Hasta La Creative!

In life, as in advertising, the best idea usually wins.

That simple insight informs McCann’s campaign for the 2015 Clio Awards, featuring pairs of famous foes—Nelson Mandela and Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid; Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner; Al Capone and J. Edgar Hoover; and angel and devil.

“It’s just this simple idea that, throughout history, the best ideas always go right to the top,” says Noel Cottrell, chief creative officer at Fitzgerald & Co. (part of the McCann group), who helmed the campaign, over on the Clio site. “There are very few times when bad ideas have trumped. If you think about fashion, or politics, or life generally, the best ideas win. We think it’s a great expression of that.”

The campaign is alternately goofy and serious. Cottrell—who is from South Africa, and feels a strong connection to the Mandela/Verwoerd ad—says that flexibility is a strength.

“One image could be Nelson Mandela and Hendrik Verwoerd, another could be Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and still the best idea wins,” he says. “I love that the campaign can stretch like that, from being sort of flip and funny to serious and controversial. I’m hoping we can carry on doing this.”

More images below.

(Note: Clio and Adweek are both owned by affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.)

CREDITS
Agency – Fitzco/McCann
Noel Cottrell – Chief Creative Officer
Andrew Whitehouse – Creative Director/Art Director
Ryan Boblett – Group Creative Director/Art Director
Brad Harvey – Group Creative Director/Copywriter
Eric Monnet – Network Creative Manager
Cris Tally – Director, Project Management
Siera Williams – Assistant Account Manager
Deb Archambault – Senior Integrated Producer
Kimberly Kress – SVP, Director of Talent Partnerships
Gordon Corte – Talent Manager

Host Whoopi Goldberg brought the funny all evening long at Wednesday’s 55th Clio Awards in New York. But it was Jerry Seinfeld who brought down the house with a brilliant, hilarious speech about why he loves advertising—which ended up being a blistering anti-advertising rant that comically eviscerated the business.

“I love advertising because I love lying,” Seinfeld began. And he only got more brutally honest from there.

“I just want to enjoy the commercial. I want to get the thing,” he said. “We know the product is going to stink. We know that because we live in the world, and we know that everything stinks. We all believe, ‘Hey, maybe this one won’t stink.’ We are a hopeful species. Stupid but hopeful. But we’re happy in that moment between the commercial and the purchase. And I think spending your life trying to dupe innocent people out of hard-won earnings to buy useless, low-quality, misrepresented items and services is an excellent use of your energy.”

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Seinfeld also mentioned the debacle that happened at the 1991 Clio Awards, when greedy attendees rushed the stage in a mad grab for Clios they hadn’t won. That’s his favorite award-show story, Seinfeld said, because it’s so honest.

There were roars of laughter—because of course, Seinfeld is hardly an innocent party in the ad game. He’s done plenty of lying and duping over the years, most recently for Acura, and was getting an Honorary Award for that work last night. (He also thanked Ogilvy & Mather and American Express for getting him into the business to begin with.)

But while most attendees agreed the speech was the highlight of the night, there may have been a few hurt feelings here and there. As an award winner said in his speech later in the night, “Apparently everything I do is meaningless. But it was Jerry Seinfeld who said it, so I suppose that makes it OK.”

Via Clios.com, which just unveiled a new blog this week. (Disclosure: Adweek and the Clio Awards are both owned by affiliates of Guggenheim Partners.)

Obama levou seu primeiro prêmio publicitário na última noite, ganhando Grand CLIO, prêmio máximo, na categoria Integrated do CLIO Awards 2009, que completa 50 anos. Já é uma grande pista do que pode acontecer em Titanium no Cannes Lions, mês que vem.

Na mesma categoria, a campanha “I’m a PC” da Microsoft levou prata, e o “Routan Baby” da Volkswagen, ouro. Veja todos os ganhadores de Integrated aqui.

Já na categoria Interactive, o Grand CLIO foi para “Whopper Sacrifice”, aplicativo de Facebook do Burger King. “Now Widget” da Sprint e “Wario Land: Shake It” da Nintendo ganharam ouro. As 12 câmeras do Radiohead ficaram com prata.

Alguns bronzes foram para “Balloon Race” da Orange, “Hotel 626″ de Doritos, o excel animado do AC/DC, o viral “Bike Hero” e a ação para “Gears of War 2″. Confira todos os vencedores de Interactive aqui.

E como eu disse em um post anterior, o Grand CLIO de Print já era bola cantada. Foi para a campanha de Alka Seltzer da CLM BBDO. Veja todos. Falta ainda sabermos os ganhadores na categoria Film, que serão revelados hoje.