Introduction

In my introduction to the 2010 edition of this book, I wrote: "Every year, WPP companies succeed in producing the exceptional with greater and greater consistency." I believed it to be true and many clients had told me it was true; but I was encouraged in my certainty by the comforting knowledge that such a claim would be as impossible to challenge as it would be to verify. It still is.

All attempts to quantify quality are doomed to be imperfect: 'On a 10-point scale, rate Tolstoy's War and Peace against Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.'

In 2011, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity attracted 28,828 entries, in all categories, from around the world. When all the scores of all the winners were added up, it emerged that WPP companies, between them, had achieved a higher total than any of our competitors.

It was WPP that was handed the trophy - but it was our companies, of course, trading under their own proud brand names, who had achieved that gratifying result. Imperfect as this measurement may be, it's the best that there is and we were delighted to come top.

Delighted - but not surprised. When you study the work in this book, I hope you'll agree that WPP companies do indeed continue to produce the exceptional with greater and greater consistency.

We salute them all.

Sir Martin Sorrell Sir Martin Sorrell
Chief Executive Officer: WPP








Awards

Crème de la Crème
The overall winner in its category		 Winner
An outstanding entry in its category		 Highly Commended
An entry of particular merit








Advertising

“It's wonderful to see such fantastic work coming from our colleagues in China. I suspect we're on the cusp of a golden age of Chinese creativity.”

Since its inception WPPED Cream has been a very important part of the WPP calendar, documenting as it does the very best of what our companies do for their clients. But this year it has, I think, an added piquancy, because, as I write, it's just a few short weeks since WPP was named the world's most creative marketing company at the Cannes Lions Festival. We should celebrate that fact as we look at the incredible advertising ideas in this section of the 2011 annual (or app if you are of a more digital persuasion).

These are, after all, the ideas that have already proved themselves in many of the world's toughest award shows. Indeed, our Crème de la Crème, the brilliant Samsonite 'Heaven and Hell' from JWT Shanghai, was the Print Grand Prix at Cannes, and it's wonderful to see such fantastic work coming from our colleagues in China. I suspect we're on the cusp of a golden age of Chinese creativity.

Beyond our overall winner, please take time to look through our other winning entries. As we know, much of the world remains in tricky economic waters. All the more reason to congratulate every one of those people, and not just in creative departments, who defend, evangelise on behalf of, and stand up for, what we all believe is the only response a successful brand has to financially challenging times: a brilliant creative idea. Congratulations to one and all.

John O'Keeffe Jury Chairman
John O'Keeffe
Worldwide Creative Director: WPP
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Design & Branding

The joy of neck hair...

...is that it helps you judge great work. It reacts to a well thought-out idea that is beautifully crafted. As it stands up, it reminds you that what your eyes see is not ordinary but remarkable.

The category this year was significantly up on previous years in terms of the number of entries, and, as such, we were again faced with a varied and rich texture of work and ideas from all corners. Creativity has many forms in WPP, but it was our responsibility to ensure that all the work we commended and selected as the ultimate winners was the best representation of design we could find. What is refreshing to see is that all our clients, big or small, are using design as a key way to engage audiences, make a difference and increase commercial impact.

I want to thank Peter Knapp (Landor), Greg Quinton (The Partners), Sue Daun (The Brand Union), Paul Marsh (Coley Porter Bell), Mark Van Egmond (VBAT), Howard Smiedt (Ogilvy Action), David Villiers (G2), Peter Chodel (Addison), Adrian Burton (Lambie Nairn) and Stuart Wood (FITCH). All award-winning individuals whose contribution, debate and passion for design and branding makes the sifting of work to reach a list-worthy selection, for your attention, an annual treat.

Finally, well done, yet again, to JWT for their work with Human Rights Watch, this year's Crème de la Crème winner - the Burma project, and specifically the accompanying video documentary, still leaves the hairs on the back of my neck standing to attention every time I see it.

Enjoy the work.

