What would Georges Seurat think?
More than 120 years ago, the painter was using his post-Impressionist art to portray bustled ladies with parasols and strolling Sundays in parks.
Last night in Toronto, a work of new-age pointillism was named Best of Show at the annual Marketing magazine awards, except instead of using tiny dots of paint, ad agency Cossette Montreal used tiny pieces of gum.
The campaign, created for international confectioner Perfetti Van Melle, featured innumerable blister packs of Mentos gum, which were transformed into images of, say, a fish or a cup of coffee, by popping Mentos out of their blister packs.
Watch the ad here:
The campaign aimed to reinforce Mentos's quirky and fun brand characteristics, which might recall experiments involving dropping Mentos mints into bottles of Diet Coke. (The words "geyser" and "explosion" and "way too much fun" may come to mind here.)
The gum campaign extended to street art installations and a "Make Art Pop" website, which invited visitors to create their own pop art. In addition to Best of Show honours, the Mentos creative won two golds, including top honours in the Integrated Campaign category.
Other big winners singled out from more than 1,800 entries included Vancouver agency Rethink.
The ad shop's work for Vancouver's Playland amusement park was awarded Advertiser of the Year for brand work that included a scrambled-sounding radio spot by someone who had way too much fun at the fair.
BBDO Canada received gold recognition for its gripping "Eviction" radio spots for the United Nations Refugee Agency. "Please listen closely to the following announcement. If you live in the High Park area on the west side of Clover Avenue we regret to inform you that your homes will be ransacked, doused in gasoline and torched to the ground as of midnight tonight. All other residents please ignore this announcement. ... It's hard to imagine this kind of thing has happened to 19.2 million people."
DDB Canada took home 23 awards, while Taxi 2 took 11, including recognition for its campaign work for the BMW Mini.
