{"id":89954,"date":"2013-06-02T19:06:07","date_gmt":"2013-06-02T13:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=89954"},"modified":"2013-06-23T16:18:29","modified_gmt":"2013-06-23T10:48:29","slug":"how-leo-burnett-solutions-skinned-a-lankan-lion-to-get-a-cannes-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/how-leo-burnett-solutions-skinned-a-lankan-lion-to-get-a-cannes-lion\/","title":{"rendered":"How Leo Burnett Solutions Skinned A Lankan Lion To Get A Cannes Lion"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

It is my contention that a sizable proportion of the most creative writers (and artists of course) in the country are in the advertising industry. Makes sense.\u00a0 There\u2019s more money in that business.\u00a0 This doesn\u2019t mean however that writers in advertising have compromised their art.\u00a0 They do their own writing and the smarter ones squeeze their hearts into copy, getting past client servicing personnel and clients themselves.\u00a0 Their best work, however, tend to be discarded.<\/p>\n

Some of them obtain relief from corporate briefs when they are tasked to develop public service campaigns or are engaged in one-off \u2018feel good\u2019 creative exercises.\u00a0 I like to think that this is when they are at their creative best.<\/p>\n

One of the most innovative creative exercises I\u2019ve seen recently is the Independence Day campaign dreamed up by Leo Burnett \u00a0Solutions Inc for the Maubima newspaper.\u00a0 It was an easily executable idea developed around the preeminent symbol of \u2018independence\u2019, the national flag.\u00a0 The flag was printed on a page with the reverse page also carrying the flag (in reverse).\u00a0 Easy instructions on how to cut it, roll up the adjacent page and turn it into a flag you could stick somewhere or even wave around. Neat idea.<\/p>\n

The excellent work was duly recognized internationally.\u00a0 This is how one newspaper reported:<\/p>\n

\u2018Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. created history by being the first ever Sri Lankan agency to be recognised at the prestigious Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity by winning metal in the Best Consumer Engagement category for work done for the Mawbima newspaper, with the agency\u2019s national flag concept.\u00a0 The Cannes Lions Festivity this year hosts over 11,000 delegates from over 90 countries from the creative community all gathered in one place to celebrate creativity. The national flag initiative was created by Leo Burnett Sri Lanka in partnership with Starcom to celebrate the national day by creating a nationalistic feeling amongst all Sri Lankans by turning a national newspaper into a national flag which engaged people like never before.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

A Sri Lankan creative team, using the national flag on Independence Day to \u2018create nationalistic feeling\u2019 and being rewarded internationally, MasterCard would say \u2018Priceless\u2019!\u00a0 A Cannes Lion is something to be proud of.\u00a0 A Cannes \u2018first\u2019 warrants greater pride.\u00a0 Doing it with the flag, with the nation and for the nation, tops everything.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

K.A. Dharmadasa the vegetable vendor<\/p><\/div>\n

I remember that \u2018pride\u2019, not on account of flag-waving and piggy-backing on Independence Day, the former just makes me weary and as for the latter, that part of advertising useful as it is never excites me; I remember the pride because it was a Sri Lankan effort that was acknowledged, especially by an international panel of judges in an international advertising festival.\u00a0 I am not the kind to dwell on such things.\u00a0 Sri Lanka fought a war that was supposed to be unwinnable and won; those who played their part got on with their lives. That\u2019s it. Same with this \u2018pride\u2019.<\/p>\n

Until one day a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The place: the Jathika Pola in Narahenpita.\u00a0 The exact location, a keera<\/em> outlet.\u00a0 The individual concerned: Kumarapperuma Arachchige Dharmadasa.\u00a0 Male.\u00a0 Probably 70 years old.\u00a0 This might sound like work-notes for a shoot, being quite the props-models-location mix.\u00a0\u00a0 The fact is, it was.\u00a0 Not at that moment, but before.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the story.\u00a0 Leo Burnett Solutions Inc submitted this campaign to Cannes.\u00a0 The submission included, apparently, a 90 second video clip, offering background spiced with a nice \u2018war-is-over-hope-is-here-again\u2019 line, tasteful and non-intrusive music, and naturally a bit of wordplay with the name of the newspaper, which means \u2018motherland\u2019.\u00a0 It included, at the end, snapshots supporting the delivery claim: people from all walks of life carrying\/waving the \u2018Maubima Flag\u2019.\u00a0 The clip is very well edited. Powerful.\u00a0 Crafted to move an outsider to the point of applause.\u00a0 I saw the clip, but in a hurry.\u00a0 Thought it was well made.\u00a0 That was it.\u00a0 Until I ran into Kumarapperuma Arachchige Dharmadasa at the Jathika Pola.<\/p>\n

He was in that clip.\u00a0 He was one of the several individuals captured on camera holding a \u2018Maubima Flag\u2019. There were others too: a shop keeper, a vegetable vendor, a kid on a bike, a bus driver, a child inside a bus, a child waving a flag out of a bus-window and some kids at the beach planting a flag atop a sandcastle and a tailor.<\/p>\n

I asked Dharmadasa about the flag.\u00a0 \u2018Mama danne naha mahaththayo\u2026.mahaththuru vagayak avith kodiyak deela, kodiya alla ganna kiyala poto gaththa!\u2019\u00a0 [I do not know sir\u2026some gentlemen came, gave me a flag, told me to hold it and took some pictures].\u00a0 He was, then, not someone who had been swayed by a good advertising campaign to buy the \u2018Maubima\u2019 to make a flag to wave on Independence Day. He was a model dolled up for a scam exercise!\u00a0 And this in a \u2018nationalistic\u2019 campaign using the NATIONAL flag on INDEPENDENCE Day!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

K.A. Dharmadasa the model<\/em><\/p>\n

A closer look at the clip was warranted. I was shocked.\u00a0 It is abundantly clear that not just Dharmadasa but everyone in that clip are \u2018models\u2019, add-ons roped in to serve the greed of some people who clearly didn\u2019t give a hoot about the true meaning of independence or the dignity of citizenship.<\/p>\n

\u2018On Independence Day \u2018Maubima\u2019 sold out within hours of its release,\u2019 Leo Burnett Solutions Inc softly bragged.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know about that.\u00a0 What we know is that Sri Lankans don\u2019t have to spend 50 bucks to buy a paper just to make a national flag.\u00a0 Flags of all sizes come up all over Sri Lanka during Independence Day celebrations.\u00a0 It is strange then that only this \u2018Maubima Flag\u2019 was visible.\u00a0 It would give the impression that the only flags out on this day were those printed in the newspaper.<\/p>\n

This was an unadulterated scam, all the more deserving of censure because it was prostituting the idea of independence and the national flag.<\/p>\n

It raises certain questions.\u00a0 If an agency has no qualms about hoodwinking a panel of judges, would they really give a hoot about hoodwinking potential customers targeted by a client?\u00a0 Can we expect them to be concerned about \u2018ethics\u2019 in advertising?\u00a0 And if they can cheat the Cannes judges would they even think twice about cheating their clients?\u00a0 If they can lie about what their \u2018nationalistic\u2019 campaign did would they not lie about what their other creative efforts could accomplish?\u00a0 Is this a story that is peculiar to Leo Burnett Solutions Inc or is it common to the rest of the industry?\u00a0 Are \u2018scams\u2019 par for the course when it comes to ad awards?<\/p>\n

The truth is that Scam Ads (sometimes called \u2018Scads\u2019) have got agencies, CEOs and creative directors into hot water around the world.\u00a0 They are described as a chronic problem, a sort of dark underbelly of the industry where agencies and individuals trying to win awards submit work that’s never been approved by a client or run more than a couple times.\u00a0 In this case, a submission of an idea that didn\u2019t \u2018run\u2019 the way it is claimed to have.\u00a0 Last year Cannes stripped independent Brazilian shop Moma Propaganda of two Lions won at the Cannes awards for apparently fake ads for Kia Motors Brazil. Yes, clients are also taken for a ride.<\/p>\n