This year's Festival of Media, held in Valencia, Spain, honored effective media campaigns from around the globe. Over the next few weeks, MediaWorks will take a look at some of the winners, illuminating the insights behind the campaigns and why they worked. This week's case study, from Goodby Silverstein & Partners, won the Media Responsibility Award.

Faced with a shrinking share of the ice-cream market and a diminishing connection between it and consumers, Haagen Dazs needed a vehicle that would help turn its situation around. That vehicle turned out to be the honey bee.

For a little more than $1 million, the storied ice-cream brand launched "HD loves HB." The effort, one of the more socially conscious and most talked about and reported on campaigns of last year, centered around saving the honey bee, whose population was mysteriously dying off. Honey bees and ice cream, what's the connection?

Turns out Haagen Dazs depends on bee pollination for more than 40% of its flavors. So Haagen Dazs not only tied its brand to one of last year's hot-button issues, but it actually had a connection to the cause, a must for any marketer trying to prove its green-marketing efforts aren't just a one-off to a very savvy and skeptical consumer base.

Christine Chen, deputy director communications strategy at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, the agency behind the campaign, said it wasn't looking for a cause to get behind when brainstorming ideas for the campaign but the honey bee issue was a perfect fit.

"We felt like this was something that allowed us to stay very true to who we are and it presented a clear case to consumers as to what kind of skin we have in the game," Ms. Chen said. She said the approach offered consumers a different look at Haagen Dazs because all of its previous communications focused on the brand and what makes for great ice cream.

"It was a very different thing to invite people in through this one angle, which showed a vulnerability to the brand that also had a connection to something larger than itself," she said. Ms. Chen said it was the connection between the cause and the brand that resonated with consumers and helped drive the success of the campaign. "That [connection] made it more than just some cause we say we care about. It was something that probably came as surprise to consumers because it was a way they never really thought about the brand before."

The pairing was also a good fit because research showed the company's consumers were increasingly more mindful about what they eat and where their food comes from.

Ms. Chen said the other component of the campaign that aided in its success was thinking of the effort as a communications platform and "everything we did last year was focused on the idea that each piece should be a catalyst for a conversation and the tactics and vehicles we used were meant to be little experiments unto themselves." She said the idea was to get people to think about the problem "first and foremost" and then understand Haagen Dazs' connection to it and then motivate consumers to do something about it.

The company kicked off the effort by announcing a $250,000 research grant to Penn State; a new Vanilla Honey Bee flavor; a print partnership with National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living and Gourmet, featuring custom advertorials; and the first plantable, seed-embedded paper-insert ads, which readers could crumple up and plant in the ground. A hip-hop-themed "Bee Dance" video and "A Bee Graffiti" contest on Facebook drove the online effort.

The campaign generated 125 million PR impressions, the goal for the entire year, just one week after its launch. Other results included an increase in unaided brand awareness from 29% to 36%.

But like everything in life, Ms. Chen admits that timing had a lot do with the campaign's success.

"It was definitely the right time as media coverage for the bees had just started when we were planning everything and it gave the media something else to talk about," she said. "People were concerned about it and they were looking for something to do to focus their energies. We weren't asking consumers to do anything out of the ordinary, we were telling them to go eat ice cream. We said we are going to be supporting the bees no matter what and we would love for you to enjoy our ice cream while you are at it and I think that made it much more genuine for consumers."

Semantische Anzeigenkampagne via iSense Network gewinnt bei den internationalen Awards in der Kategorie „Communication Futures“

Nürnberg, April 2009 – ad pepper media gewinnt den ersten Preis beim Festival of Media Awards, einem internationalen Awards-Programm, deren Ausschreibung weltweit an Unternehmen der Medienindustrie gerichtet war. 

Die Kampagne für die Küchengeräte-Marke Smeg, für die ad pepper media den Preis in der Kategorie „Communication Futures“ erhielt, wurde von der Jury aus 650 Wettbewerbsbeiträgen aus 52 Ländern ausgewählt. Zu den Juroren zählten zahlreiche Größen der internationalen Medien- und Werbebranche. Sie würdigten die Smeg-Retro-Kampagne als eine der ersten, die von den Vorteilen des semantischen Targetings profitieren, die das iSense Network von ad pepper media bietet. 

Das iSense Network und sein Schwesterprodukt SiteScreen Network führen blitzschnell semantische Analysen von Webseiten durch, um deren Inhalt zu verstehen. Dadurch wird es möglich, Online-Anzeigen mit beispielloser Genauigkeit bei passenden Seiteninhalten zu platzieren und gegebenenfalls zu verhindern, dass sie zusammen mit unerwünschten Inhalten erscheinen. Auch Marken wie Microsoft, Fujitsu Siemens, HSBC, Shell und 3M nutzen jetzt das patentierte iSense Network, um exaktes Targeting zu ermöglichen und leistungsorientierte oder markenbildende Kampagnen zu optimieren. 

ad pepper media nahm den Award – die vierte Auszeichnung dieser Art seit 2008 – bei der Gala am 21. April 2009 im spanischen Valencia entgegen.

Cally Elston, Brand Manager bei Smeg, sagte dazu: „2008 testeten wir erstmals Werbung in Online-Netzwerken. Semantisches Targeting hatte für uns das Potenzial, die richtigen, stark an bestimmten Lifestyle-Kategorien interessierten Zielgruppen auf kosteneffiziente Weise zu erreichen. Deshalb nutzten wir das iSense Network von ad pepper media, um gezielt Internetnutzer anzusprechen, die auf einer breiten Palette hochwertiger, journalistisch orientierter Websites Inhalte in den Bereichen Unterhaltung, Haus & Garten sowie Essen & Trinken ansteuern. Die ersten Testkampagnen brachten uns derart viele Click-Throughs und Conversions ein, dass Online-Werbung mit iSense Display jetzt ein unverzichtbares Element unserer Marketingpläne ist.“ 

Sacha Carton, Präsident von iSense und Director of the Board bei ad pepper media International N.V., erklärte: „Das Festival of Media Awards ist der jüngste Wettbewerb, der die Tatsache würdigt, dass Werbetreibende, Publisher und Webbesucher, die online relevante Werbung sehen möchten, von semantischem Targeting profitieren. Das iSense Network simuliert die Art und Weise, wie Menschen die Bedeutung von Inhalten analysieren, um zu gewährleisten, dass Anzeigen so präzise wie irgend möglich platziert werden. Angesichts der explosionsartigen Vermehrung von Online-Content und der Mängel anderer Targeting-Methoden wird sich semantisches Targeting bald zum Standard entwickeln.“ 

Link zum Entry-Video-Showreel und einem Überblick über die Kampagne: http://www.creamglobal.com/casestudy.cfm?i=94

Weitere Informationen über ad pepper media finden Sie im Internet unter www.adpepper.com

With comScore chairman and co-founder Gian Fulgoni, and comScore mobile expert Paul Goode, both speaking at the event, I travelled to Valencia last week to attend the Festival of Media.

The sun shone brightly on the modern senate building, providing a welcoming emblem of an ancient industry transitioning itself towards a Web 2.0 world. Inside the congress centre, allegory gave way to action, as the impressive surroundings rang-out with a pragmatic and pioneering determination to find genuine answers to the key questions facing the industry today.

In this respect the Festival was one of the most rewarding industry gatherings that I have attended in some time. The recession has sparked newfound momentum in the industry’s quest to integrate itself into the advertising world, and that focus made for an electric atmosphere throughout the two day program.

For our part, we were glad to be involved in the debate, and able to emphasize the importance of accurate quantitative tools in helping move the flow of ad-dollars online.

If there a few remaining outlaws in the media world who still refute this approach, then I would cite my own allegory to emphasize the impact that good research can have on media content and advertising. When Will Smith moved to Hollywood for the first time, he sat down with his agent and together they researched a list of the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time. From that list they found that:

• 10 of those movies involved special effects
• 9 of those movies involved special effects with some form of creature
• And 8 of those movies involved special effects with some form of creature AND a love story

This kind of data collection empowered “Big Will” to become a most successful film actor, and highlights that even an industry that trades upon its creativity and individuality must employ quantitative analytical techniques if it is to truly excel.

With that in mind Mr. Fulgoni took to the stage on the morning of the first day to brief the room on how relevant and reliable data can provide the catalyst for changing media markets and specifically in today’s digital climate, move ad-dollars online.

His presentation was followed by a press conference examining online media business models alongside Hernan Lopez, COO of Fox International Channels, and Saul Berman, Strategy & Change Practice Leader for IBM Global Services. For exclusive highlights of this press conference stay tuned for another update here on the comScore blog later this week!

