The range and specificity of reasons covered is one part of what makes the creative so compelling: the other is the careful media placements that were chosen to underline the sentiments being expressed in the copy. For example, one 16-sheet poster in a London Underground station lists ‘Warm gusts of wind that don’t come from tube trains’ as the reason for travel. Adaptive billboards were also part of the roll-out, meaning that ‘It’s 16.37 and it’s dark’ could be adjusted to reflect the ever-shortening days of winter in London.
Jury president Javier Campopiano, worldwide chief creative officer at Grey and global chief creative officer of OpenX From WPP, said that in the context of a lot of industry conversation around AI, ‘One of the things that I liked about the BA campaign was that only a human can write that’.
Indeed, for all the striking simplicity of these ads – three sparing lines of copy in a sea of white space – this is a genuinely emotive campaign, and deliberately so. In the words of Uncommon co-founder Lucy Jameson, ‘You’re never going to win on rationality.’ But as well as the pitch-perfect copywriting some of that emotional resonance and authenticity could be down to the process that helped build the campaign. ‘We opened it up to the entire agency and we had a Google doc of the reasons people fly,’ said Jameson.
Not a bad way for Uncommon to win its first Grand Prix.
Outdoor Gold Lion winners /
Bucket Hat, Pink Polo and Socks and Sandals, for Lacoste, by BETC, Paris
Kitchen, QSR and Diner for Heinz Ketchup, by Rethink Toronto
Fitchix for Honest Egg Co, by VMLY&R Melbourne
The Last Photo for CALM, by Adam&eveDDB, London
The Artois Probability for Stella Artois, by GUT, Buenos Aires
Life Extending Stickers for Makro, by Grey Colombia, Bogota
Anne de Gaulle for Fondation Anne de Gaulle, Havas, Paris
Bread of the Nation for AB InBev SA, by Ogilvy South Africa