Tim Greenhalgh Jury Chairman
Tim Greenhalgh
Chief Creative Officer: FITCH
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Direct

Diverse. That is the word to describe our 2011 Direct winners.

The awarded work comes from many agencies and many locations around WPP's world. There are stunts and installations, TV spots and digital campaigns. There's even a paper insert. Direct can certainly take many forms these days.

What unites this exciting and eclectic selection is the power of the ideas. And these are great Direct ideas, targeted at an identified audience segment, delivering a measurable outcome.

Our Crème de la Crème is a gem. A simple demonstration of a core brand idea, executed with wit and freshness. And it reminds us that 'social' is a description of human behaviour, not just online behaviour.

I would like to thank everyone who helped to make the Direct judging a pleasure this year. In particular, my thanks go to Mat Zucker of OgilvyOne New York for his insight, his enthusiasm, and his sheer resilience in going out of the frying pan of the Cannes Jury Room straight into the fire of WPPED Cream. And, once again, my thanks go to my assistant Wendy Hill for making the whole process appear effortless.

Nick Moore Jury Chairman
Nick Moore
EVP Chief Creative Officer: Wunderman New York
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Digital

“A normally dry, complex technical subject has become the source of deep engagement and entertainment”

Winners being recognised this year cover the spectrum of what Digital is becoming for brands: beyond entertaining gimmicks, it ignores boundaries and gets to the very core of branded products and services.

With Copia, our overall choice, we are witnessing the invention of a new medium - a way of reading books that, at its core, is inherently social. The (social) marketing is built into the product and service.

Digital is becoming part of the physical landscape, in projects like bit.code. The invisible can be made visible with real-time apps like IBM's Seer, and a normally dry, complex technical subject has become the source of deep engagement and entertainment in Google Slam.

With much thanks to the deeply experienced and passionate jury, I proudly present the winners of this year's WPPED Cream!

Lee Feldman Jury Chairman
Lee Feldman
Chief Creative Officer: Blast Radius
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Media

What a year!

With a five-fold increase in the number of entries for this year's Media WPPED Cream Awards, a four-fold increase in the number of different agencies and a three-fold increase in the number of countries - this tells us one thing: that creativity in media is viewed by WPP agencies as more important than it's ever been.

With such a wide choice, the jury of Nick Vale of Maxus, Ed Ling of MEC, Matthew Mee of MediaCom and Mindshare's Norm Johnston had a harder task than ever before. But don't feel too sorry for them. It was a privilege to see such funny, insightful, inspiring and downright great work being produced right across the world.

Whilst every entry had a spark to it, the final group of Winners, Highly Commended and the Crème de la Crème all shared a magic element that enriched their creativity.

They are great examples of brilliant collaboration. While the Oscar-winning screenwriter William Goldman famously commented that 'in Hollywood no one knows anything'... in an increasingly complicated communications environment it's apparent that 'no one knows everything'.

The ability not just to create but to co-create with others lifts ideas over and above. This is certainly the case with our Crème de la Crème winner: 'Nike Grid'.

This is a great example of the creative use of technology, an actively engaged consumer and brand-centric behaviour.

But it's more than that. It's also an example of how great ideas require not only brilliant individuals, but those individuals to work brilliantly together.

In recognition of this, for the first time, we have co-winners sharing the honours and the Crème de la Crème Churn. Congratulations Mindshare and Kinetic UK for your inspiring work and your inspiring ways of working.

Steve Hatch Jury Chairman
Steve Hatch
Chief Executive Officer: MEC UK
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Public Relations

“the entries for public relations and public affairs were of the highest calibre yet”

As companies and organisations are increasingly seeking new and valuable ways of engaging with key audiences, public relations is finding its seat as an essential component of a client's marketing communications initiatives. This year, I am delighted to report that the entries for public relations and public affairs were of the highest calibre yet, pushing the envelope for creativity and producing measurable results. The entries flooded in from all around the world, nearly doubling the number of submissions received over the last year. I was particularly inspired by the variety of innovative programmes executed by our WPP teams, ranging from stimulating foreign economies, through raising awareness for behaviour change, to promoting classic consumer products in fresh ways.

Joining me this year in judging were Bill Nielsen, retired Head of Communications from Johnson & Johnson, and Harold Burson, Founder and Chairman of Burson-Marsteller. As judges, we realised the difficulty in selecting just a few winners from our pool of exceptional work, but all enjoyed the challenge and found inspiration from our global colleagues.

After careful consideration, I am happy to announce that the PR Crème de la Crème winner for 2011 has been awarded to Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide out of the United States. Their superior efforts for Kimberly-Clark's Huggies brand allowed their client to step forward with its first-ever corporate responsibility programme, Every Little Bottom, which brought diapers to babies in need. We all agreed that their efforts to create an integrated communications campaign sparked action to help families in need - a winning combination that truly demonstrates the power of PR.

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to everyone who entered. I am constantly reminded how talented our teams are within WPP and look forward to what you have in store for us next year.

Marcia Silverman Jury Chairman
Marcia Silverman
Retired Chair: Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide
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Consumer Insight

“much of what we are striving to achieve at Kantar: rigorous data quality on a global scale - leading to exciting and revealing insights”

This year will be remembered as a year of both Quantity and Quality. Entries were up by a third compared to last year (which in itself was a record-breaking year) but even more encouraging was the consistent high standard of the submissions and their variety. Variety not just in clients, sectors and geographies but also in the increasing creativity of the methodologies used to solve our client's problems.

Millward Brown and TNS shone with three Highly Commended entries each and congratulations to Kantar Retail and Kantar Worldpanel who each picked up a Highly Commended award and also, in the case of Kantar Worldpanel, a Winners medal. Added Value again excelled with two winners and two highly commended awards.

Our Crème de la Crème is awarded to the partnership of Digit and TNS for 'Digital Life', the largest and most comprehensive study of the global digital consumer ever produced. This ambitious project encapsulates much of what we are striving to achieve at Kantar: rigorous data quality on a global scale - leading to exciting and revealing insights presented as a vivid, clear and compelling piece of data visualisation. And all achieved via collaboration with a fellow WPP agency. You can view 'Digital Life' at http://2010.tnsdigitallife.com.

Thanks again to all those who entered this year (both inside and outside of Kantar) and please continue to inspire us as we strive to do better and better work.

Eric Salama Jury Chairmen
Eric Salama
Chairman & CEO: Kantar



Aziz Cami Aziz Cami
Creative Director: Kantar
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360 Campaign

“Delivering a perfectly integrated brand idea, from visual identity through execution in every channel, is the ultimate demonstration of what WPP companies are capable of.”

I sometimes wonder if we will one day get to a point where all other categories in the WPPED Cream annual are simply subsumed into the 360 section, encompassing, as it does, so much of what we do.

I believe that delivering a perfectly integrated brand idea, from visual identity right the way through execution in every channel, is the ultimate demonstration of what WPP companies, at their best, are capable of.

I also believe that many of our clients, not currently taking advantage of that breadth of skills, are seriously underutilising their WPP relationship.

Because anyone who doubts the power of a 360 approach need look no further than the world class examples on the following pages.

Our Crème de la Crème, the utterly compelling Human Rights Watch campaign from JWT New York, uses an installation in Grand Central Station, which is also accessible digitally, to deliver an ingenious and powerful petition to the UN on behalf of Burma's political prisoners. It's a very worthy overall winner, although it was pushed hard by many of the other campaigns here. Please take the time to look at them all and hopefully, like me, be inspired.

The Cannes Lions Festival 2011 judged WPP the most creative marketing business in the world. It's work such as this that I believe will keep us there.

Good luck in 2012 and beyond.

John O'Keeffe Jury Chairman
John O'Keeffe
Worldwide Creative Director: WPP
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