72andSunny’s Michael Canning tells CB about judging the Cannes Titanium + Integrated Lions

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Michael Canning_72andSunny (1).jpgMichael Canning from 72andSunny LA served as a juror on this year’s prestigious Cannes Lions Titanium and Integrated Jury. Campaign Brief caught up with Canning for an inside perspective on the work.

How were the Titanium Lions defined as a category this year?

When the Titanium Lion began it was defined as ‘the way forward’. This year the jury hoped to find a few gems of work that hadn’t been awarded too much or maybe even at all across other categories because they weren’t easy to ‘categorize’. We awarded five Titanium Lions and the Grand Prix was awarded to the piece of work that the jury thought was the most forward looking example of communication by a brand right now. The Titanium and Integrated jury also awards the ‘Grand Prix for Good’ from work across the festival that is created for a charitable purpose, and this was the easiest thing for the jury to select – It deservedly went to ALS Association for ‘Ice Bucket Challenge’.

How were the Integrated Lions defined?

Integrated Lions are more clear-cut. It shouldn’t be about just ticking a bunch of boxes for different channels used in a campaign, which you see a lot of. Instead, I think the best integrated work uses each channel in a way that adds a new dimension to how the idea connects with people and scales. The best examples were seamless to the point that you didn’t really notice all the different channels working together because they just felt like a big conversation.

You’ve judged at Cannes Lions before on the Film Jury. How does judging Film differ to judging Titanium and Integrated?

There are a couple of differences. The Film category has a higher volume of work because there are a lot of films entered from around the world and across different mediums such as TV, online and long form. The main difference is that Titanium has a more abstract definition as a category. It’s harder to predict what work will be awarded in Titanium. We had a great group of people on the Titanium and Integrated jury and at Cannes the discussions you have about the work from different points of view and cultures are always really interesting.

What do you think was the best piece of work awarded with a Titanium Lion this year?

The Titanium Grand Prix was awarded to Domino’s ‘Emoji Ordering’ which is a way to order pizza by tweeting a pizza emoji at Domino’s. It’s brutally simple, and a smart way to transact that’s very of the moment. It’s essentially a business idea and I think an example of how creativity is relevant in business more than ever. Dominos have been building innovations around ordering in the U.S for a while with big scale ideas like the Domino’s ‘Pizza Tracker’, and ‘Emoji Ordering’ is a new addition to this platform for the brand. Another awesome Titanium winner was from Australia, the ‘Clever Buoy’ for Optus. I think this is a great example of a brand going way beyond advertising to give people something of value in the everyday – but that has the brand’s purpose at the heart of it. I’d feel good at Aussie beaches knowing there’s a ‘Clever Buoy’ out in the water so hopefully they keep getting rolled out across the country before the next time I’m back for a holiday.

What were great examples of Integrated work this year?

The standout pieces were ‘Respect’ by Jordan Brand and the Newcastle Brown Ale ‘Band of Brands’ Super Bowl work. What both these campaigns did well was to use an integrated idea to create a big moment in culture. Every piece of media in the campaign did something relevant to connect people with the idea, which all added up to a big cultural impact. These two were both U.S campaigns, and living in the States you definitely heard about and saw them in culture outside of the advertising world.

Did you see any trends in the Titanium and Integrated category this year?

I wouldn’t call it a trend necessarily but one thing was that there were a few prototypes for ideas being entered in Titanium. The case study would show the idea and prototype, and then talk about the plans to roll it out, like a ‘coming soon’. This work wasn’t awarded because if it’s just a prototype then it’s a bit like entering a storyboard. Ideas that have plans to scale further beyond launch were considered, but there has to be some real world impact from the launch of the idea.