London: The Gunn Report has released Cases for Creativity 2016, a round-up of the 15 campaigns that have achieved the highest accolade in advertising by winning both a Cannes Gold Lion for creativity and a Gold Effie award for effectiveness. Cases for Creativity is an annual study by NZ adman James Hurman, who won both during his years as strategic planner at Colenso BBDO.
These days, Hurman is an author and founder of innovation consultancy Previously Unavailable.
“Two of this year’s group are retrospective effectiveness awards, acknowledging the success, over many years, of Old Spice and John Lewis,” Hurman says. “These feel like proper creative advertising. campaigns that have taken two brands that by rights should have been as dull as dishwater, and made them transcend their natural order. Made leaders of them.
“But looking at the other, more recent campaigns, I worry that we’re losing the ability to do that. We’re in danger of becoming overly seduced by anything that’s trying to save the world. And our commercial campaigns look less like efforts to make brands transcendent and more like attempts to follow a fashion of being so real and authentic that we actually kind of avoid creativity.
“Whilst these campaigns can be disarming to the consumer, I’m not sure it’s really creative. Most troubling, these campaigns all feel just a bit too similar. Like we’ve stopped awarding work that’s different, and started awarding work that’s the same. As the gold Effies prove, these campaigns are effective, but we musn’t lose the ability to set brands apart with big shiny ideas as we are in danger of losing the magic that creative agencies can add to brands.”
The Cases for Creativity 2016 are:
- #whoistheking for Burger King by Buzzman, France
- Breast Cream for New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation by Colenso BBDO, New Zealand
- Groceries Not Guns for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America by Grey Toronto, Canada
- Last Words for Indian Association of Palliative Care by Medulla Communications, India
- Lifepaint for Volvo by Grey London, United Kingdom
- Manboobs for MACMA by David Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Multiple campaigns for John Lewis by adam&eveDDB, United Kingdom
- Multiple campaigns for Old Spice by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, USA
- Radiometries, for Exito Foundation by Sancho BBDO, Colombia
- Save our Songbirds for Natura 2000 NGO Coalition by Jazz, Romania
- Share the Load for Ariel by BBDO Mumbai, India
- The 6-Pack Band for Brooke Bond Red Label by Mindshare Mumbai, India
- The Bulletpen for Ministry of National Education by McCann Bogotá, Colombia
- The Madden Giferator for EA Sports by Heat, USA
- World Gallery for Apple by TBWA\Media Arts Lab Los Angeles, USA
About James Hurman
James Hurman is a New Zealander who spent the majority of his career as a strategic planner in the advertising industry. In 2013 he was named the world’s #1 planning director by the Big Won Report, following many years as head of planning at Auckland agency Colenso BBDO. Equally passionate about creativity and effectiveness, Hurman’s work has won 20 Cannes Lions and more than 50 effectiveness awards. He’s the author of The Case for Creativity, a book about the link between creativity and effectiveness in advertising and published by Cannes Lions Festivals. In 2014 James founded innovation consultancy Previously Unavailable. He lives in Auckland with his wife and children.
“I’m a passionate Aucklander,” Hurman says. “I try to involve myself as much as possible as a cheerleader of our city, which I believe is becoming one of the world’s great cities before out eyes.”
- More here: www.gunnreport.com/cases-for-creativity
- Hurman can be contacted at www.thecaseforcreativity.com
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