Lemon2020

Live in the current idiom and you will create in it.

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The Year of Post-Truth

Each year our top creative directors from around the network gather to review the year's best work and honor the ideas that most represent DDB's heritage and ideals, as well as the kind of thinking needed to take our business into the future. From the 106 final nominees this year, winners were chosen in each medium and the Best of Show was awarded to Alma DDB Miami 's "Spanish Lessons" for Netflix. Our jury spent many hours discussing and debating the winners and what we need to do as a network to live up to our legacy, particularly in a world where our clients seem to be held up to higher standards than our politicians. Bernbach Jury President, the legendary Nizan Guanaes, reflected on our best work of the year and our DDB legacy in this current post-truth world.

I was really impressed by the quality of the Bill Bernbach Awards. It’s a fantastic collection of work, and when you see all of them together it’s very impressive. Most of the work I had already seen in Cannes, but I didn’t have any idea that much of it was DDB work, so I’m very impressed.

DDB is going through quite a great momentum. It must be the DDB of Bill Bernbach, in the philosophy, but it has to have the look, the feel, the drive of our times and I think that Amir is doing that job very well. Wendy Clark is doing a fantastic job in North America. adam&eveDDB continues to lead our industry on the world stage.  All these things put together with the leadership of Chuck Brymer are giving DDB the momentum we’ve seen this year – one of the best years of our times. We won accounts, we won awards. We here in Grupo ABC, Africa, DM9DDB, LDC and others, are all very excited to be part of it.

In moments like this current post-truth reality, when you have to face fake news, fake positioning, fake brands, I think that we should not have fear of sticking with truth. Post-truth is going to disappear and truth will go on.

One of the things in my life is that I always stood for the things that I believed in. Sometimes things get fashionable; they come and go. But if you stick by the side of the truth, of integrity, of the things that you believe, in the long run you are going to succeed.

In that sense, instead of post-truth, I stand by the side of Warren Buffett. Warren Buffett always wins. He doesn’t care about what’s going to happen today or tomorrow or in the medium in the short term. I believe in truth in work, in advertising, in anything, in any endeavor that you do in life.

In my opinion, data is very important, it’s a fantastic tool.  I think that Trump won this campaign by using heart and science because he used data, but he also used his understanding of the people that globalization had left behind. I am not saying that I agree with Trump. The only thing I’m saying is that his campaign has to have an impact in Madison Avenue. We must reflect on what happened.

We had two campaigns, each one had 1 billion dollars, each one had data, each one had all the modern tools in advertising and one guy swept the floor and took it all. So what did he do that the other guy didn’t know? Huh? I think that he had a feeling, a vision, a strategy. So data is a fantastic tool. I think that what Hearts & Science is doing is amazing, what Annalect is doing is amazing. I am proud to be Omnicom and DDB because we have the best in the world.

But we have to have the feeling. We have to have the understanding of the human soul. And we have to use this data with passion, with vision, with guts, with balls. If you don’t have balls, you are not going to win in advertising. If you don’t have balls to say no to clients, to lose clients, you won’t win, you just won’t win. Clients have to respect us. We have to be relevant, right?

Here in Brazil, everybody knows us, I’m part of the Council of the President. We are connected to most of the Brazilian institutions of this society. So in order to be relevant you have to be relevant in the society and you have to be partners of the museums, the boards, the universities, the banks, everything. We have to have true relevance.

I was very honored to be president of the jury and especially honored to spend time with that fantastic team of creative heads of DDB. I learned a lot. It’s fantastic that when you judge, you think that you’re judging, but in fact, what you’re doing is learning.

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BEST OF SHOW 

NETFLIX NARCOS SEASON 2: Spanish Lessons

This year's Best of Show goes to Alma DDB Miami. This edgy campaign is the perfect example of truly knowing your audience and your product. Relevant ideas are found by listening to people and treating them as friends. Ideas like this make it look simple, but we all know they can be the hardest to sell. The idea was also named our Promotion/Activation winner.

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PINK RIBBON: Check It Before It’s Removed

DDB Germany was named our Digital winner for this campaign for breast cancer awareness. By paying attention to what people were focusing on and discussing online, they found a way to make the topic fresh and relevant. They turned the  #freethenipple hashtag against social media censorship into something positive, and by breaking a few rules, they had the censors helping to spread their message even further.

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89FM: TRUTH DETECTOR

The Audio award went to DDB Brasil's Truth Detector. It turned an ordinary radio into a filter for honesty in today's post-truth world.

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Milk West DAIRY: Snack Time

This year's Branded Entertainment award from DDB Canada is part of a long-running web series that has teens, who as a rule hate advertising, loving our campaign. And loving milk.

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Grupo GUGA KUERTEN: The Match Racquets

LDC Brazil was named the winner in Design. These beautiful crafted racquets are an inspired tribute to the legendary tennis star and his fans. They illustrate completely how the magic comes from the product itself.

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SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE: Come On In

DDB Sydney's incredible campaign for the Sydney Opera House took top honors in both Direct and Mobile. The campaign illustrates exactly how technology should be used improve people's lives and open doors to a whole new experience.

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HARVEY NICHOLS: Shoplifters

This year's Film winner went to adam&eveDDB UK. Their commercial for Harvey Nichols new loyalty app, turned one of the store's biggest problems into the star of the campaign, using real CCTV footage of actual shoplifters.