The media industry still has a long way to go before it is able to realize its full potential on new and growing digital platforms, but what I witnessed in Valencia was an industry not only now set-up to deal with that change, but ready to welcome it with open arms. Just as we know that people like going to the movies, we also know that they like going online – over one billion people accessed the Internet around the world in March. The key now will be to find those digital platforms that involve special effects and a creature and a love story, to facilitate the monetization of content online.

By James Gavin

Agency CEOs Say It's Time to Alter Payment Model, Relationships With Clients

VALENCIA (AdAge.com) -- While they weren't listed as session topics on the conference agenda of last week's 2009 Festival of Media in Valencia, Spain, agency compensation and payment cycles were clearly on the minds of the high-ranking agency players in attendance.

As the economy continues its assault on marketers, many have extended or just flat out delayed their payments to media owners, resulting in media agencies holding the bag and incurring some significant expense risks on behalf of their clients. Mainardo de Nardis, global CEO of Omnicom Group's OMD Global, said his biggest concern was the "the number of clients who are asking for unreasonable terms of business, like longer delayed payments."

Worse, they've watched the already vicious game of follow-me-to-the-bottom that characterizes so many media reviews get so bad that many concede privately that they're doing a lot of work for profit margins of zero-point-something.

Maria Luisa Francoli, global CEO of Havas' MPG, said her agency is contending with these issues. She said she believes it's time the compensation model start moving from a commission-based one to a value-based model built around a campaign's success, with the "key indicators of success" decided upon by the agency and the client. "In the last few years we have seen it moving in this direction," Ms. Francoli said. "It's a good thing to share that risk with the client and have part of your compensation linked to success."

In a session featuring four global CEOs -- Nick Brien, president-CEO of Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mediabrands; Jack Klues, managing partner at Publicis Groupe's Vivaki; Dominic Proctor, CEO of WPP's Mindshare Worldwide; and Mr. de Nardis -- compensation came up in the first few minutes. Mr. Klues said this is the time for media agencies to reframe the client/agency relationship and compensation structure to a more outcome-based model, but said that requires data from both sides.

The 'shackles of commission'

"We have taken on some initiatives ourselves," Mr. Klues said. "But we are going to have to take on a shared responsibility with our clients to make sure we have the data to which we can base such remunerations on."

Mr. Proctor said that while he doesn't love the phenomenon, media agencies have to accept that some reviews are going to be about little more than driving down prices at the behest of procurement executives.

During that session, two panelists suggested groups such as the American Association of Advertising Agencies take more of a stand on the compensation issue. Nancy Hill, 4A's president-CEO, was in the audience for the session and told Ad Age the organization is constantly working with its agency members on the issue. She added that it's time for media agencies to find a way to break the "shackles of commission" and look beyond it as the only compensation model.

"Many of our members are doing that," Ms. Hill said. "It's our job to bring people together to share best practices, not to try to get one solution but to see what works in one situation. What is best for both sides of the equation is to get to a place where clients feel like they are paying for value and agencies feel like they are paying for their value."

The other concern voiced by media agencies was the issue of having to deal with a client's media expenditure they can't afford to pay.

Risk is nature of industry

"It is becoming more difficult to deal with some of the requirements that advertisers have," Ms. Francoli said. "Specifically regarding payment terms like asking for a longer payment term, which may put a financial strain on the agency. The agency's only option is to finance that or share part of it with the media owners, which is a difficult decision, because we are the middle man between those two parties, so that's a risk."

Her advice to agencies struggling with similar situations is to approach media owners and discuss the possibility of allocating the expense between the two. But she also warned that agencies will encounter some media owners who are not very open to the idea of sharing that expense. And if an agency can't find someone to help bear the brunt of its client's delayed payments, she suggested getting recognition for the risk assumption from clients in other parts of the agency/client compensation agreements.

In the CEO session, Mr. Brien addressed the risk factor, calling it the nature of the industry. "We are always going to be taking a certain amount of risk," he said. "If we continue to compartmentalize between agency, client and media owners and not have the conversations we need to, we will not get a level of effectiveness to resolve these issues."

Ms. Francoli said MPG has a rigorous risk analysis it performs for every client to determine if the agency should float its media expenditures. "Sometimes we have had to say no if we don't feel comfortable with the risk level, and there's no insurance company that was willing to insure the cost," Ms. Francoli said. But before saying no, she said the agency will offer clients a "pre-payment plan, which is the same thing as having the client pay directly."

As for the conference, the 550 attendees seemed happy not to have to deal with overpriced water taxis and an impossible transportation setup like they did for the past two festivals in Venice, Italy.

But some felt it was a repeat of last year in terms of the industry talking to itself, with too many sales pitches coming from media owners and vendors. "I didn't come out of here at all thinking: I never thought of that or that's something new that never occurred to me," one attendee said.

MPG's Ms. Francoli said she agreed there were no "great revelations" but said she felt there were good moments of reflection. "And it was interesting to hear what these people had to say and how they said it," she said. "It depends on the level of expectations you have going in. While some of them were not revealing others were very insightful and expressed, in an intelligent way, things that have been on our minds."

by Michael Bush

VALENCIA: Procter & Gamble, the consumer goods company, and Coca-Cola, the soft drinks giant, will continue to spend on advertising in the downturn, but both firms are also placing a greater emphasis on innovation and efficiency.

Bernhard Glock, P&G's vice president of global media and communications, argued the world's biggest advertiser is "committed to continue spending behind its branding efforts."

Among other initiatives, it will also aim to double its outlay on innovative and sustainable products to $50 billion (€39bn; £35bn) by 2012 according to Glock, who was speaking at the Festival of Media in Valencia.

He added that in the current, rapidly-changing environment, advertisers and agencies must adapt, and also seek to drive the overall transformation rather than "be changed" by external events.

P&G wants to work "hand-in-hand with our agencies," combining increased collaboration with a greater simplicity in decision-making in order to "develop and free up capacity for innovation."

Maarten L. Albarda, Coca-Cola's director of media and communication innovation, said the Atlanta-based beverage-maker was similarly attempting to "nurture" and "protect" its marketing budget, but would also be "keeping investments relatively flat."

As such, he argued that agencies should not to "look at budgets to determine position or relative strength," and also be honest enough to admit when they "can't handle something."

Coca-Cola's marketing strategy for the recession revolves around "connection planning," which Albarda defined as a "360 degree" approach that is "consumer-centric," "media neutral" and "goes across all touchpoints.”

Babs Rangaiah, director of global communications planning at Unilever, also said at the event that the Anglo-Dutch food-to-homecare company was "scanning the globe for ideas and content."

In this vein, he argued that the modern agency – "Agency 2.0" – needs to bring "everything together in the way it comes to the clients with the solutions."

Data sourced from AdAge/Rightbrainleftbrainblog; additional content by WARC staff

Starcom MediaVest Group scooped the Media Agency Network of the Year Award at the inaugural Festival of Media Awards. Runners up were Mindshare and Mediacom.

Agency of the year went to Digitas USA, with PHD Canada and Goodby, Sliverstein & Partners commended.

For the full list of winners, visit the Festival of Media Awards site. And to see all of the shortlisted case studies, see www.creamglobal.com/peoplesaward

Posted by Olivia Solon

This week the annual Festival of Media took place in Valencia, Spain. Several hundred key leaders from the media and advertising industry convened for 2 days of informative presentations and relaxed networking in the Spanish sun.

The global economic situation was clearly a big topic, and major brands P & G and Coca Cola talked about how they are organizing to get through this difficult time.
 

The Global Economy

Certainly the topic that was on the top of everyone’s mind was the impact that the current global economic crisis will have on the industry. Stephen Allan CEO of MediaCom and Charles Courtier, CEO of Mediaedge:cia discussed this at length in their session. There were several key points they highlighted.

§ The biggest impact is that the attitude of consumers has changed. They are feeling very “uncertain”, which means they are now looking for “value”. So brands need to be sure that their advertising is communicating a “value” message.

§ The time horizons for marketing campaigns are shortening, as brands are less willing to make long term commitments. This means that agencies need to become faster and more nimble to meet this need.

§ Everyone is feeling the pain and passing it back along the value chain. Retailers feel squeezed so they squeeze the brands, who in turn tend to pass it along to their agencies, and eventually back to media owners. Some agencies have begun looking for media owners to set up arrangements where they share the risk rather than staying with traditional fee structures.

The Brands Speak Out

Another one of the highlight sessions was “The Marketers’ Response”, with two of the biggest brands in the world – Procter & Gamble and Coca Cola - talking about how they are handling the current environment.

Bernhard Glock, VP of Global Media and Communications at P&G, first emphasized that P&G’s objective has not changed, it is still to create value for consumers every day. That has been their strategy, and they are sticking with this. 

Berhard then offered some thoughts on how to address what he sees as the eight key “C” words facing today’s marketers.
 

