Radio Lions Grand Prix winner was "Repellent Radio" for Go Outside Magazine by Talent, São Paulo, Brazil.
Ok, so what? Well, President of Rob McLennan said in his President's Message: "I’m really looking forward to working with the world's leading creatives to find the freshest work for one of our oldest mediums."
But if that's really true, why did an idea that is anything but fresh win the Grand Prix? It's as even older than your junior AD or CW.
In 1985, it was done by CIME-FM in Canada: https://goo.gl/iPkdh
In 2007 there was Radio Mosquito in Austria:
In 2010, Graffiti BBDO Bucharest, Romania ran a campaign with this same idea for Magic FM
And all that was just within a 30-second search on google. So, if the agency said in case that's the first ever to use a sound that repels mosquitos in radio, they lied. Of course, one cannot read the write up that went with the entry on the Cannes Lions site.
One other thing is suspicious. The news about winning Grand Prix was revealed on Talent's agency Facebook page 8 hours before the gala in Cannes. WTF?!
After all that "idea" technique won a Ig Nobel Prize in 2007 and it doesn't work and it is even banned in some European countries.
C'mon jury, was there really not anything else more unique, fresh and really cutting edge that could have deserved to win Grand Prix? I guess we know why some folks get so jaded about award shows when the jury can't figure out how to select work that really should get the metals.
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copy or not but still sounds better than childproof commercial!
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PermalinkTechnically it can't work because the theoretical highest FM stereo frequency is 15khz, but most radio stations lowpass filter their signals at more like 14khz. As for AM radio, the highest frequency is around 5khz. So the "repellant" might be in the recorded spot, but it ain't making it to any radios.
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PermalinkI guess you missed the link stating "it doesn't work". I love the confusion though, as EU countries apparently spend time banning stuff that doesn't work anyway.
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PermalinkNah, I just took "doesn't work" to mean they held a mosquito focus group and the mosquitos all liked it. As opposed to "can't work" because the "repellent" disappears before it gets to the radio.
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PermalinkBWahahahahahaha!
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Permalink"One other thing is suspicious. The news about winning Grand Prix was revealed on Talent's agency Facebook page 8 hours before the gala in Cannes. WTF?!"
You might want to remove that phrase as it makes you look like a bad loser who's never won a lion in Cannes. This is not suspicious at all. Winners are notified the morning of the Gala.They just couldn't keep quiet.
Kudos though on doing research 20 jury members failed to do
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PermalinkOoooH I wish I could find that "embargoed" image I snapped of the winners list we get in the morning in Cannes, it had all the "don't tweet, don't facebook, don't email this before 20:00 HOURS" on it and some nice short legalease that you'll lose your press-pass/go to hell/be shunned forever etc if you do. Of course everyone ignores this and the list is passed around like a joint at a hippie-dinner.
I wonder what it says on the award-winners lists, because they tend to be the first to gossip about it.
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