Big egos are common in the advertising industry and agency Zulu Alpha Kilo plays into this concept with a campaign for the 100th anniversary of one of Canada’s top advertising awards, The Marketing Awards.
Established in 1922, the Marketing Awards are one of the oldest advertising and design awards, even predating the Cannes Lions by more than two decades.
To mark its 100th year of recognizing Canada’s best creative work, The Marketing Awards proposes to cryogenically freeze Canada’s most creative creative mind, turning someone into a creative popsicle to be unfrozen in 100 years.
A video promoting the stunt (which will never happen) states that everyone wants publicity immortality and now it’s possible for a creative with a big ego. The video imagines what the future of advertising will look like for the creative lucky enough to be frozen. It’s a lot like the present, but with trainee bots and VR timesheets that “still sucks”. Also, the holding companies no longer buy small agencies, because they have already bought them all.
The offer is open to past Gold Marketing Award winners, who can apply to CryogenicCreative.com. They will have to answer questions such as “What is your ego on a scale of 1 to 10?” “How many yachts left in Cannes have you planted? » » and « Do you agree to be cryopreserved?
Eligible nominees will need to have won a Gold Marketing Award at some point in the past 100 years, which rules out global legends including david droga, Susan Cradle, Susan Hoffman, jeff goodbye and Rich Silversteinaccording to a jab in the video.
The campaign also includes a social video that takes the viewer into the jury room to hear the judges passive-aggressively debate the merits of a campaign. Print and web banners poke fun at the age of the Marketing Awards, with headlines such as “We’ve been around so long, our first annual prize is 15 cents” and “We’ve been around so long, our 1922 winners include campaign launch of the front lacing corset.
Mary Maddever, evp and editorial director of Brunico, the company behind the awards, said the awards wanted to do something special to celebrate its 100th anniversary. “This campaign pays homage to the show’s history, while anticipating the next 100 years of Canadian advertising,” she said in a statement.
The campaign was developed by Toronto-based creative agency Zulu Alpha Kilo, a company that’s no stranger to poking fun at the awards process, including a recent one that parodies how far agencies go to chase awards.
The deadline to enter the 100th Marketing Awards is February 18, and the annual show will take place in June.
The Marketing Awards have been a springboard for many internationally awarded Canadian campaigns, including ‘Always’ Like a Girl’, Dove’s ‘Courage is Beautiful’, McDonald’s ‘Follow the Arches’ and Dove’s ‘Evolution’.
CREDITS:
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
Client: Brunico Communications Ltd.
Agency: Zulu Alpha Kilo
CCO: Zak Mroueh
CD/Writer: Nick Asik
CD/Artistic Director: Jenny Luong
Screenwriter: Marco Bouchard
Artistic Director: Michael Romaniuk
Design Director: Dejan Djuric, Jeff Watkins
Clients: Mary Maddever, Lisa Faktor, Jennifer Horn, Natalya Chernova, Sonya Chitale
Account Team: Jaya Rizzi, Cosmo Haskard
Agency Producer: Ola Stodulska, Teresa Bayley, Jen Shapiro
Production company: Zulubot
Producer: Adam Palmer, Sarah Dayus
Post-production company: Zulubot
Editors: Brian Noon, Ashlee Mitchell, Felipe Chaparro, Sam Rose Phillips
Online Colorist/Editor: Felipe Chapparro
Audio: Pirates
Vocal director/sound engineer: Ian Boddy
Studio Director: James Graham
Studio Artist: Jeanette Downes, Mila Lukezich