The Zimbabwean newspaper and TBWAHuntLascaris, Johannesburg, have won the Cannes Grand Prix for Outdoor for their Trillion Dollar Campaign. The campaign used worthless, high-denomination Zimbabwean currency as the “substrate” for billboards, murals, posters and fliers that protested the impact of Robert Mugabe’s government.
The Zimbabwean serves Zimbabweans in exile. In June 2008, the Mugabe government imposed a 55% luxury import duty on newspapers produced outside the country, which meant the exiled Zimbabweans couldn’t afford it. To make it affordable, subscribers living outside the country had to subscribe and, thereby, subsidize the paper.
TBWAHuntLascaris worked with the Zimbabwean team to explain the newspaper’s problems. To graphically portray the plight, the team chose a tangible symbol, the worthless currency, and designed on OOH campaign that incorporated thousands of high-currency notes. They also mailed cash to media personalities.
Also, the James Ready campaign, added to its award collection (an Andy and OBIE awards among them) by winning a Lion outdoor award. James Ready, a lager micro-brewed in Niagara Falls, Canada, is known for its discount prices (a bottle costs a dollar). Leo Burnett Toronto worked with the company to keep customers connected to the brand when the Ontario province raised taxes on alcohol, which threatened to raise the cost of beer. The campaign enlisted customers to upload images to the beer’s website, which were plastered on 106 billboards in southern Ontario.
View the James Ready Campaign here.