Apple’s ‘R.I.P. Leon’ and CALM’s ‘The Last Photo’ win Film Grand Prix at Cannes
Jury president Bruno Bertelli said spots that sell were favored this year over big brand manifestos.
ValVades
The Film jury at Cannes Lions gave Grand Prix to two separate and very different pieces on Friday—a lighthearted 30-second spot for Apple and a heartbreaking 90-second spot for ITV and CALM.
The Apple spot, “R.I.P. Leon,” created in-house, amusingly demonstrated the product feature of unsending text messages. The film for CALM (“Campaign Against Living Miserably”), made by adam&eveDDB, showed home footage of people smiling and laughing and seemingly enjoying life, before revealing that these were the last videos taken of people who killed themselves—emphasizing that “suicidal doesn’t always look suicidal.”
Many had expected Apple’s spot “The Greatest,” focused on accessibility, to win its second Grand Prix of the week (it won earlier in Music), but in the end it scored a Silver Lion. Bruno Bertelli, chief creative officer of Publicis Worldwide and Publicis Groupe Italy and president of the Film jury, told Ad Age on Friday that the jury made a concerted effort to favor spots that sell over big brand spots.
“Clearly today the issue is selling,” he said. “We saw so much good stuff that was about selling a product or a feature.” (He said this decision to focus on selling over branding was the jury’s own—that they weren’t guided by the festival.)
“Humor is back, for sure,” he added. “And the other thing is short formats—really understanding the new trends [in social].”
Asked about the CALM film, Bertelli said the agency was impressed by its simplicity and restraint. “It would have been so easy to go more dramatic,” he said. “Instead, they edited the existing footage and landed on the insight—so simple.”
There were six Gold Lion winners:
• “Relax, It's iPhone—Action Mode” for Apple, made in-house
• “Second Best” (campaign) for Ikea by David Madrid and Ingo Hamburg
• “Cowboy,” “Nails,” “Parrott” for Uber Eats by Mother London
• “#Periodsomnia” for Bodyform/Libresse by AMV BBDO London
• “Papa” for Canal+ by BETC Paris
• “He's Coming Home” for Women's Aid by House 337 London