1. Consumers: spend effort on learning to understand consumers. Try to develop a holistic, consumer-centric view, rather then just looking a specific media-centric research.

2. Confidence: Consumers are feeling uneasy, and in general don’t trust advertising, so make sure you do everything you can to build confidence in your brand.

3. Competition: Embrace it, it’s here to stay and will intensify. There are two critical competitive moments to focus on – when a consumer picks your product off the shelf for the first time to try it, and when they come back later for a repeat purchase.

4. Cost: Due to changing prices, ROI levels are often very varied these days. And with media representing such a large portion of costs, it is often getting attention at the very top levels of the company where perhaps it didn’t previously.

5. Collaboration: You have to mean it. But every member of the value chain needs to add value, not just complexity, or you won’t be around for much longer.

6. Consolidation: Watch out for it, it is happening everywhere. P&G tries to identify and work with the companies they believe will be the future winners in the consolidation game.

7. Children: Learn from them, especially their commitment to sustainability. This is now a fundamental factor in consumer choice, and will keep growing stronger over time. So companies need to make sustainability a core company value as well. He also showed a wonderful program that P&G has put in place to provide clean water to underdeveloped areas of the world, check it out here).

8. Change: Bernard’s message was simple: “Do it – if we don’t change, we get changed”

Integrated Marketing Communications

Martin Albarda, Director of Media and Communication Innovation at Coca Cola, talked about how Coke uses IMC (integrated marketing communications) approach. He first pointed out that IMC is quite different from what people call “360°” marketing, because with a 360° campaign the brand is typically at the center, whereas with IMC it’s all about putting the consumer at the center.

A key part of IMC is doing “connection planning” instead of simply “media planning”. This is a higher level view of planning, and it must go across all of the consumer touch points. Integration across media channels is so important that Coke typically briefs all agencies at the same time just to eliminate any potential silos.
 

Martin confirmed that Coca Cola is committed to continue spending throughout the recession, as there is a belief that brands that take this approach will emerge much stronger when the recession is over. However, that being said, there is currently a big push on improving marketing and advertising productivity. Coke is looking for improvements in both effectiveness (i.e. “doing the right thing”) and efficiency (i.e. “doing the thing right”).

Finally, Martin pointed out that in fact these days, he is interested not only in who he reaches and how often, but he also wants to measure “consumer outcome”. In other words, how did the consumer respond, what was the effect. And he pointed out that more and more Coke is compensating their agency partners based on performance, not just for hours spent.

Wrap up

In summary, it is clear that the economy is having a huge effect on the media and advertising industry. And most likely these effects will continue not only all throughout 2009, but also well into 2010.

However, it’s also clear that major companies, the ones that have been building their brands over many years, are maintaining a long-term view. They know they need to keep focused on the consumer, and understand how the consumer is reacting to this crisis. But in the long run, consistency and attention to the consumer will allow them to improve their brand position even through these difficult days.

Charlie Crowe, Chief Executive of C Squared (the company that produced the event), said, “The advertising industry traditionally overperforms the market in good times and underperforms all market averages in bad times. What we’re seeing is a huge underperformance in response to an unprecedented economic shock. But don’t fear. This recession is speeding-up many of the structural changes that were already underway - the industry will emerge as more efficient, value-oriented, client-facing, innovative and performance driven.”

“This is not the time to stop talking with consumers. If you use this opportunity to broaden your dialogue with the people who love your brands, you will come out of this period with a much stronger and deeper relationship with them.”

Elsõ alkalommal rendezték meg a médiás fesztivált, ahol a Metro-t most az év napilapjának választották.

2009-ben a Metro-t választották az év újságjának a Valenciában megrendezett Festival of Media díjátadón. Az ingyenes napilap többek között a Financial Times-t, a The New York Times-t és a The Wall Street Journal-t nyomta le a megmérettetésen.

A Festival of Media versenyt elsõ alkalommal rendezték meg, és célja a médiakreativitás, a médiainnováció elismerése. A fesztiválon médiatulajdonosok, hirdetõk is részt vettek.

Microsoft Advertising, MTV, Metro International, The Week, Media Mountain, Yahoo! and BBC Worldwide were the first media owners to be successful at the Festival of Media Awards in Valencia.

The Financial Times, Meredith, StudioOne Networks, Clear Channel, CBS Outdoor, CNBC were also highly commended.

The winners represent the media owners who are adapting best to the changing media owner landscape and producing solutions that appeal to consumers and provide effective platforms for advertisers.

“The changing media landscape challenges media owners as much if not more than advertisers and agencies,” said Awards director Alastair Ray. “Creativity and innovation are now an important part of any media owner DNA and the winners today have demonstrated that in spades.”

Microsoft picked up “Local Deal of the Year”, as well as “Digital Media Owner of the Year” (with StudioOne receiving a highly commended); MTV Networks International picked up “Regional/Global Deal of the Year”; Yahoo! won “Media Owner Sales Team of the Year”, with FT recognised with a highly commended; Metro International won “Newspaper of the Year”, again with FT receiving a highly commended; while The Week won “Magazine of the Year”.

CNBC, EMEA was highly commended in the “TV Broadcaster of the Year” category. MediaMountain won “Out of Home Media Owner of the Year”, with both Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor, UK & Ireland being highly commended. Bauer Media UK was highly commended in the “Radio Owner of the Year” category. Finally, BBC Worldwide picked up “Multi-platform Media Owner of the Year”, with Meredith Corporation gaining a highly commended.

I had the pleasure of judging the Festival of Media awards which made a nice change to the usual Creative fare. The main difference is of course results and it was fantastic to be able to follow some of the campaigns from initial insight through to the results. It was also great to be sitting alongside clients in the jury panel who added a lot to the experience. Anyway there were actually some really great entries (I do hope that the Festival of Media become a prominent global media awards) and here are my pick of the bunch:

Condoms (Best Communications Strategy)
How the agency found an insight which completely changed the overall strategy to make a real difference in India to tackling the issue of condom usage

Reebok (Best use of mobile) -
Case study to show how Reebok used mobile to enter the phrase “You got Rondo’d” into household vernacular

Gatorade (Best use of Gaming)
Gatorade integrated themselves into the game by creating a new feature which not only enhanced the game but felt really authentic. How gaming should be used.

Dove Pro-Age (Brand Bravery)
Dove found 11 amateur actors and then put a play together. Opened to rave reviews, was sold out and obtained significant press coverage

Haagen Dazs (Media Responsibility) -
Haagen Dazs created a new flavour (Honey) to highlight its natural flavours and campaign was focused on increasing awareness of the honey bee process

Dove Ugly Betty
Dove’s full integrated sponsorship of the Chinese version of Real Beauty. Case study tells a story of recognising and addressing local cultural issues to support a global campaign

Well done to Goodby Silverstein who picked up the runner up spot as Agency of the Year. The other social to pick up an award was Profero London (well done team) who showed how can use an insight and creativity to really drive performance with the Sun Expats campaign for HBOS. Also well done to Microsoft (who continue to sponsor our global events) who won Digital Media Owner of the Year.

Full list of campaign winners can be found here.

If you want to get a feel for main topics talked about at the conference, then go here. Also see earlier post on Chuck Porter’s talk which was excellent.

Metro International ha ricevuto il premio come Migliore quotidiano dell’anno 2009 al Festival of Media, manifestazione giunta alla terza edizione, che quest’anno si è svolto a Valencia.

Gli altri giornali in nomination per il titolo di The newspaper of the year 2009 insieme a Metro erano gli storici Financial Times, Wall Street Journal e  New York Times.

Per Mikael Jensen, presidente di Metro International S.A. ha commentato: “ Parlo a nome del mio staff creativo e sono molto orgoglioso che Metro sia stato scelto come il “ miglior quotidiano dell’anno 2009 “ da una giuria di esperti di fama internazionale. Metro è anche molto fiero di aver trovato delle soluzioni creative  innovative per comunicare i brand di molte aziende, senza trascurare mai la qualità editoriale del quotidiano. Questo premio ci  fa onore e conferma che Metro è un  media di riferimento nel mondo della comunicazione. Un giornale che  riesce a far incontrare l’esigenza dei suoi clienti con quella dei suoi lettori e questo è il motivo per cui, anche  in questo momento di recessione, Metro riesce ad attirare grandi clienti e ad aumentare i suoi lettori nel mondo”.

Starcom MediaVest Group was named Media Agency Network of the Year yesterday at the final prize-giving event for the Festival of Media Awards, located for the first time this year in Valencia, Spain. Digitas USA picked up the Agency Office of the Year prize while Microsoft was named Media Owner of the Year.

