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Cocktails & Curation: MediaCom North America CEO Phil Cowdell & AOL's David Shing choose their Cannes Lions contenders

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By Stephen Lepitak, -

June 23, 2015 | 4 min read

MediaCom's North American chief executive Phil Cowdell and AOL's digital prophet David Shing choose their favourite entries to this year's Cannes Lions, including Bald Cartoons, Honey Maid and the Inglorious Fruits.

National Organ Donation Week Brazil

Discussing their favourite campaigns in the running for recognition this year and admitting they had debated heavily their final list, the pair started with a stunt which saw eccentric Brazilian billionaire Count Chiquinho Scarpa bury his $500,000 Bentley to infuriate the poverty stricken nation and in return highlight that people were burying more important things such as organs without thought.

Cowdell: "So many people bury something far more valuable than their Bentley - they bury their organs. For him to be willing to be the villain for the week was fabulous... It shows what the brand goal was. I loved it for that."

Shing: this was given time to build. It sent out an invite to be negative and then turn it into a positive. I was a little miffed he read the script but in turning hate into love this was a phenomenal job.

"With storytelling you need to have tension and for him to have the balls was incredible."

Honey Maid

A campaign by Honey Maid which saw the cracker brand respond quickly to negativity around activity which ultimately overturned the number of positive messages outweigh the negative with over 10 times as many.

Phil: Bravery comes from brave marketing but you also have to be aware that not everyone is going to align with your point of view. It's not only about being brave enough to make a statement but also when negative reaction is happening,to be brave enough to want to respond."

Shing: "This was risky but we think people are more about love than hate - the whole thing turned around in the weekend and that is more powerful than the 30 second TV spot.

"It shows vulnerability but also speed can turn it into something quite positivity.

"You get scale which is a trade off against agility, when you think about this world. How do we do that trade to both inspire but be agile - this is a great example of that."

The Inglorious Fruits

Cowdell: "All those fruits and vegetables thrown away every day because they are slightly abnormal - I can't believe that we have all these people starving and yet we have all these veg through away - this is inspiring and fabulous.

"Puts consumerism in the focus to understand what we truly spend money on, inspiring, beautifully executed and this should be a global movement.

Shing: "It is very much a social commentary. This whole thing could be a brand extension just from a simple ideas - the special Olympics for one. It's part of the boutique movement such as pop up restaurants. Lots of brand extensions this could go into."

Bald Cartoons

followCowdell: "When we think about why we get out of bed each day and what makes a difference, this is one of those things that make it worthwhile."

Shing: "With something with the impact of this it is quite ubiquitous. There is not a commercial part of this - it really does play to society's heartstrings and absolutely stood out to us."

Cowdell: "An idea like this is so transferable it has to go everywhere and impact everybody.

"If I was the publisher of a cartoon book in any other country I'd be volunteering...This is something that will inspire other people where we can hear and learn from everywhere a we should be celebrating people who inspire sharing and coordination."

MediaCom will host its Cocktails and Curation events every evening at Cannes Lions from 5pm at the Martinez Hotel which will discuss and analyse some of the award winners.

Follow The Drum's Cannes Lions content within our dedicated news hub here.

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