James Hurman’s annual Gunn Report run-down of the campaigns that have won both a Cannes Gold Lion and a gold Effie shows that the most effective campaigns drive ‘viral’, ‘word of mouth’ or ‘fame’ effects far beyond the norm. And two of them are from this part of the world.
Author James Hurman
Since normal companies tend to be dissatisfied with their levels of innovation, it might be time to take a slightly more abnormal approach, argues James Hurman.
Inspired by a conversation with Al Brown on the new-found optimisim surrounding Auckland, James Hurman set out to discover why people were feeling so good about the city. Then, after speaking to 50 leading Aucklanders, he compiled a report that aims to create a shared understanding of ‘New Auckland’. These are some of the main insights.
This new year we’ve again gathered together a family of campaigns that represent something of a high water mark of achievement in our industry. To be judged Gold at Cannes and then Gold at the Effies is evidence of an advertising idea that is beyond reproach, both in terms of the commercial or behavioural impact it creates for its client and the way it moves our industry forward through sheer imagination and innovation. And in 2013, 12 campaigns achieved this remarkable distinction.
Lorde’s insistence to produce something that’s of true quality and distinctiveness, yet also absolutely mainstream, is the hallmark of truly great commercial innovators. That’s exactly what New Zealand is striving to be, says Y&R New Zealand’s James Hurman, and he believes her rise has plenty of relevance for those working in this industry.
Magazines may be working. But magazine advertising isn’t, says Y&R NZ’s managing director James Hurman.
As a guest contributor for The Gunn Report, Y&R NZ’s managing director James Hurman looked for the campaigns that had hit the ‘high water mark of human achievement in creative communications’ by winning both Cannes and Effie golds. And just nine campaigns joined this exclusive club in 2012.
Shopper marketing is very du jour at the moment. And, given the importance of the last stages of the purchase cycle, rightly so. But James Hurman thinks it works better when the strategic thinking is done inside the customer experience.
Last year the token Kiwi at Special Group did the campaign for our Axis Awards, revealing to us that we’d won “the most Cannes Lions per capita of any country in the world in 2010 – one Lion per 155,989 people. Sweden was second with one Lion per 202,173 residents. The ‘we invented advertising’ UK? A sorry 4th with one Lion per 849,886 people. The creative powerhouse of the USA? 8th buddy, 8th! with just one Lion per 2,287,003 people. Yesiree.” So, as another of the tiny handful of New Zealanders working in New Zealand advertising, I felt a sense of duty to follow in Tony Bradbourne’s footsteps when Patrick Collister, editor of Directory magazine and The Big Won Creative Rankings, sent me his 2011 data.