Writer and Mad-blog contributor Mark Tungate examines the unique appeal of the Golden Drum festival.

I’m back at Golden Drum – and I hope I’ll be back every year. Inevitably, as summer comes to an end and my schedule of autumn events starts to fill up, I start worrying about whether or not I’ll be invited to Portoroz. Occasionally I dust off my press card and prepare to cover the event as a journalist. This year, however, I’m happy to say that once again I’ll be speaking. In fact, I’ll even be moderating a forum about the future of advertising (at 3pm on Friday, with speakers including Stefan Schmidt of TBWA Germany).

What makes Golden Drum such a highlight of my year? It’s not just the opportunity to see innovative work from the New Europe, which is part of the festival’s unique appeal. And it’s not only the chance to mingle with creative people from all over the world – especially from countries that are often overlooked by larger festivals. It’s not even the Mediterranean allure of Portoroz and the fabulous parties that take place there during the week.

No, what makes Golden Drum so appealing is its friendliness. For a few days, the Hotel Bernadin becomes a social hub where you’re constantly bumping into people you know. It’s exactly opposite to the vast, crowded Cannes, where you have to make appointments with acquaintances weeks in advance. In Portoroz, you know that you’ll soon be sitting on the terrace discussing the issues of the day with some of the wittiest minds in advertising. Equally, the event’s manageable scale makes it easier to meet new people – often industry stars who would normally be inaccessible. Something about Golden Drum makes everyone more relaxed and approachable.

Of course, we mustn’t forget that there is a packed schedule of seminars and debates – and I will be listening to many of them keenly. But Golden Drum regulars know that some of the most interesting conversations take place behind the scenes. And I’m certainly looking forward to this year’s.

Mark Tungate is the author of the new book Luxury World: The Past, Present and Future of Luxury Brands.

The economy in Europe is down by 4,1% since last year.

The number of businesses going bust in this region increased by 11%.

The entries submitted to Cannes were down by 19,9 % this year.

I hate to be positive, but this is quite a string of exceedingly good news, isn´t it?!

What these numbers tell us, when we read them again after the initial shock, is that creativity is needed more than ever.

I find that very good news, because creativity is what we do.

Solving problems in an unexpected, clever way is our job.

Adding value to brands through our talent for communication.

The second thing these numbers teach us is, that quirky, exchangeable, not-brand-driven scam ads, only produced to impress award shows, are becoming as irrelevant as they were to brands and clients all the time anyway.

We´ll soon meet to look for this years Drums.

And I hope we will be able to give them to some fine and excellent thinking.

I hope we will see more than just another set of ads. I hope we´d rather see brilliant expressions of strong and valid ideas. Made to engage with our audiences out there.

Written and art directed to infect human beings with passion, wit and with a promise for a real contribution to their lives.

Because that is what we are there for.

As bold as it may sound, we can help to save the world from this crisis.

Because we are creatives. And creatives know more about love than war. And it´s always love that ends the crisis, as much as hostility causes it.

Let love rule.

Stefan Schmidt will share his experience heading the Golden Drum  Film, Press, Outdoor and Radio Jury exclusively with the readers of mad-blog.com. Stefan is Chief Creative Officer of TBWA\Germany  in Berlin.

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Stefan Schmidt.

How an advertising agency fought for press freedom and broke industry records along the way.

As dictators around the world muzzle the media and newspapers confront an uncertain future, the freedom of the press has become one of the hottest topics of 2009. Advertising agency TBWA joined the debate with a disruptive campaign that scooped no less than nine top prizes at the industry’s annual festival in Cannes: a record. It centers on a crusading newspaper, a dictatorship and messages printed on trillion dollar banknotes.

“The story reads like something out of a movie, but it’s painfully real,” says John Hunt, Worldwide Creative Director of TBWA. “The setting is Zimbabwe, where one of the only sources of reliable information is a newspaper called The Zimbabwean, whose journalists are forced to live and work in exile. On top of that, the Mugabe government has slapped a 70 percent import duty on the paper, so very few Zimbabweans can afford to buy it. Needless to say, it has almost no advertising budget.”

TBWA’s South African agency, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, wanted to publicize the plight of the newspaper while simultaneously criticizing Robert Mugabe’s dysfunctional regime. “Thanks to runaway inflation, Zimbabwean currency literally isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. So we decided that it would be cheaper to print ads on Zimbabwean bills than on regular paper.”

The insight was a perfect fit with TBWA’s “disruption” theory, conceived by its chairman Jean-Marie Dru. Disruption is about overturning conventions to come up with original ideas. In this case, TBWA ignored conventional news channels and turned money into a medium – the symbol of a failed state. After record-breaking inflation Zimbabwe had recently issued the 100 trillion dollar note, whose 14 zeros did not even add up to the price of a loaf of bread.

“Our team found themselves in a seedy part of Johannesburg exchanging a handful of US dollars for trillions of dollars of Zimbabwean cash. At another point we had Zimbabwean friends turning up at the border with refuse bags stuffed with banknotes. One bag was worth about two US dollars.”

Real money is hard to ignore. During the campaign, agency staffers handed out hundreds of high denomination Zimbabwean banknotes in the street. Printed on them was the message: “Fight the regime that has crippled a country”, accompanied by the newspaper’s website address.

TBWA also created the world’s first advertising posters made from genuine banknotes. Giant billboards fluttering with real money made the message dramatically clear. Smaller posters, often located near places that sold The Zimbabwean, allowed people to peel off the bills and show their friends. The agency sent envelopes stuffed with Zimbabwean money to radio DJs, TV presenters, journalists, politicians and other influential figures. Pretty soon, the media was abuzz with the story.

