Sprint's Now Network Campaign Wins Golden Lion 16
Sprint just took home one of the world’s top advertising prizes at the 56th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival on June 27 for its tech-savvy Now Network™ campaign.
Sprint beat out several well-known campaigns from other notable competitors to win the Gold Integrated Lion award. A total of 2,205 entries were submitted in the Cyber category from organizations worldwide from which 208 finalists were selected. The Sprint Now Network campaign also took home five other awards – four Silver Lions and a Bronze Lion in the Digital Category. Sprint was the only brand to win multiple awards within a category. Additionally, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Sprint’s advertising agency, was recognized as Interactive Agency of the Year at Cannes.
The Cannes Lion awards add to an impressive list of honors Sprint received earlier this year for the Now Network campaign, including Gold at the Clios, Gold at the New York Festivals, Silver Pencils at the One Show, and winner at the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Next Awards Show and the D&AD Awards Show. Sprint also won top honors at the Webby Awards and was a finalist at the New York Festivals both awards given for the Get Work Done Now™ advertising campaign.
Any readers here swayed to the Pre by the Now Network campaign?
16 Comments
The ads are pretty slick, but I was hooked on the Pre the second I saw it at CES back in January.
it really got my attention. I actually hated sprint back in 2005..I had left them for tmobile and a blackberry and i gotta say they have improved a whole lot nad hopefully thry dont stop..and yes their add campain is getting the message accross, even in facebook.
As strange as this might sound, I've never owned a phone that was advertised on TV-- at least with enough frequency the *entire nation* has been exposed to the Pre. To that extent, it is really satisfying to see that I own that thing advertised on national TV. :) So this is what iPhone users feel like, lol.
Like the first responder, I was sold the moment I saw the CES demo. I was already a Sprint customer hating every moment I had to use my HTC Mogul (a decision made on my behalf.) I finally retired the Mogul and used the LG Rumor patiently waiting for the Pre. Nevertheless, the ads "don't suck" so I'm pleased that Sprint is putting together quality marketing for themselves.
@ showergel: I agree, I don't usually jump on the bandwagon for anything, but this phone was just too tempting. The ads only furthered my lust for this phone.
I must say that I was swayed, since the Pre's launch of "first half of 2009" coincided well with the end of my Verizon contract. I had a feature phone (i.e. dumbphone) for a while and was mildly content, so I decided this was the phone that would launch me into the smartphone arena. I'm happy with the switch so far.
Only gripe would be the slightly inferior network, but going from Verizon to ANY other carrier is a downgrade, really. And don't even get me started on AT&T's network and all of my friend's complaints...
i love the phone but think the ads suck. They need to just show the phone and it's features. like that one with the chick on the stump with monks dancing. Wtf? i don't think that abstract stuff translates for a lot of people. Not a fan of the iphone but apple does a good sales job and i noticed on their commercial about video they got right to the point. Basically it was like "apple does video" and they showed a zoomed image of the iphone shooting video, editing video, etc. i thought it was effective and would be similarly effective for the pre since the pre is such a nice operating system.
oh one point. i was swayed by the pics of the os and the list of features and the early reviews well before the ads came out. That ad did nothing for me.
Although I was already purchasing the phone because of the CES exposure, the national advertisements helped to minimize any cognitive dissonance I may have had about the product. It makes you feel like if a company is going to invest that heavily in national spots they'll definitely support the product as strongly.
I think we've seen this so far with relatively quick phone updates and occasional blurbs from Palm and Sprint. As a consumer it helps reassure me that the new platform that I just invested in and adopted isn't going to be dumped a couple months down the line.
There are film awards for ad campaigns? Really?
Kind of amusing that the best advertisers win awards with names that sound like "Lyin'," too... ;)
The ads for the Pre didn't sway me.
But the ads for Sprint's "Now" network kept me with Sprint even when my family wanted to go to AT&T.
@ShowerGel: Yeah I feel the same way. I never had one of those "now" phones: the ones that are advertised on TV. Infact, yesterday was the first time I was out with my friends since I've gotten the Pre. They all thought it was cool, and we watched a movie together. Well, the Palm Pre advertisement came on. Haha, it's pretty cool knowing you got a phone that is "modern".
Nope, Iwas swayed by the fact that my 700p was NOT being given an upgraded: I was officially an outmode! Almost pulled the trigger on the Pro, until I saw that it was even smaller in my palm than an opened flip fone. Luckily, I waited and I really like this phone! Just wish they had kept the old PIM stuff, 'cause I wanted a Palm device, not a Palm-like Sprint phone.
I was attracted to the pre because the underlying os linux. I'm a huge fan of linux. The sweet gui is the cherry on top. I agree that the ads aren't that good but I'm more of a tech geek than the average consumer so all that fluff is just that to me. I do like tarsem and his work. I don't know how it would effect me if I knew nothing about the pre b4 hand.
one other point as someone who will move from T-mobile. (havn't yet). I still have no clue what "the Now network" means. My point is commercials were not that effective on me.
Just a comment, the gold lion is more like a runner up or second place award (and there are sometimes a dozen+ gold lions awarded in a category) and the silver and bronze awards are even further down the list. (The first place prize is called the grand prix (which went to the Obama presidential campaign in this category)).
Here is a video summary of the tv/web/print ad campaign that won the gold lion:
http://work.canneslions.com/titanium/entry.cfm?entryid=23433
you're that guy that pointed out on Friday afternoon that the teacher had forgotten to assign us any homework for the weekend! thanks, helpy helperton!