DDB Brasil Submitted WWF's 9/11-Tsunami Video to Cannes

Via the Blog Prof, it turns out that the DDB executives who "didn't know" who created the WWF's tsunami ad went ahead and submitted the spot to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival:

Leading Brazilian trade publication Meio & Mensagem broke the news on its website today that both ads were entered at the Cannes festival by DDB Brasil. The entries in the press and film categories can be found online and included full credits for the work.

Previously DDB Brasil had said the print ad ran only once in Sao Paulo and was mistakenly entered in the One Show. An agency spokeswoman said neither the agency nor the client, the WWF in Brazil, authorized the video version, called "Planes," that surfaced on the internet this week showing multiple planes approaching Manhattan and the World Trade Center towers.

The episode is turning out to be an embarrassing one for DDB Brasil, one of the creative jewels of the Omnicom Group-owned DDB network. While the Sao Paulo-based agency has made several apologies, including one that takes over the agency's website, there hasn't been any public comment from Global CEO Chuck Brymer.



Meio & Mensagem published links to both entries on the Cannes Lions site that named a dozen people, including DDB Brasil creatives and account supervisors, who were apparently involved in the ad, according to the entry information submitted by the agency. A production company and a sound-design company were also credited.



The description of the ad submitted by the agency said "We see two airplanes blowing up the WTC's Twin Towers...lettering reminds us that the tsunami killed 100 times more people. The film asks us to respect a planet that is brutally powerful."



The two ads, entered in the press and film categories, were apparently little noticed at Cannes, but the print ad "Tsunami" earned a Merit award, which ranks below a Bronze prize, from the One Club.



"The reality is that the ad met our conditions of how people submit work," said Kevin Swanepoel, president of the One Club. DDB Brasil submitted the ad in accordance to One Show protocol; it paid the submission fee and provided a tear sheet to verify the ad ran in a Portuguese-language newspaper.

And here's the "evidence" that Repac3 was demanding on ... pulling the Merit Award:

Mr. Swanepoel said if One Show had rejected the ad, it would have raised censorship issues for the awards. "We can't be seen to throw out an ad that's been submitted to us because we don't like the content," he said. "It was legitimate, so we have to rely on our judges, who are an international panel of judges. We cannot police what agencies send in. We can't tell our jurors to not look at something, we have to stick by our rules."



The agency has since asked One Show to withdraw the ad, so it has been stripped of the Merit award and removed from the online awards gallery. "In our eyes it's no longer a winner," Mr. Swanepoel said.

See also, "WWF's 9/11-Tsunami Ad Approved From Get-Go."



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UPDATE: Correction appended above ...



Interestingly, though, it's not just my commenters ingloriously trying to gain the upper hand:

As a side note, after I reported on the ad yesterday, a commenter on this site told me to “do my homework” because Gawker reported that the WWF wasn’t involved. To that commenter I now say, “suck it” and “in your face.”

Well, ditto!