If Don Draper were alive, the fictional hero of “Mad Men” would be in Cannes this week for the annual Cannes Lions Festival. This is the world’s largest party (ahem… “festival”) for the advertising industry. So what if the European Union is teetering on the verge of collapse? “Faisons la fete,” everybody… let’s party!
Explosive growth in emerging markets and digital, not to mention the surprisingly robust U.S. advertising market (+3.1% last year with 2.2% growth forecast for 2012 – Magna Global) means that creative talent is scarce. Slowly, creative directors at Israeli agencies have begun to win global prizes and enhance the collective reputation of the local industry. Now, the major conglomerates – WPP, Publics, Omnicom and IPG – are looking to Israel for creative hires. For example, this week Pulicis Groupe acquired Israeli advertising and communications firm BBR. Care for hummus and shakshuka, Mr. Draper?
Below are some great recent creative executions from Israel, courtesy of Meirav Oz.
Digital Campaigns:
McCann Erickson, “The Anti-Drugs Timeline” (the first Facebook Timeline ad)
Grey Israel, Creative Machine, “Get Rid of That Brief”
Y&R Israel, “Lost Soldiers”
Cross-Media Campaigns:
Y&R Israel, The SDIA Project
Grey Israel
EMDA, Israel Alzheimer Organization
Publicis Ideologic
Coca Cola Village
Saatchi & Saatchi
Blood Relations
Y&R Israel
Women To Go