Advertising Marathon 2013 – Analysis

Like every summer, Canal+ has broadcast its “Advertising Marathon”, the program that showcases the best of the advertising festivals El Sol and Cannes Lions. And, like every summer (I think it’s been more than fifteen years now), I have repeated my seasonal ritual: marking the broadcast date a month in advance, watching the program several times (back in the day on VHS, now in a more digital format), and carrying out an exhaustive analysis of what are supposed to be the best advertising campaigns of the year. In the past I’ve shared the results of my annual review on Twitter or other platforms, but what better place than this blog to present my analysis? Here we go.

First of all, it must be said that the overall quality of the ads has been quite low this year. Proof of this is that the Grand Prize at El Sol was left vacant. In theory, times of crisis are when creativity is at its sharpest and campaigns are at their boldest, but none of that has been evident this year. Most worrying is that a large number of the award winners were what I call “Kekulé ads.” Kekulé ads are those based on the sudden flash of inspiration of an advertising creative who, like Friedrich August Kekulé, comes up with a very clever idea on the way to work. These ads are built around a one-off gag that often has little or nothing to do with the product being advertised. In other words, it feels like the agency could have used the same idea for shoe polish, an alcoholic beverage, or an NGO. In Kekulé ads, the idea is developed solely to grab attention (at any cost and very often under the premise of showing how cool/trendy/etc. the creators are), forgetting to communicate something more: a brand concept, a clear message, a thread to continue the campaign in the future, something.

That’s why, for me, the best ad of the year has been “Dueño de Casa” by Madre Buenos Aires for Banco Hipotecario. This ad starts from a good and original idea and also continues, in an innovative way, the “dueños” campaign that the agency has been developing for several years for the bank. This ad resonates, it’s popular (just look at the YouTube comments), and unlike Kekulé ads, it informs and conveys a concise message.

Many other ads struck me as very low-level, with overly simple ideas and associations. Even the scam ads were very basic this year. The clearest example of this drop in quality is the spot “Tecnología que emociona” by DDB Spain:

It’s hard to believe that the creators of this piece are the same agency-client duo that used to deliver true masterpieces (and Grand Prizes at previous editions of El Sol), such as “Camello” and “Sueños”:

How the mighty have fallen. I could even imagine, while watching the ad, the creatives gathered in a brainstorming session coming up with this dud: —Our car has a lot of technology. —Yes, but remember we have to talk about emotions. —Technology that moves you. —That’s it! —Well, yesterday I saw a YouTube video about a girl getting a cochlear implant… (you know the rest).

As for the Grand Prix at the Cannes festival, I think it was well deserved this year. An excellent idea, excellently executed, and an excellent example of how advertising can improve the world and even save lives.

In addition to this fantastic video and the usual visual materials, the campaign also included a mobile game, a karaoke version, and even a Tumblr page with GIFs. I would really like to know the accident statistics before and after the campaign.

The best Spanish ad of the year has been, in my opinion, “Entrevista” by Sra. Rushmore for Atlético de Madrid:

I loved how they twisted the usual idea behind the agency’s previous ads, where Atlético fans were portrayed as people used to suffering and proud to support their team and blah blah blah… This time, it’s the opposite: being an Atlético de Madrid supporter gives you something; it toughens you up; it shows that you don’t have to be galactic to succeed. Really very good.

Before finishing, it’s worth highlighting that the best country this year has been Brazil. Its work has been of very high quality, as shown by its second-place finish (behind the United States) at the Cannes festival in terms of number of Lions. An example of this is the campaign “É o novo” by DDB Brasil for Follow magazine: