As you view these, here's something to keep in mind: A few years ago, I posted an idea by Gideon Amichay who was the ECD at Y&R Tel Aviv at the time. You can read the post here. But the Cliffs Notes are that while creative is a good thing to strive for, brilliant is better, different better still, and innovative is the Holy Grail.
Volvo's "Epic Split," which won the Cyber Grand Prix and Film Grand Prix is creative, brilliant and different. But maybe not innovative. Same can be said about the Harvey Nichols "Sorry, I Spent It On Myself" campaign, which won the Promo/Activation, Press, Integrated, Film Grand Prix.
I'm not knocking either of these. They're both fantastic. But it shows how incredibly difficult it is to be innovative in advertising. Even the best pieces in the world have a hard time reaching that mark.
This year's Direct Grand Prix is from British Airways. And this year's Cyber Grand Prix is Pharrell Williams's "24 Hours of Happy."
Both of these, in my mind, hit the innovative bull's eye. Pharrell's video especially, because it reminds us that it's not just agencies like Goodby and Wieden and BBH and Jung von Matt that are competing for eyeballs. In the Attention Economy isn't driven by copywriters and art directors alone.