An Irishman has played a large part in making the best ad at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, but who is he and what did he make?
So is it true that an Irishman has made one of the best ads of all time?
Well, yes, you could say that an Irishman has made one of the best adverts of all time seeing as Johnny Kelly has come home with the top award at the 2012 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The Dublin born artist and director came up with the animation, which won the Branded Content & Entertainment Lions Grand Prix award. The video was actually made for the US fast food joint Chipotle.
Interesting… So tell me more about this Johnny Kelly bloke.
Well according to his website, Johnny is a director & animator from Dublin, but he’s based in London. He graduated from The Royal College of Art where he completed a masters in animation and was awarded the Conran Foundation Award by the Provost, Sir Terence Conran. His graduation short film, Procrastination, was well received and won him the Jerwood Moving Image Prize back in ’08. That short film was also selected to be part of the Saatchi & Saatchi New Director Showcase; so Johnny is kind of a big deal.
Cool, so what’s his advert about?
The video depicts the life of a farmer as he slowly transforms his family run farm into an industrial animal factory where pigs are pumped full of medicine, testosterone and God knows what else. The farmer sees his world changing before his very eyes and eventually sees the errors of his ways. The farmer then opts for a more sustainable future at it all ends rosy for everyone involved – except the pigs, of course.
It’s a pretty good advert we will admit and it certainly drives the message home. Both the film and the soundtrack – which is Coldplay’s ‘The Scientist’ preformed by Willie Nelson – were commissioned by Chipotle to emphasise the importance of developing a sustainable food system. They’re giving the profits of the Willie Nelson track to charity, so they’re a nice bunch at the end of it all.
Sounds good, but can I see the advert?
But of course, here it is:
Yea, pretty good ad. But I’ve one more question. What’s this Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity?
We thought you might ask that. Well the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was formerly the International Advertising Festival, and it’s a global event for those working in advertising and related fields. It’s basically the Cannes Film festival of the advertising world, but you probably guessed that.
Is there a nifty behind the scenes edition of the final video?
There always is…
Back to the Start – Making of from Johnny Kelly on Vimeo.
