Digital Lessons from The Cyber Lions

Hi everyone

Well Cannes is wrapped up for another year, and Leo Burnett doing did particularly well in Digital/Integrated campaigns, especially in Asia!

Beyond self promotion though it's worth checking out the winners and what we can learn about what's going on globally in digital.

I've looked at 3 key developments that have made digital @ Cannes different this year:

1. Digital Comes to Life: The thing that was most noticeable for me was that most digital campaigns were really made real, and brought to life, in offline environments where people could experience them. One big winner was Nike Livestrong Chalkbot - which invited people to create messages of hope to be chalked by a robot-like device on the 2009 Tour de France roadway. People sent roughly 36,000 such messages via SMS, Twitter, Web banners, and a website at WearYellow.com.

Another winner was Volkswagen Fun Theory added interactive sound effects to physical environments to encourage healthier behaviors. The most famous, "The Piano Staircase," was turned into a video that's been viewed more than 12 million times.

There are plenty more examples championing this 'physical approach', two favourites of mine being Canon Photochains and our very own Heineken Stadium of Dreams, for their real world integration in photo exhibtions and a real Heineken Stadium of Dreams*, to truly engage people.

2. Digital in Real Time: Another big development was the real time nature of campaigns now, in line with the always on nature of our consumer (mobile,social media) and the expectation of instant answers to meet real needs.

One campaign I talked about before was the celebration last year of the first lunar landing in "We Choose the Moon" created for the JFK Presidential Library, recreated the Apollo moon mission exactly 40 years after it happened. Over four days, more than 100 hours of audio transmissions were streamed to WeChoosetheMoon.org and to a Twitter account that grew to 30,000 followers.

Another campaign I loved, in real time, was Nokia's World's Biggest Signpost. This is a nice installation from Nokia in the shape of arrow was lifted 50 metres above London by a crane. People on the street could send text messages directly to the live sign with their favorite places to visit, and the arrow would move to point to that location, and also provide the distance!The installation was streamed live to Nokia.com, where all the locations were synced with Nokias good things map. A great way to promote their geo-localization for mobile Maps.

Finally Leo Burnett got in the act with David on Demand at Cannes. A bit of fun at a website http://davidondemand.com/ that allowed anyone to Tweet David about what you wanted him to do at Cannes, in real time. Scary results I can imagine!

3. Beyond Social Media Integration: As I read recently, everyone now has Facebook or Twitter or Foursquare connected to their campaigns, "so what"? The question is how we can make our social media campaigns into a useful and engaging utility or experience, not just a campaign add on to make us all sound 'cool'.

Best Buy has done a great job with Twelpforce where they mobilized a small army of experts who give tech advice in tweet form based on the immediate needs of Twitter users.

I also loved the Facebook Showroom campaign from Ikea. What a great way to use a popular social media feature to give people a chnce to engage with products and brand in a fun way.

*P.S. Our Heineken Stadium of Dreams was short-listed as a finalist, but missed out on a prize. We'll keep trying but great effort team we should be proud!

Cheers, Rob