"We were very pleased with the number of shortlists we had as a network (19), and this obviously came into play when they decided the overall agency network winner," says Lauren Richards, CEO of SMG Canada, who, as part of SMG's global review committee helped the network finesse its submissions. Two of those shortlisted campaigns include SMG Canada's "Be proud of your weiner" campaign for ConAgra Food's Pogo brand, and its "Fai...what? Creating a new medium for Chinese Canadians" campaign for Diageo Canada's Johnnie Walker brand. "It was a fascinating experience for me to work with teams in places like India, Singapore and Poland to help them craft the best possible story, to show the work in the best possible light," Richards tells MiC.

The other Canadian winner at the festival announced earlier this week was PHD Canada - a runner up as Agency of the Year - which won for its "Dove Sleepover for Self Esteem" campaign in the Best Targeted Campaign category, and the Award for Branding Bravery category for its "Finding Body and Soul" execution for Dove Pro-Age. Cossette Media's campaign for General Motors Optimum Dealers was also shortlisted and highly commended in the Best use of Search Category.

Also announced yesterday was the People's Award, a unique prize voted for by both the global advertising community and the Festival of Media delegates, which went to MediaCom India for its work on the "India Shaves" campaign for the Gillette Mach3 launch. The Creativity Award went to MediaCom Israel for Ha'Poalim's "Wedding Direct," McCann Erickson Macedonia for Veritas Spiriti's "Check Them" and Digitas USA for Holiday Inn's "Stay Smart, America" campaign.

Other final prizes include the Effectiveness Award, won by OMD UK for Walker's "Do Us a Flavour," Starcom India for P&G's "How Rural India Grew to Love Tide and Head & Shoulders" and Starcom MediaVest Group UK for Cadbury Crème Egg "Goo." The Partnership Award went to Initiative Colombia for "Project Pacifico," Profero for Halifax Bank of Scotland's "The Sun: Expat," and Naked Communications USA for Planned Parenthood's "Proper Attire."

by Melita Kuburas

Kampania reklamowa zatytułowana Fanta Flirt, zaplanowana przez dom mediowy Starcom dla firmy Coca – Cola Poland Services, otrzymała wyróżnienie podczas Festival of Media Awards. Wśród ponad 100 projektów zakwalifikowanych na krótkie listy w różnych kategoriach była to jedyna kampania z Polski. Jednocześnie jury Festiwalu uznało sieć Starcom MediaVest Grupą Mediową Roku na świecie.

Wyróżnienie (Highly Commended Campaign) dla Starcomu za kampanię Fanta Flirt przyznano w kategorii Best Consumer-Driven/Community Camapaign, w której o nagrodę główną walczyło pięć projektów zakwalifikowanych na krótką listę.

Projekt Fanta Flirt stworzony przez dom mediowy Starcom we współpracy z agencją interaktywną K2 i portalem społecznościowym Mojageneracja.pl zrealizowany został w wakacje ub.r. Osią akcji był specjalny dział w serwisie Mojageneracja.pl zintegrowany z portalem, oraz funkcjonalność - Fanta Flirt. Ułatwiała ona internautom zawarcie bliższej znajomości z dowolnym użytkownikiem społeczności. Case study w formie video, znajduje się na stronie internetowej Starcomu, pod adresem: www.starcom.com.pl

Do pierwszej edycji konkursu podczas Festival of Media w Walencji agencje z całego świata nadesłały 650 projektów w dziewiętnastu kategoriach reklamowych. Wszystkich zwycięzców i wyróżnionych można znaleźć na stronie: www.festivalofmediaawards.com/winners_campaign

Podczas Festiwalu Mediów w Walencji sieć Starcom MediaVest została uznana Grupą Mediową Roku. Istotny wkład w ten sukces miały biura SMV z regionu EMEA (Europa, Bliski Wschód i Afryka). Oprócz wyróżnienia dla kampanii nadesłanej przez Starcom Polska, nagrody na festiwalu zdobyli Starcom Norwegia (kategoria Best Use of the Digital Landscape), Starcom MediaVest Wielka Brytania (nagroda w kategorii Effectiveness i wyróżnienie w kategorii Best Use of the Digital Landscape), Starcom Włochy wraz z firmą Microsoft Advertising (w kategorii Local Deal of the Year ) oraz Starcom MediaVest India (w kategorii Effectiveness).

Norsk mediebyrå vant gull i internasjonal mediekonkurranse for denne kampanjen. 

- Det er veldig stort for oss å stikke av med denne seieren i internasjonal sammenheng, og spesielt å få dokumentert at vi er ledende innenfor digital, sier Peder Mittet, kundedirektør i Starcom, til Kampanje.

Mediebyråbransjens svar på «Cannes Lions» heter «Festival of Media» og er en global konkurranse med fokus på mediastrategi, innovasjon og gjennomføring, og i konkurranse med en rekke andre store byråer vant til slutt det norske mediebyrået Starcom kategorien «Best use of digital landscape» med sin jobb for Norges Kreative Fagskole.

Involverte byråer ved siden av Starcom er digitalbyråene LOK kommunikasjon og Apt.

Se vinnerne i «Festival of Media» her!

Se presentasjonen av caset her!

På shortlist og dermed i finalen var det fire andre jobber fra markeder som blant annet Storbritannia, USA og Kina for jobber for store annonsører son Unilever, Cadbury og Sears.

- For et fagmiljø som Campus Kristiania og Norges Kreative Fagskole betyr det mye å markere seg gjennom innovative kampanjer. Det er derfor veldig moro at vi hamler opp med internasjonale merkevarer i konkurranser som dette, og kampanjen har virkelig bidratt til vår sterkt økende søkermasse, sier Annelise Kiønig, markedsdirektør ved Norges Kreative Fagskole.

På Mediaforums fagkonferanse i Strømstad i fjor ble Starcom også belønnet med «Mediastrategiprisen 2008» for sitt arbeide med Norges Kreative Fagskole.

Les også: Starcom seiret

Les også: Kan vinne reklame-pris

Festivalen som finner sted i Valencia utropte også Starcom til «Årets Mediebyrå»-nettverk.

- Nåløyet er trangt når kun 19 av 700 jobber premieres. Vårt gull og fire andre priser til Starcom-byråer avgjorde. Selvfølgelig svært gledelig for Starcom i Norge at vi bidrar til denne gjeve utnevnelsen, sier Peder Mittet.

Også ungdomsbyrået til Aegis Media Norge, Dist, vant gull på Festival of Media Awards. Kampanjen for Sol Guru vant gull i kategorien «Best Event/Activation», skriver Kreativt Forum.

by Knut Kristian Hauger

The Festival of Media Awards 2009 had some good news for India when Madison Media won an award for the ‘Condom’ campaign for BBC World Service Trust in the Best Communications Strategy. The Festival ended on a bright note, too, when at the closing award ceremony, MediaCom India’s work on the ‘India Shaves’ campaign for Gillette Mach3 launch won The People’s Award.

The People’s Award is a unique prize voted for by both the global advertising community and the delegates at the Festival of Media. The People’s Award allowed planners and strategists to select their favourite work from all the shortlisted campaigns before the Festival delegates voted for the winner from the top five. The winner is announced at the final ceremony.

Amongst the other winners, Starcom MediaVest Group was named Media Agency Network of the Year; Digitas USA picked up the Agency Office of the Year award, while Microsoft was named Media Owner of the Year.

The Festival of Media Awards jury of senior advertisers, media agency bosses and communications experts also singled out nine other campaigns for special recognition, work that deserved to be celebrated, but had not won any of the Campaign Categories, which were announced on Sunday and Monday.

The Creativity Award, sponsored by Euronews, went to MediaCom Israel for Ha’Poalim Wedding Direct; McCann Erickson Macedonia for Check Them; and Digitas USA for Stay Smart America.

The Effectiveness Award, sponsored by Cream, went to OMD UK for Do Us a Flavour; Starcom India for How Rural India Grew to Love Tide and Head & Shoulders; and Starcom MediaVest Group UK for Cadbury Crème Egg Goo.

The Partnership Award, sponsored by Billetts, went to Initiative Colombia for Project Pacifico; Profero for The Sun: Expat; and Naked Communications USA for Proper Attire.

by Noor Fathima Warsia

LONDON - Starcom MediaVest Group, led by the chief executive, Laura Desmond, was named media network of the year at the Festival of Media last night in Valencia.

The Publicis network scooped the award from the Festival of Media awards jury, which also named Microsoft as media owner of the year.

MediaCom India was recognised as the winner of the People’s Award, a category voted for by delegates at the Festival, for its work on the Gillette Mach3 launch.

OMD UK won the Effectiveness Award for its "do us a flavour" activity for Walkers crisps.

by Ian Darby

Mumbai

The Festival of Media 2009 held in Valencia, Spain has announced its winners. MediaCom India has won The People's Award, for its work on the 'India Shaves' campaign for the Gillette Mach3 launch.