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VOLKSWAGEN: Connect

DDB Spain was honored with the Innovation award. Tasked with strengthening Volkswagen’s relationship with consumers, they developed a whole new communications channel that improved the lives of VW drivers both on and off the road.

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SKITTLES: Give the Rainbow

adam&eveDDB UK picked up the Integration award for Skittles. From ads to direct to even changing the design of actual product, each element was seemlessly connected for a truely integrated experience.

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PONLE CORAZON: The Most Aired Campaign

This year's media winner from Fahrenheit DDB Peru is a genius solution to a problem often ignored in pro-bono campaigns. Their fresh thinking allowed everyone to come together for the cause.

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BILL BERNBACH

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SPRINT: The Last Emoji 

Alma DDB Miami's Outdoor winner proved the power of a clever installation to reach people, even if they never actually pass by it. Their DN’T TXT & DRIVE emoji, crafted from a crashed car, made Sprint one of the most-talked about influencers of Distracted Driving Awareness Month.

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2016 Bernbach Award Jury

front: Dennis May DDB Dusseldorf, Juan Carlos Ortiz DDB Latina, Nizan Guanaes Grupo ABC, José María Roca de Viñals DDB Spain

standing: Amir Kassaei DDB Worldwide, Peter Ampe DDB Belgium, Alexander Kalchev DDB Paris, Tove Langseth DDB Stockholm, Arício Fortes DM9DDB, Icaro Doria DDB New York, Alvar Suñol Alma DDB, Ben Welsh DDB Sydney, Cosmo Campbell DDB Canada

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STUDIO BRUSSELS: Stardust for Bowie

DDB Brussels PR winner was conceived and implemented in a day. It truly illustrated the teamwork and speed needed in today's marketplace. The campaign touched millions of fans and became a symbol of Bowie's legacy.

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VOLKSWAGEN: 360º Cover

DDB Spain was also a winner in the Press category. They leveraged the most important image in a magazine – the cover – to communicate VW’s innovative technology to readers by simply turning the page.

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Punch Above Your Weight

It may be small, but the New Zealand market certainly packs a creative punch.  The country ranked sixth at Cannes this year and DDB New Zealand continues to be among the best, ranking #1 on Campaign Brief and named Campaign Magazine’s Best Digital Agency in Australia and New Zealand.  Having ideas is not the hard part, according to CCO Damon Stapleton, caring about them is. The belief in the power of ideas and persistence to craft the impossible is evident in their work. Damon Stapleton and ECD Shane Bradnick reunited at DDB New Zealand in early 2014. Here they provide a glimpse into how a small market agency consistently competes on the world-class stage.

You guys had worked together before joining forces again at DDB New Zealand. Is it sweeter the second time around?

Damon Stapleton: Not only is it sweeter, our salaries are far higher. When we started I carried a bag of spark plugs with me at all times because my car was stuffed and Shane used to wear Scrubs from a hospital because they were the cheapest clothes he could buy.

Has your past experience had an impact on your approach to the work today and the way you lead your creatives?

Shane Bradnick: Both our careers have often been about doing a lot with very little. So we always look for the best idea because that cuts through than just money.  And this is also what we try to inspire our creatives to do.

Damon, you were born in Australia and Shane, you’re South African, and you’ve both worked in both of those countries prior to coming to New Zealand.  What makes these markets stand out?

DS: I think what is unique about New Zealand and South Africa is the audience demands more from their advertising. They want to be entertained not just informed. From a New Zealand perspective, the simple answer is speed. There is less red tape, more bravery and a strong desire from a country of only 4.5 million people to make world-class work. These ingredients make a very special creative place.

Let’s talk about Damon’s Brain. Your blog consistently seems to hold up a critical mirror to the industry in an attempt to save it. If you could solve one problem for Adland, what would it be?

DS: I would get our business to have some confidence again. We apologise a lot, but forget some of the most fantastic talents are in this business and that should be celebrated. The other thing I would look at comes from a quote, I think the late great David Abbott once said, “Shit that travels at the speed of light, is still shit when it arrives.” I would focus far more on the quality of what people are getting, rather than how it gets to them.

You’ve garnered a lot of awards in New Zealand the last few years. What have been the biggest contributors to your success?

SB: Clients demanding great work. Creatives never giving up or accepting mediocrity. A strong belief in our ability to overcome any obstacle and a stronger desire to compete globally.

Your work reflects an understanding of how to use technology to really reach people across multi-channeled campaigns. Does this grow out of the way you structure your teams or integrate across departments?

DS: I think our view is technology serves the idea or fulfills a need. We make everything and everybody equal before the idea, including technology. That drives our structure.

SB: Every problem is different so having one structure for us doesn’t work. We run creative a bit more like Lego. We decide what we need to build and go from there.

Bernbach said he could teach his teams advertising; what he looked for in creative people was a deep insight into human nature.  Do you believe this has changed or evolved? What do you think defines creative talent today?

DS: No, I think Mr. Bernbach was correct. Advertising may have changed in the last 50 years, so you have to teach yourself a few new things, but what hasn’t changed is connecting and talking to people. And it never will. Why somebody feels, laughs or believes is part of the unchanging man. I think many in our business today forget that advertising is meant to connect with other human beings. If you can’t do that as a creative, the rest doesn’t really matter, does it?

Follow Shane & Damon on twitter @SWBradnick and @d_stapleton or check out Damonsbrain.com