Before we begin looking at this year’s outdoor submissions, finalists and winners I thought it a good idea to review last year’s grand prix winner, The Zimbabwean “fight the Regime” campaign from TBWA/Hunt/Lacaris in Johannesburg, South Africa.Billboards were created using the all-but-worthless currency of Zimbabwe as the actual media. Brilliant. But first a little background…
In their own words, The Zimbabwean “ is (are) a group of committed and professional Zimbabwean journalists and friends from around the world who have come together to start the first physical newspaper for Zimbabweans in exile.”
A noble pursuit to say the least, The Zimbabwean brings professional journalism to a region not used to much of anything fair and balanced, let alone the news. A provocative advertising campaign, and one readily accessible to those without access to technology, was a perfect opportunity to show off the out-of-home medium. And did it ever.
Staff writer, Sue Northern documented just days ago, after the campaign garnered yet more awards, this time at the prestigious D&AD awards in London:
“The campaign which created a new medium, turning banknotes into advertising space, thus highlighting the incredulous inflation in Zimbabwe where the money was not worth the paper it was printed on.
As a robotic Big Brother style voice summarized the campaign with the statement, "How do you pay for advertising when the currency is worth less than the paper it is printed on.” The Trillion dollar campaign has helped to elevate awareness of the situation in Zimbabwe on a global scale.”
In addition to being a provocative and stirring campaign for the Zimbabwean, these billboards became touchstones for much needed political and societal debate on the many socioeconomic issues devastating the region.
Last year's big winners -http://www.canneslions.com/lions/archive_list.cfm?playlist_id=4322
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