To decide the winner of The People's Award, planners and strategists select their favourite work from all shortlisted campaigns, after which the Festival delegates vote for the winner from the top five campaigns.

Starcom MediaVest received the Media Agency Network of the Year award, while Mindshare and MediaCom were declared runners up. Digitas USA bagged the Agency Office of the Year prize and PHD Canada, Goodby, Silverstein and Partners were named runners up.  Microsoft received the Media Owner of the Year award.

Starcom India won the Effectiveness Award for 'How Rural India Grew to Love Tide and Head & Shoulders'. Other winners of the Effectiveness Award are OMD UK for 'Do Us a Flavour' and Starcom MediaVest Group UK for 'Cadbury Creme Egg Goo'.

Madison Media India bagged the Best Communications Strategy award for their work on the 'Condoms' campaign, for BBC World Service Trust.

ad pepper media was awarded first prize at last night’s ceremony for the Festival of Media Awards, a global awards program for the media industry reflecting the radical changes taking place in the communications business.

The Communication Futures category-winning campaign for kitchen appliance brand Smeg was selected from among 650 competition entries from 52 countries by judges including many influential global media and advertising industry figures. They recognized how the Smeg Retro campaign was one of the first to benefit from semantic targeting on ad pepper media’s iSense Network.

The iSense Network and sister product the SiteScreen Network conduct instant semantic analyses of pages to understand their subject matter, place online ads next to appropriate content with unprecedented accuracy, or block ads from appearing next to sensitive content respectively. Brands such as Microsoft, Fujitsu Siemens, HSBC, Shell and 3M also use the patented iSense Network to achieve precise targeting and enhance performance-focused or brand-building campaigns.

Cally Elston, brand manager at Smeg said: “We trialed advertising on online networks for the first time in 2008. Semantic targeting had the potential to reach the right audiences with strong interest in certain lifestyle categories cost effectively. We therefore used ad pepper media’s iSense Network to precisely target web users interacting with entertainment, home & garden and food & drink content across a broad range of quality editorial-led sites. This exercise was so successful in terms of click-throughs and conversions that online display advertising is now a vital activity in our marketing plans.”

Sacha Carton, President of iSense and Director of the Board at ad pepper media International NV said: “The Festival of Media Awards are the latest to recognize that semantic targeting benefits advertisers, publishers and web users who want to see relevant advertising online. The iSense Network simulates the way humans analyze the meaning of content, to ensure that ad placement is as accurate as possible. Because of the explosion in online content and the deficiencies of other approaches to targeting, semantic targeting will soon become the standard.”

Link to entry video showreel and campaign summary: http://www.creamglobal.com/casestudy.cfm?i=94

The 'Newspaper of the Year 2009' award celebrates newspaper heritage and honors the balance of "publishers and editors working in harmony". Metro won the prestigious title over other international titles such as the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Metro International S.A. ("Metro" or "the Company"), the international newspaper group, today announces that it has been awarded 'Newspaper of the Year 2009' at the inaugural Festival of Media Awards in Valencia, Spain.

The 'Newspaper of the Year 2009' award celebrates newspaper heritage and honors the balance of "publishers and editors working in harmony". Metro won the prestigious title over other international titles such as the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

The Festival of Media is the world's first global festival of media creativity and innovation, showcasing top creative thinking of the industry. The festival was attended by senior directors of both international newspaper titles as well as global media advertisers.

Per Mikael Jensen, CEO and President of Metro said: "On behalf of our amazing staff, I am very proud that Metro has been given this honor by some of the most influential and respected individuals in the global media industry. Metro prides itself on creating new, effective and innovative advertising solutions while at the same time, ensuring the highest editorial standards possible. This award provides further confirmation that Metro is well placed to continue to meet the needs of both our loyal consumers and advertisers throughout the 21st century. In these tough economic times, I believe this is why Metro continues to gain a greater share of both readership and global print advertising."

For further information please contact: Per Mikael Jensen, CEO and President tel: 44 (0)20 7016 1300 Maggie Samways, Global Editor-in-Chief tel: 44 (0)20 7016 1300

I’ve been tweeting a lot from the Valencia Festival of Media, where I have been lucky enough to join a very distinguished line up of judges (and I do mean really distinguished) and speakers. I find that tweeting lends itself very well to live reportage and I’ve pasted below most of my tweets for those of you who don’t follow me, or if you missed some - pretty inevitable, given the sheer volume of tweets flying around the tweetosphere at the moment.

Of course, you could just follow me on Twitter (russellbuckley) or search the #tags for #festivalofmedia. If you don’t understand any of this, get someone 10 years younger to explain, or maybe you’re in the wrong part of the internets.

A few mobile highlights for me though. Firstly, congrats to Reebok (and their agency InsideMob*) for winning the Best Mobile Campaign - You Got Rondo’d. Check out the video here. Nice work, plus an 8 day turnaround!

Also, the winner of the Best Communication Strategy, put mobile right at the heart of things. It was a campaign for BBC World Trust Service, to promote condoms. The brilliant insight (missed by others for 20 years+) was that you can’t get people to buy them, if it’s taboo to even say “condom”. The campaign (fronted by an annoying parrot - it’s not perfect!) was built around getting people to say condom aloud in public and achieved some amazing results. You can see their entry here.

I’ve said before though, that if you want to run campaigns in developing markets, mobile is really the only game in town. In india, you have 250 million people who can’t read and who won’t have TVs and PCs. But the chances are that they will have a phone (or at least access to one) and speech overcomes illiteracy.

The great Walkers Crisps “Do Us a Flavour” also had mobile as a central communication mechanic and was pretty unlucky not to win their category award.

I also really liked the campaign for testicular cancer in Macedonia, which elegantly got the message across with humour and amazing results. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “teaching granny to suck eggs” though. That’s a rather amusing joke (if I do say so myself) but you’ll need to watch the vid to understand.

For all that, mobile hasn’t been mentioned an awful lot by the main agency speakers, with the big themes being Recession and Sustainability. It’s a great gig though and I highly recommend it.

Here’s my Tweets - hope you find them interesting:

3. #festivalofmedia Coke: wants value/performance based fees not taxi meter. Which is good as it’s what agencies say they want too.about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

4. #festivalofmedia Coke annoyed by “yes we can” agencies ie be *honest* about what you really can do and what you can’tabout 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

5. #festivalofmedia Coke: Not cutting back spend, but major productivity is key. Not a great time for media owners.about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

6. #festivalofmedia W00t - Mobile is a line item on Coke’s media plan!about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

8. #festivalofmedia P&G 10% consumers will pay higher/accept lower performance for sustainable products. 20% don’t care. The rest will accept.about 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

10. #festivalofmedia P&G If you add complexity to value chain and not value, you will be eliminatedabout 1 hour ago from TweetDeck

11. #festivalofmedia P&G has 5pm meeting every Friday, prior to 8am meeting on Monday. You can imagine their weekends!about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

13. #festivalofmedia P&G - consumer behaviour really has changed as they seek better value. Discounts, shop less often etcabout 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

15. #festivalofmedia search for online money-off vouchers risen by 133% (Mediacom)about 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

16. #festivalofmedia Consumers spending money has turned from a joy to a guilt trip - MediaComabout 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

17. #festivalofmedia “sharing risk” is theme here from agencies. Clients sharing risk with agencies, Media owners sharing with agencies/clientsabout 2 hours ago from TweetDeck

18. #festivalofmedia best communication strategy heavily featured mobile. It was a condom promotion campaign in Indiaabout 19 hours ago from TwitterBerry

21. #festivalofmedia Global CEOs want success-based remuneration. Careful what you wish for :-)about 20 hours ago from TweetDeck

22. #festivalofmedia reportage from my panel http://bit.ly/h8TZdabout 20 hours ago from TweetDeck

23. #festivalofmedia Are ties making a comeback into the ad agency world? Maybe linked to the recessionabout 20 hours ago from TweetDeck

24. #festivalofmedia Just finished my panel session. Audience small but perfectly formedabout 20 hours ago from TweetDeck

25. #festivalofmedia comScore Search and Display Combo, better than display or search onlyabout 23 hours ago from TweetDeck

26. #festivalofmedia comScore - nearly 50% of online ad revenue is search. banner adds growing, rich media down.about 24 hours ago from TweetDeck

27. #festivalofmedia eBay sells a mobile every 7 secondsabout 24 hours ago from TweetDeck

28. #festivalofmedia eBay - interesting that they don’t mention Skype as part of the group anymoreabout 24 hours ago from TweetDeck

29. #festivalofmedia IBM: Massive Passives are the majority of audience. Defined as people who have VCRs slashing 12:0012:20 PM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

32. #festivalofmedia Sustainablity and economy are the big themes here so far.11:09 AM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

33. #festivalofmedia Maria Luisa Francoli - CEO MPG reflecting how impressive outdoor is in changing to digital.11:01 AM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

36. #festivalofmedia Fox: digital advertising must prove that it had long term and short term affect on SALES10:10 AM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

37. #festivalofmedia JCDecaux - always surprised at how few brands take advantage of interactivity of posters via mobile. We must push ourselves9:56 AM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

38. #festivalofmedia JC Decaux “Out is In”. 29% of people are hypermobile.9:46 AM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

39. #festivalofmedia China is the biggest creditor of the US9:26 AM Apr 20th from TweetDeck

* Full disclosure, AdMob have worked with them.

