Ad campaign for 'the best job in the world' wins big at Cannes
CANNES, France -- It may be a sign of the times but an ad campaign that sought to fill "the best job in the world" as a caretaker of Hamilton Island in Queensland, Australia was the big winner Monday in the first day of awards at the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Love not money, politics and hope were also big marketing themes for the day.
But the employment opportunity had the biggest haul. The clever approach to promote tourism for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef took two top Grand Prix prizes and two Gold Lions in direct marketing and public relations.
A classified ad in newspapers around the world recruited applicants for the six-month assignment by sending them to islandreefjob.com. The site drew 4 million hits in one hour on the first day. During its six-week recruitment period the site received 3.4 million unique visitors. The tourism office had hoped to receive 16,000 applicants over a six-week period but received 34,684 applications from 201 countries. Ultimately, outdoorsman and thrill seeker Ben Southall, a project manager for a not-for-profit firm in the United Kingdom, won the job, which he begins July 1. The job will pay $8,800 a month for such tasks as writing a weekly blog and feeding the fish.
"This thing snowballed from a little place and created a phenomenon around the world," said David Sable, global vice chairman, chief operating officer, Wunderman, N.Y., and the jury president of the direct competition. The campaign won its first Grand Prix earlier in the day when it took the top spot for the public relations competition.
More than 22,600 entries in the ad industry's top award show are being critiqued through the lens of the economic downturn and sharp downturn in the ad business particularly. The downturn is showing up in entries, which are down 20%.
It's not a surprise that people have cut back how many ads they enter and how many people they send to the usually jam-packed but more subdued affair this year. Ad spending is expected to fall as much as 10% this year.
