lion awards in the first year that Cannes has extended the iconic advertising competition to promotion marketing.
“The first-ever Promo Lions, I believe, has set promotion ahead by five years,” said Draft executive VP Lor Gold, who served as president of the Promo Lions jury.
Miami-based Crispin Porter won VW’s full advertising and marketing account in December. Its Grand Prix-winning campaign supported the launch of VW’s GTI MK V, targeting young male car aficionados (“tuners”), especially GTI fans. Before the launch, VW e-mailed GTI fans to visit www.projectfast.com and describe their internal “fast” character physically.
Crispin Porter used that input to design a character, Fast, that appeared in TV spots (and an e-mail blast timed to the launch) and became a gift-with-purchase premium: Consumers who bought a GTI got one of 17,000 vinyl Fasts, with a care-and-feeding manual and four interchangeable tails.
Sales beat projections by 80%, and some of the plastic premiums sold on eBay for up to $800.
The panel of 19 judges agreed that winning campaigns had to “transcend geography, politics, language and other biases— universal clarity, power and motivation,” Gold said. It also had to be “born from a strong consumer insight and a clear end-objective, [and] result in sales.” (See his Cannes Diary blog at promomagazine.com.)
The three other U.S. campaigns that won Promo Lions were:
- “$1.25” for Inbev USA, by Lowe (best use of print)
- “Keyword Mania” for Corbis, by Remerinc (best customer marketing)
- “Apprentice” for Pontiac, by Leo Burnett Detroit (best product launch or re-launch)
Pontiac’s “Apprentice” effort won the top PRO Award in October 2005, an Interactive Marketing Award in March 2006, an EMMA in May 2006 (all three from PROMO), and the PMA’s Super Reggie for Digitas and Leo Burnett Detroit.
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