shots 25 Best Cannes Ads: Outdoor

2015 marks shots' 25th anniversary, but rather than commemorate our quarter-century history at Cannes with a gallery of rosé-soaked beach party pics (though we'll do that as well, obviously), we're focussing on the top creative work that's been lauded and awarded over the years.

We've selected the top five Lion-winning campaigns from five different categories - Outdoor, Cyber, Film, Branded Content and Titanium - to bring you the best of the best: shots' 25 Best Cannes Ads. Read on for our pick of the posters, billboards and ambient campaigns in this first installment.

ANZ GAYTMS (2014)

The highlight of last year’s Outdoor category brought some serious razzle-dazzle to Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, courtesy of principal sponsor ANZ Bank and Whybin/TBWA Group Melbourne.

The Grand Prix-winning campaign gave 10 of the bank’s cashpoints an LGBT-friendly face-lift by decking them out in specially-commissioned artwork – from unicorns and drag queens to anchors and rhinestone trims – which extended to customised welcome screens (‘Cash out and proud!’) and rainbow-hued receipts. For a further boost, transaction fees for non-ANZ cardholders were donated to non-profit organisation Twenty10.

Coca-Cola #CokeHands (2012)

Celebrating the happiness that comes with sharing a Coke, this clever campaign from Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai – which secured China’s second-ever Grand Prix – saw Coca-Cola’s famous ‘ribbon’ transformed into two hands passing a bottle of Coke between them.

Created by the artist behind the Steve Jobs/‘bitten Apple’ logo, 20-year-old Hong Kongese student Jonathan Mak, the posters appeared on bus shelters across Shanghai and, unusually for the Chinese market, ran entirely without a logo or strapline – illustrating  the universal intelligibility of the message behind the simple, visually impactful design.  

Jay-Z with Bing Decode (2011)

In a bid to bring Microsoft’s search engine, Bing, to the youth market, this ambitious campaign from New York agency Droga5 leveraged the launch of rapper Jay-Z’s autobiography, Decode, by placing the story – quite literally – in context.

In the run-up to publication, 350 pages were hidden in locations around the world from Glastonbury in the UK, to Detroit and Chicago, with fans invited to track down and digitally assemble the book ahead of its launch via an integrated campaign. The sheer scale and variety of the outdoor media used, from conventional billboards to the bottom of a swimming pool, the lining of Gucci leather jackets and punchbags in a boxing gym, made it a worthy Grand Prix winner in 2011.

The Zimbabwean Trillion Dollar Billboard (2009)

Created by South Africa’s TBWAHuntLascaris Johannesburg to increase international awareness of independent (and fiercely government-critical) newspaper The Zimbabwean, this Grand Prix-winning outdoor campaign from 2009 employed traditional outdoor media – billboards, murals, posters and flyers – to get its message across, but with one novel twist.

Instead of printing on paper, the agency used a much cheaper alternative: thousands of worthless Z$100 trillion dollar notes, screen-printed with slogans such as ‘Thanks To Mugabe, This Money Is Wallpaper’ for a powerful, tangible symbol of the country’s problems.

HBO Voyeur (2008)

BBDO New York’s brilliant outdoor campaign for HBO turned hundreds of New Yorkers into peeping Toms, via a projection on the side of a building with an apparently missing wall, revealing the interiors of eight apartments.

Shot by Jake Scott via RSA Films with visual effects by Asylum, the four-minute film piqued viewers’ – or should that be voyeurs’ – interest by offering a peek into the nefarious goings-on inside the flats, including an FBI stakeout and shooting, before directing them to a campaign micro-site to explore the stories further.

Although awarded in other categories, including a silver Lion for use of digital media, it’s the attention-grabbing nature of the outdoor stunt which bagged it the 2009 Grand Prix.