Cannes predictions: Sheung Yan Lo

The following ideas will not only do well in Cannes, they will do good for the world too.

Cheil’s campaign for Samsung Life Insurance that transformed the Mapo Bridge in Seoul from the ‘Bridge of Death’ to the ‘Bridge of Life’ is one to watch at Cannes.

The action detector installation is not state-of-the-art. The wordings on the light-boxes are not clever (at least not in the translations). But the heart to even spot the issue and the mind to care for those who are walking along the bridge helplessly and hopelessly toward suicide are just great.

The HomePro ‘Other side’ Project, by BBDO, is another idea that focuses on a real-world situation. HomePro wants to create ads that literally improve the living environment of the people.

In Bangkok, considerable numbers of less-fortunate people live in four walls made by old sign boards, so HomePro design their street signboards with two sides: on one side, it’s their usual advertising message and on the other side, a warmer home for those who rely on the sign boards to build their home.

Here are two campaigns which have a very different tone.  Both of them had a tough brief, and they have delivered, in a very unexpected and engaging way.

Metro Trains in Australia needed to educate young people about safety around its railway system. Yes, young people and safety; two terms that rarely connect. But Metro’s agency, McCann Worldgroup, came up with the ‘Dumb ways to die’ music video.  It’s got a cheerful tune and arrangement, hilarious lyrics and cute animation—but it is about death. It’s bold, in a fun way. Informative but inviting.  It gets the message across to a tough target group effortlessly. It will be even easier to go to the hearts of the Cannes juries.

HomePro 'Other side' project: