Burnett’s “Van Gogh Bnb” wins Grand Prix at Cannes

Leo Burnett’s “Van Gogh Bnb”

(Cannes, France — 23 June 2117) It’s as if the advertising gods were sticking their collective tongues out at Publicis-Groupe’s President-CEO, Arthur Sadoun, as Burnett won the Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness at Cannes this year.

Van Gogh Bnb, which Burnett created for The Art Institute of Chicago, displayed immense impact, increasing the museum’s attendance by 133,000 and generating $2 million in revenue, all with just a $500,000 investment.

“Creative effectiveness is about impact,” said jury president Jonathan Mildenhall, CMO of Airbnb in Adweek.

“Is this idea impacting the brand’s audience?” he continued. “Is this idea impacting the brand’s business? Is this idea impacting culture? And for us, the creative community, is this idea impacting our creative community through its creative excellence?”

Ogilvy Chicago celebrates on the steps of the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes

Burnett and Samsung also took Silver in the Film Category for “Durable Consumer Goods” for “Ostrich.”

The campaign, which launched in February 2016, featured an Airbnb posting for a real bedroom which looked just like Van Gogh’s painting, “The Bedroom.”

The campaign rolled out just as the real painting was being shipped its way to The Art Institute. The campaign also took Silver in Creative Regional Effectiveness.

Energy BBDO brought home a Bronze for Creative Longer-Term Effectiveness for Extra Gum’s short film, Sarah and Juan.

In other categories, Ogilvy won Gold for Morton Salt’s “The One Moment” in The Digital Craft/Moving Image and Silver for Production Design and Art Direction. The same campaign won Bronze in the Film Category for “Viral Film.”

In the Film Craft category Leo’s “Ostrich” won three more Gold for Samsung for Direction, Visual Impact and Animation. It also won Silver for Music Licensing.

In Radio, FCB won two Bronze for its Radio (appropriate) Flyer “Travel Agency of Imagination” campaign, “Cotton Candy Swamp,” “Stinky Broccoli Forest,” “Valley of Ogres” and “Planet of Evil Unicorns” in Casting and Performance and Script for “Cotton Candy Swamp,” ”Stinky Broccoli Forest,” “Valley of Ogres.”

Follow Colin Costello on Twitter @colincostello10.