Metro International SA has been named “Newspaper of the Year” at the Festival of Media Awards in Valencia, Spain.

The awards celebrate innovation and creativity and are widely recognized as the largest celebration of media in the industry. Metro International won this prestigious title over internationally acclaimed publications including the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

“Metro has been dedicated to inventing new and creative formats for advertisers for the past decade, and on behalf of all our amazing staff I’m very, very proud to have been given this honour,” said CEO Per Mikael Jensen. “It proves that even with the highest editorial standards, which Metro prides itself on, you can produce exceptionally efficient advertising that can compete — and beat — any other formats, on TV, radio or online.”

The award, which is a new category this year, celebrates newspapers’ heritage and honours the balance of “publishers and editors working in harmony.”

“Having been in the media industry for more than 20 years, I can clearly say that in no other media company exists with such a dedication for finding strong advertising and at the same time respecting editorial standards,” Jensen said. “In fact, most of the best solutions in Metro are created because all departments work together to define the best for readers and advertisers. I believe this is also one of the reasons that, even in these tough times, we are taking market share from our colleagues in the print media world.”

PHD Canada was the sole Canadian winner as the first round of awards were announced Sunday at the inaugural Festival of Media Awards in Valencia, Spain.

Ten of the 19 Campaign Categories winners were announced Sunday with PHD’s work on behalf of Unilever Canada’s Dove brand winning The Award for Branding Bravery. (The remaining category awards were to be announced late yesterday and will be covered in today’s Marketing Daily PM.) The win came for PHD’s “Finding Body and Soul” execution for Dove Pro-Age.

Developed with Ogilvy & Mather, the execution consisted of a live play, “Body & Soul” created by an award-winning playwright and using a cast of real women between 45 and 78. The campaign delivered more than 124 million media impressions.

“For our office to receive this recognition on a global stage is incredibly gratifying,” said PHD presidentFred Forster. “I’m really proud of the entire Dove team and happy for their success.”

Cossette Media also received an honourable mention (which the FMAs termed “Highly Commended”) in the Best Use of Search category for its “GM Optimum Dynamic Paid Search Strategies” execution for GM Optimum.

The campaign increased paid search visits to GM Optimum by more than 73% over the previous year while reducing the paid search budget by 23.2%.

Globally, GroupM’s MediaCom and Omnicom Media Group’s OMD each won two awards, with OMD winning in the Best Use of Gaming & Gaming Platforms and Best Use of Performance or Affiliate Marketing for clients Gatorade and HMW respectively, while MediaCom won in the Best Long-Term Strategy and Best Consumer-Driven/Community Campaign for its work with Galaxy and Coca-Colarespectively.

Winners in the Media Owner Categories, the People’s Award and several jury categories, including Media Agency Network of the Year, Agency of the Year and Media Owner of the Year, will be announced today.

by Chris Powell

Originally published in Marketing Magazine, April 2009

Ha dado comienzo el Festival of Media en Valencia. El pistoletazo de salida lo daba uno de los grandes de la publicidad mundial: Fernando Rodés, CEO de Havas. A pesar de lo realista que fue sobre las cifras de la crisis económica actual, Rodés cree que la situación mejorará en dos o tres años, y pide a la gente que no lo tachen de pesimista. El CEO de Havas ve "un trozo de cielo azul" en mitad de los nubarrones, y cree que se debe al cambio de valores que se está llevando a cabo, lo cual está haciendo de esta una situación "más interesante". 

Ese cambio de valores del que habla Rodés se ve reflejado en la preocupación de los consumidores por el medio ambiente. "Los consumidores siguen pensando que la sostenibilidad es muy importante a pesar de la crisis", asegura Rodés. El último estudio de Havas sobre sostenibilidad refleja que es un asunto que se mantendrá en las prioridades de los consumidores. Es uno de los temas de mayor preocupación de los consumidores después del desempleo y los temas económicos. El 89% de los consumidores conoce y entiende el término "sostenibilidad" y está dispuesto a recompensar a compañías que apuesten por ella y a castigar a las que no. 

Rodés concluyó su charla asegurando que "un cambio en los valores tiene un fuerte impacto en la comunicación de las empresas. No podemos seguir diciéndole a la gente lo que deben pensar. Debemos empezar a pensar en cómo seducirlos". 

Para ver todas las fotos del evento que MarketingDirecto está cubriendo en directo, haga clic aquí y véalas en la cuenta de Facebook de Javier Piedrahita.

Havas CEO Fernando Rodes Vila used a motoring metaphor at the 2009 Festival of Media in Valencia, Spain, to succinctly describe how he sees the economy these days, “In 2007, money was moving at about 200 kilometers an hour and now it’s at about three kilometers an hour,” the head of the French advertising conglomerate told delegates in his keynote speech.

“Consumption and speed of money are stopping the engine from starting, and it will be two to three years before those factors turn around.” He added, “The cars we build today were conceived in 1930 and those values are no longer real. This is a metaphor for our way of life and it will clearly put a reduction in the speed of our future growth.”

The Festival of Media, which is in its third year, kicked off at the Palacio de Congresos at Valencia on April 19, 2009. The first look at the overall festival – the theme and the participation – and one wonders that when the media agency side of business became as important, if not more, as the creative side decades ago, then why is it that an event that focussed only on media is only three years old.

Even though the day was only about networking and “easing the delegates in” as Charlie Crowe, CEO, C Squared – the organisers of the festival put it, the welcome address saw the presence of some of the biggest global heavyweights in the media agency business.

Right from Dominic Proctor, CEO, Mindshare to Mainardo de Nardis, CEO, OMD, Charles Courtier, CEO MEC Global to P&G’s Bernhard Glock and many others, the hall was filled with the international Who’s Who of the media agency business. Madison World’s Chairman Sam Balsara, who is also one of the judges of the first ever Festival of Media Awards, was also at the event. Amongst the other Indian delegates one could spot on the opening day were Platinum Media’s Basabdutta Chowdhary and Lintas Media Group’s Himanka Das.

Another familiar face in the crowd was BBC’s Global Ad Sales Director Johnathan Howlett and BBC’s Seema Kotecha.

In the opening address, Crowe spoke further on the festival and the fact that such events made more sense in a downturn. He said, “It is true that the conditions around us are grim but the need to meet is important even when things are down. Good events are just as important in tighter times, as any other.”

Adding further he said, “The Festival is quite a body of work that is packed with speakers, sessions and workshops. This is a great place for the media industry to not only network and meet new business partners but also to collectively reflect on what is happening around us and how we can resolve some of these issues.”

Over the next two days, the Festival of Media has lined up global heads of various media agencies and many clients to deliberate on the current economic situation and the way forward. India was not present in very high numbers on day one. With BCCL’s Bhaskar Das also not being there in the speakers anymore, the conference showed very measured participation from Indian agencies.

by Noor Fathima Warsia

Si è aperto stamattina a Valencia il 3° Festival del Media. A inaugurare i lavori è stato l’intervento di Fernando Rodés Vila, ceo di Havas, che ha legato lo stop del credito e dei consumi alla vera e propria tempesta che stiamo attraversando. Ma nonostante il quadro a tinte fosche, un angolo di cielo è tornato azzurro.

(Valencia. Dal nostro inviato, Tommaso Ridolfi). "Questa non è una recessione ma qualcosa di molto più profondo": Fernando Rodés Vila (nella foto), ceo di Havas, ha aperto così il terzo Festival del Media – cominciato questa mattina a Valencia, dopo le prime due edizioni svoltesi al Lido di Venezia – mettendo immediatamente in chiaro la situazione in cui si trovano l'economia, i consumi, i media e la comunicazione.
"Lo stop è stato drastico, e dovuto in particolare a due elementi frenanti: si è fermata la circolazione della moneta (che in termini di velocità è come se fosse passata da 200 km/h a 3 km/h in un anno; e i consumi privati che, in alcuni paesi, non sono scesi ma crollati anche del 30 o 40%. Per uscire dalla tempesta e riprendere velocità occorreranno almeno 2 o 3 anni".

