Obama's political — and media-fluent — campaign for President last year won the two major awards at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival this year. Submitted by Obama for America, the effort swept two Grands Prix in both the Titanium and Integrated Lions categories.
The Obama campaign incorporated tactical use of traditional TV advertising, grassroots campaigning, the ability to mobilize via an iPhone app, copious online video, a social network called my.barackobama.com, music mashups of Obama speeches volunteered by celebrity icons, street art from artists like Shepard Fairey, and in-game advertising in major games across 10 swing states.
For the Titanium Grand Prix, a campaign must showcase a breakthrough idea that is "provocative, challenges assumptions and points to a new direction," according to The Guardian. In this case, the breakthrough idea was "Change," which was simple but apparently enough to galvanize advertisers, entertainment personalities and ordinary citizens alike.
"Titanium celebrates work that causes the industry to stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward," proclaims the rules released by the Cannes organisers.
The Integrated Grand Prix is awarded to work that incorporates three or more media in a way deemed to be "high standard and state-of-the-art."
The Obama campaign made waves prior to receiving its two major awards on Saturday evening, however. Earlier this week, Droga5's "The Great Schlep" won a Gold Lion in the Direct category for powerful use of direct response tactics. The effort's objective was to galvanize Jewish grandchildren nationwide to visit Florida and educate their grandparents about Obama.
Obama reportedly received a disproportionate amount of votes from the Jewish senior community when he won the Presidency.
The campaign's capacity to spark imaginations and generate involvement was also demonstrated prior to awards for the Film Lions category. With help from Believe Media, Charles Stone III — creator of Budweiser's well-known "Wassup" spots for Budweiser in 2000 — released a continuation of the "Wassup" spots prior to the elections. It depicted characters from the old campaign reprising their roles, in comically dire straits and in apparent need for change.
The piece ends with one personage glancing at Obama and his wife on TV and concluding, "Change. That's what's up. Change."
The work did not win any awards, as it did not fit formal entry criteria, but received special jury commendation and a screening when the show began.
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