“While a wrinkled dollar bill with a message on it is a simple idea, digital media is incredibly sophisticated and swift,” says Hunt. “People would pass the billboards with their cell phone and take a picture. Then they’d send it out via Twitter or upload it onto their blog. You can guess what happened next: within about 24 hours the story was in newspapers and on websites across the globe. Today, when you have something interesting to say, people will share it.”

The campaign cost less than US$3000, but it was highly effective: a week after it had launched, hits on The Zimbabwean’s website rose from 2,000 a day to more than two million.

The campaign deservedly won the agency’s in-house Disruption Award Grand Prix. More public accolades came at the Cannes Lions 2009 International Advertising Festival, which ended on June 27. The “trillion dollar” campaign won no less than 9 top prizes, including a Grand Prix in the outdoor advertising category and a Gold in the prestigious Titanium category, which recognizes game-changing ideas. It’s the first time in the festival’s 56 years that a single campaign has scooped so many awards.

“The Cannes festival was a recognition that the TBWA method works,” notes Hunt. “What you need in advertising today is a single visceral idea that touches many people, expressed in an intelligent way across different media. At our agency, we call this Disruption supported by the use of Media Arts.”

In the midst of the recession, the campaign also showed that advertising techniques could be used for other purposes than pushing product. “Taken in context with brutal press restrictions in places like Iran and Myanmar, it’s incredibly resonant,” Hunt agrees. “Advertising is the most effective way of supporting a free press, so perhaps this is a timely reminder that our industry doesn’t just exist to create hype.”

If you have any comments please email Ulrich Proeschel.

Last year Jean-Marie Dru, Chairman of TBWA\ Worldwide, has an intense connection with the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. He had the honor to chair the jury twice and last year he gave a highly recognized speech “The Beauty of Big” as part of the festival program. This year he shares his personal insights about the festival with the readers of mad-blog.com. Enjoy the conversation.

Part one (10:00)

Part two (7:26)

If you have any comments please email Ulrich Proeschel.

In a series of four short films, TBWA Worldwide Creative Director John Hunt answers questions about creativity, disruption and media arts. Prepare for inspiring thoughts about instinct, sharing, humour – and coat hangers.

3. It’s not my idea, it’s our idea – John Hunt explains how big egos suffocate creativity and why ideas benefit from being shared.

In a series of four short films, TBWA Worldwide Creative Director John Hunt answers questions about creativity, disruption and media arts. Prepare for inspiring thoughts about instinct, sharing, humour – and coat hangers.

1. Brands are defined not by ads, but by the ideas behind them. In the first of four films, Worldwide Creative Director John Hunt shares his definition of the ‘coat hanger’ idea:

If you have any comments please email Ulrich Proeschel.

If TBWA wants to be one of the top 10 most creative companies in the world, it has to look at everything in a different way. John Hunt, Worldwide Creative Director, explains how.

We can’t define advertising in a narrow way. We have to learn from companies outside of ourselves – learn how they redefined the categories they played in. We have to look at our jobs, our clients, our audiences and certainly the media from a completely different angle. I’ve put a few practical thoughts together that may help us do this.

1. Change the way we brief.

Imagine if the brief was the first expression of Media Arts? Our briefs need to be more visual. They don’t always have to include lots of ticks in boxes. And they certainly don’t have to be done in the agency. Briefs, certainly on big campaigns, should be inspirational. For example, we recently did a briefing for a pasta client in an Italian restaurant, it’s amazing what Italian opera and arabiata can achieve.

2. Invite the client to the briefing as well as the presentation.

It sounds a little radical, but it really works. If it’s the client’s briefing, strangely enough, it also becomes their campaign. This way, you don’t meet each other for the first time at the presentation. Adopt this policy and I bet your first-time sell rate will double.

3. Think more about how you package your ideas.

So many great ideas don’t see the light of day because we package them badly. Unfortunately, both in awards shows and presentations to clients, your work is only as good as the way it’s packaged. In South Africa, they did a radio spot for Jungle Oats, a breakfast cereal that’s meant to make kids strong. They wanted it to sound like an old Zulu work song.  That’s quite difficult to sell – but not if you ask 100 children from Soweto’s Room 13 to sing it for you.

4. To get more beautiful answers ask more beautiful questions.

A great idea often comes from a perfectly asked question. So don’t just ask a client about the size of their budget – also ask about the real problems with their business. A client will let you do great work if they you really understand their business. That way, we’re not just the provider of their ads, but rather the architect of their brand.

5. Divide and Conquer has become Share and Conquer.

To become that architect, the agency now has to work as a team.  If there are walls between Client Management, Creative, Planning, Digital, Media and so on, they should become invisible. Different disciplines are not an excuse for working in sealed silos. Our clients, more and more, want an all-encompassing answer to their mounting problems. They don’t care where the answer comes from, as long as it comes.

6. Have an idea, not just an ad.

Our job is to effect audience behaviour, not just to fill in a media schedule. Don’t get me wrong – often a great idea will still find itself translated into mainstream media. And practising Media Arts is absolutely no excuse for lousy TV commercials or print ads. It’s just that in effecting audience behaviour, ‘classical’ advertising is no longer the only game in town. TBWA\Berlin could’ve done posters and double page spreads. They just thought the adidas ‘Huddle’ and ‘Ferris Wheel’ spectaculars during the UEFA EURO 2008 might have more impact. Read more…