Secondo Rodés Vila le radici della crisi sono nei modelli antiquati che ancora si usano: "Prendiamo l'esempio dell'auto: i modelli che costruiamo e che guidiamo oggi sono figli di quelli degli Anni '30, ideati per la massima velocità, quando la domanda di mobilità è oggi radicalmente diversa".
Al tempo stesso, per continuare a crescere "Stiamo dilapidando come mai prima d'ora le risorse del pianeta – ha proseguito –, e oggi crescere significa distruggere valore, anziché generarlo. Da questo punto di vista, perciò, la riduzione dei consumi può essere addirittura un fatto positivo".

Citando i risultati di una ricerca realizzata dal centro media in 11 paesi, il ceo di Havas ha messo al centro il tema della sostenibilità, in questa fase di contrazione delle economie: "Non è più un tema accademico. I consumatori sanno perfettamente che cosa vuol dire sostenibilità, e premieranno o puniranno le aziende e le marche che adegueranno o meno i propri processi a questo concetto".

Quali le conseguenze per l'industria della comunicazione?
"Le conseguenze riguardano i modelli di business e i processi di tutti gli anelli della catena: produttori, distributori e comunicatori... È chiaro che il bombardamento di messaggi sul 'brand, brand, brand' ormai è un paradigma vecchio. In questo contesto dovremo passare dal ragionare per segmenti al pensiero per network, dalla rigidità alla fluidità, dagli imperativi al dialogo".

Rodés Vila ha citato il caso di Mercadona, il retailer dal più rapido tasso di crescita in Europa, che ha già aperto 2.000 punti vendita in Europa e sta per arrivare anche in Italia, che per raggiungere questo successo non ha speso un solo euro sui media, ma ha invitato a ogni apertura 300 persone che abitano nelle vicinanze mostrando loro i negozi, l'assortimento, ecc... Contando poi sul passaparola.
"Ecco perché nella comunicazione il contesto e la semplicità saranno sempre più importanti. Per noi questo significherà non più trovare la 'big idea', ma molte idee, misurando non più gli investimenti ma i ritorni. E soprattutto mettendo insieme tecnologia, rigore, capacità di analisi e intuizione".

This weekend Robert's judging at the Valencia Media festival. It is amazing how this festival has arrived out of nowhere, and now how big it is.  The world's media buyers, planners, media owners, and some pretty major clients have gathered to discuss the present, and to carve up the future. Robert's in good company. Chuck Porter's come to speak. But apart from that no one else from above the line ad land. Pity. Lord Puttnam gives a truly scary speech at dinner about sustainability and adland's responsibility to embrace the cause. Otherwise we'll all be making like dinosaurs. 

Garry and Robert take their hats off to Richard Huntingdon, Adliterate blog guru and head of planning at Saatchi. We've just heard Richard has landed the job of co-hosting the new tv ad show, The Gruen Transfer with Paris Hilton. Sorry. Not Paris Hilton, James Hilton from AKQA. Whatever, Richard is one of the best and most amusing presenters in adland. Can't wait to see the show.

Garry and Robert would like to point out that they are also available for tv appearances etc. With or without Paris Hilton.   hello@campbelllacebeta.com

And speaking of tv, here's some ads we did earlier THE HISTORY OF CAMPBELL LACE (BETA) 

Shortlists have been announced for the Festival of Media 2009, a global festival of media creativity and innovation to be held in Valencia. Five Indian media agencies have made it to this shortlist – Starcom with two entries, and Madison Media, MediaCom and ZenithOptimedia with one entry each.

In all, there are 29 categories, which are further broken into 19 campaign categories and 10 media owner categories. In its third year, the Festival of Media is launching a new global awards programme designed to reflect the radical changes taking place in the communications business.

The Festival of Media Awards (FMAs) recognise creative use of media and effectiveness as well as media owner innovations and is designed to provide a showcase for the best in media thinking from around the world. The final winners would be announced at the Festival of Media in Valencia on April 19-21.

This year, Starcom Worldwide India and Starcom MediaVest India have two entries that have made it to the shortlist. The entries are for ‘How Rural India Grew to love Tide’ and ‘Head & Shoulders’ for P&G in the Best Event/Activation category. On having made it to the shortlist, Sandeep Lakhina, Managing Director, India - West & South, Starcom Worldwide, said, “We are definitely very excited with the two entries making it to the shortlist. Festival of Media Valencia 2009 is one of the few awards that are awarded on the effectiveness of communication with the criteria of recognising the growth of the business to a particular client.”

On the chances of the entries bagging metals, Lakhina said that making it to the shortlist was a great achievement in itself, but the agency was definitely gung-ho about the Festival. Lakhina further said that it was as yet undecided whether he would be attending the Festival.

MediaCom’s ‘India Votes: To shave or not’ campaign for P&G’s Gillette Mach3 has been shortlisted in the Branding Bravery category. Divya Gururaj, MD, MediaCom, explained, “We are definitely gung-ho about the entry making it to the shortlist at the Festival of Media. We have very high expectations for the entry as it had also won an award at the internal MediaCom ‘Results Award’.” Gururaj confessed that she would not be able to make it to the media awards at Valencia.

Basadutta Chowdhury, CEO, Madison Media Plus & Platinum Media, is keeping her fingers crossed for her agency’s entry, the ‘Condom’ campaign for BBC World Service Trust, which has been shortlisted in the Best Communications Strategy category. “I am very much looking forward to the Festival as I will be attending the awards at Valencia,” she said.

The other agency that has made it to the shortlist is ZenithOptimedia for its ‘Serena’ campaign for Hewlett-Packard in the Best Event/Activation category.

Tasneem Limbdiwala

O Festival Media Awards 2009, uma das premiações de mídia mais importantes do mundo, vai rolar em Valencia entre os dias 19 e 21 de abril de 2009. No dia 09 de março foi divulgado o shortlist dos concorrentes e, como mobile não podia faltar, segue abaixo a lista dos concorrentes na categoria “Best use of mobile“:

- Together Everywhere, campanha da Puma lançada na França pela Phonevalley.

-  Making the Forecourt Mobile, campanha da Mercedes Benz  lançada no Reino Unido pela Maxus e pela Ympgen, WY.

- Seda Teens, campanha da Unilever lançada no Brasil pela F.biz.

- You Got Rondod!, campanha da Reebook International lançada nos Estados Unidos pela Inside Mobile.

- BowTime, campanha da Strongbow lançada no Reino Unido pela Incentivated.

Dos 5 cases 2 são do Reino Unido, 1 é francês, 1 é norte-americano e o outro é BRASILEIRO!  Mais uma vez um case brasileiro tem reconhecimento lá fora. Se não pode servir de prova concreta, este anúncio pode dar uma idéia da evolução de nosso mercado. Cada vez mais penso que o mobile marketing brasileiro não deve nada (ou deve muito pouco) para mercados com um tempo de vida maior.

Agora só resta esperar, torcer e ver quem será o grande vencedor!

por Pedro Bombonatti

Mumbai, 

India has a total of five entries shortlisted at the Festival of Media to be held in Valencia from April 19 to 21 this year. Starcom MediaVest has two entries among the five shortlisted entries from India. This includes ‘How Rural India Grew to love Tide and Head & Shoulders’ for P&G in the category ‘Best Event/Activation’ and ‘MAD in Singapore’ for Singapore Tourism Board, POGO in the Best use of Content category.

In the Best Communication Strategy category, Madison Media has been shortlisted for ‘Condoms’ for the BBC World Service Trust. In the Best Event/Activation category ZenithOptimedia has been shortlisted for ‘Serena’ for Hewlett Packard. MediaCom has been shortlisted for 'India Votes: To shave or not' for P&G’s Gillette Mach3 in the Award for Branding Bravery category.    

For more details on the 2009 awards, click here.

by Bindu Nair Maitra

Starcom MediaVest Gets Most Nomintaions for Campaigns

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Valencia Festival of Media revealed the nominations for its first awards program today. Starcom MediaVest tops the contenders list in the campaign categories, with 18 nominations, followed by Mindshare, with 13; MediaCom, with 11; and Havas, with seven.

Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal, Meredith and BBC Worldwide all secured three nominations for the first global prizes for strategic innovation and delivery by media owners.

After two days of intense reading and debate, a jury of 28 advertisers, senior media executives and broader communications experts -- including Laura Klauberg from Unilever, Jack Klues from VivaKi and Sam Balsara from Madison -- has selected the very best from the 650 entries submitted for consideration.

The campaign shortlist includes entries from 29 countries, as well as regional campaigns from the Americas and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The top market is the U.S., with 33 nominations, followed by the U.K., Canada, Germany, China and India.

The media-owner shortlists include both global giants such as Clear Channel Outdoor and smart single-market operations such as TV2 in Hungary and MTV Oy in Finland, as well as specialist offerings such as ski-resort media operator MediaMountain.

Each shortlisted campaign will be asked to produce a reel for the jury to consider in Valencia ahead of the Festival of Media alongside its written strategy. Winners will be announced during the Festival of Media, April 19-21.

The jury will also award the four top awards: the Creativity Award, the Effectiveness Award, the Partnership Award and the Media Owner of the Year.

Agency of the Year and Media Agency Network of the Year will be calculated from results in all categories and the jury awards.

Shortlisted campaigns will also be entered to win the People's Award, a unique prize that allows marketers, planners, strategists and others with an interest in great communications to have their say online. The delegates at the Festival of Media will vote for the final winner from the top public campaigns. Voting for the People's Award starts on April 10. 

by Ann Marie Kerwin

Shortlist of Finalists Will Be Published March 5

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The 28-member jury gathering in London next week will have to sort through more than 650 entries from 52 markets around the world to select the finalists for this year's inaugural Valencia Festival of Media Awards.

Launched in December in partnership with Advertising Age, the new awards are designed to celebrate the contribution of media thinking to great campaigns, as well as efforts and strategies devised by media owners. The 29 categories place a heavy emphasis on the ability of great ideas and strategies to deliver results. Up to five entries will be shortlisted for each category, and the jury will reconvene in Valencia to consider video submissions before selecting the winners. The Festival of Media will be held April 19-21.

The jury will also award four Grand Prix awards: the Creativity Award; the Effectiveness Award; the Partnership Award; and Media Owner of the Year. Agency of the Year and Media Agency Network of the Year will be calculated based on results in all 19 campaign categories and the jury awards. Shortlisted campaigns will also be entered to win the People's Award, which will be voted on by marketers, planners, strategists and anyone else in the industry interested in casting a vote.

Jury members include Laura Klauberg of Unilever; Maarten Albarda of the Coca-Cola Co.; Jack Klues from VivaKi; Carl Johnson of Anomaly; Matt Seiler of Universal McCann; and Will Collin, founder of Naked.

by Ann Marie Kerwin

La ciudad de Valencia tomará el relevo de Venecia como sede del tercer Festival de Medios al que asisten anunciantes y representantes de la industria de la comunicación, y que en esta edición tratará, entre otros aspectos, sobre los cambios en los modelos que rigen las comunicaciones mundiales.

Según han explicado a EFE fuentes de la organización de este festival, el encuentro se celebrará desde el próximo domingo hasta el martes en el Palacio de Congresos de Valencia y en él se reunirán destacados profesionales del sector de los medios y de la mercadotecnia bajo el lema "Una industria en transición".

Este año el encuentro tratará además "las presiones estructurales que afectan a la industria debido a la fragmentación de las audiencias, la digitalización y la crisis económica global", han señalado las mismas fuentes.

Los organizadores han destacado que anunciantes como Microsoft, Procter&Gamble y Coca-Cola y expertos de la comunicación como JCDecaux, Reuters Media, Fox y Globo Televisión "asistirán a los encuentros para debatir los nuevos modelos de negocio y las relaciones de trabajo provocadas por la tecnología digital, la convergencia y la globalización de los presupuestos de publicidad.

Otro de los temas que centrarán este encuentro son las nuevas plataformas "on line", así como los planteamientos sobre la segmentación del futuro.

Media Agencies, Media Owners Have Until Feb. 14 to Enter

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Valencia Festival of Media has extended the deadline to enter its global awards program, with nearly 30 categories, to Feb. 14.

Charlie Crowe, CEO of C Squared, the producer of the festival, recently told Ad Age the reason for the awards festival is threefold: to highlight the changes that are taking place in the advertising world; to give media agencies a chance to show their worth; and allow sectors such as media owners to prove they are just as creative as the agencies.

"If you look around, there are awards ceremonies that can give media owners credit and celebrate ambient solutions," Mr. Crowe said. "But there are few awards on the market that really benchmark media owners' capabilities in leading clients and providing media-neutral solutions for marketers, and that's what we're trying to promote."

Advertising Age is a sponsor of the awards.

Aside from the 10 media-owner categories, which include local deal of the year, magazine of the year, digital-media owner of the year, regional and global deal of the year, and media-owner sales team, there are 19 other campaign categories to enter, including best communications strategy, branding bravery, best research/insight, best use of search, best use of mobile and the communications futures award.

Judging in the media-owner categories will be broken down into understanding of consumer behavior (10%), understanding of clients' needs (10%), innovation in adapting to a changing media market and meeting customer need (40%), change in perception of the brand within the media market (10%), and results delivered for the business (30%).

by Michael Bush

April Show Adds Awards, Categories for Media Owners

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The Festival of Media is going to have a different look and feel in its third year, and not just because of the absence of wallet-busting water taxis.

Not only will the festival, taking place April 19-21, be in a new location in 2009 -- C Squared, producers of the festival, announced it was moving the show from Venice, Italy, to the Palacio de Congresos in Valencia, Spain, last September -- but this year there will also be a global awards program. A site for the festival and the awards program were launched yesterday. Advertising Age is partnering with C Squared for the awards show.

Entry information
For those looking to enter the awards, all of the information needed to do so can be found on the awards site including who can enter, how to enter, timeline and entry cost and categories, of which there are 29 including 19 campaign categories, such as best communications/entertainment platform and best use of the digital landscape, and 10 media owner categories including local dealer of the year, magazine of the year and digital media owner of the year.

The media owner category, according to the site, is open to media owners ranging from "newspaper and magazine publishing groups, to the pure-play digital brands; from traditional out-of-home businesses and cinema networks to the mobile network operators and online retailers who are establishing entirely new advertising sales propositions across the world."

Judges and sponsors
The judging process and criteria as well as a list of the judges can also be found on the awards site. Judges for the inaugural awards include the recently named CEO of OMD Worldwide, Mainardo de Nardis; Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director of Madison Worldwide; Nick Waters, CEO of Mindshare EMEA; Carl Johnson, CEO of Anomaly; and Richard Prenderville, head of global brand marketing at Reebok International.

The festival site contains information on the agenda, sponsors and speakers, which include Stephen Allan, chairman and CEO of WPP's MediaCom Worldwide; Nick Brien, president and CEO of Interpublic's Mediabrands; Babs Rangaiah, global director communications planning at Unilever; Steve King, CEO of ZenithOptimedia Worldwide; Maria Luisa Francoli, global CEO of MPG; and Jack Klues, chairman of Publicis Groupe Media.

Feedback prompted move
In September, Charlie Crowe, CEO of C Squared, said the decision to move the festival was based on feedback from last year's delegates that indicated the layout and transportation situation didn't allow festival attendees to make the best use of their time and "the waiting times for water taxis and the inherent sprawling nature of [Venice] were becoming more of a hindrance than a benefit." 

by Michael Bush 

Does the advertising industry really need another awards show? Absolutely, says Charlie Crowe.

Crowe, the chief executive of C Squared Holdings—a London company behind the annual Festival of Media, the trade magazine Media & Marketing (M&M) and Cream, an online database devoted to media creativity—is the brains behind a new global media competition called the Festival of Media Awards (FMAs).

The FMAs will close out the third annual Festival of Media, April 19-21 in Valencia, Spain.

Crowe says the new awards are a response to requests from global media leaders. “A couple of global media directors of big branded goods companies approached me and said ‘What we are now doing is not well served by the existing awards on the market,’ ” he said. “I had clients, agencies and some of the more exciting media owners like the Googles and MSN’s all say they’re very much behind it.”

According to the FMAs’ positioning statement, the awards will address the “growing contribution” of media to brand building and profitable brand management. “They are the only global advertising awards to recognise that ‘media’ has become the rendezvous point for a new era of marketing, bringing together a wide range of disciplines and entirely new partnerships,” said the statement.

The FMAs will feature 29 categories (19 campaign categories and 10 media vendor categories), including Best Communications Strategy, The Award for Branding Bravery, Best Use of Content, Best Use of the Digital Landscape, Best Use of Search, Best Use of Gaming and Best Use of Mobile.

“It’s having a list of categories that represent the future of communications a little bit better, and trying to devise categories where media is embedded into a business or marketing initiative, as opposed to it being an afterthought to a creative idea,” said Crowe in a telephone interview. “It’s sometimes difficult to explain that nuance, but it’s quite a fundamental one.”

Crowe is reluctant to predict how many entrants the first-year show will garner, particularly in trying economic times. “As a start-up, I don’t think I’d want to hang myself on any prediction,” he said. “What we do know is all the global media agencies have been part of the consultation process...and all of those are going to be entering.”

All submissions will be judged by what Crowe describes as a “unique” mix of judges who will meet twice, first to decide on a shortlist and again on the eve of the Festival to determine the final winners. An overview of the Festival of Media and the FMAs (including entry details) can be found at FestivalOfMedia.com.

By Chris Powell

Originally published in Marketing Magazine, January 2009