10255: Latino Lions Lollapalooza.

Advertising Age reported four U.S. Latino agencies grabbed six Lions at Cannes last week. Three of the agencies won for radio work. Not sure why the medium is so prominent. Could it be because minority shops don’t receive as much money and/or opportunities to do TV and even digital? Radio is a favorite choice of many multicultural marketing clients, as it’s cheap to execute. There’s no denying the top Cannes winners worked with big production budgets. Plus, minority shops are burdened with the demand to be blatantly targeted with creative—soccer, salsa and sombreros, por favor—which can hamper breakthrough attempts. On the flipside, agencies like LatinWorks and Grupo Gallegos show that the way to move beyond the barriers and stereotypes involves setting higher standards. It starts with the agencies.

U.S. Hispanic Market Wins Six Lions at Cannes Festival

LatinWorks Gets Gold for Cine Las Americas Radio Spots

By Laurel Wentz

Four U.S. Hispanic agencies picked up six Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity last week, with a particularly strong showing in radio, a category U.S. Latin shops often excel in.

LatinWorks’ long-running and much-awarded campaign for Cine Las Americas, which introduces Latin films to the U.S., won both a gold and a bronze Lion for the latest radio campaign from the Austin, Texas-based agency. The basic idea is always the same in the radio and TV spots for the film festival: LatinWorks unearths footage of real Latin American leaders saying imbecilic things, and the punch line is “if this is what our reality is like, imagine our films.”

The agency adds a new twist every year. This time, it’s to add sound effects to make the leader’s idiotic pronouncements sound like part of a movie, and then gradually take them away until only his ridiculous words are left. In the spot “Action,” a man is denouncing America amid explosive noises. The voiceover says “If we remove the helicopters from this action movie … if we remove the shooting … and the explosions … we’re left with [Venezuelan president] Hugo Chavez, expelling the ambassador of the U.S. on a national TV broadcast …If our reality sounds like an action movie, imagine our films.”

In another spot, likened to a porn flick, Uruguay’s president gives an interview on live TV while dead drunk. “Yes, he’s the president of Uruguay,” the voiceover says sadly after that spot’s clinking ice cubes, giggly girls and tacky music are removed.

Also in radio, Leo Burnett’s Hispanic shop, Chicago-based Lapiz, won a silver for an unusual effort for Procter & Gamble in which a woman can listen to one of two different versions of the spot by turning on the audio for either the right or the left speaker while listening to the radio in the car.

The spot “Stork,” for P&G’s Clearblue pregnancy test, lets a woman hear about Clearblue through the filter of her own feelings about possibly being pregnant. In the version played through the right speaker, the product message is delivered by a woman who wants to be pregnant, while the woman in the left-speaker version does not.

Young & Rubicam’s Hispanic agency, Bravo, won two bronze Lions for radio spots for Leica’s V-Lux 20 camera with a zoom feature. In each spot, an announcer tells a story between clicks of the shutter denoting that pictures are being taken of the memories created. But there isn’t always a happy ending. In “Grand Canyon,” a couple get engaged at the Grand Canyon, return every summer and always eat at the same Mexican restaurant, where the wife falls in love with a waiter named Miguel.

In the only award not in the radio category, independent agency Grupo Gallegos won a bronze Media Lion for “Forgot Your Password,” a simple but very effective message for the Alzheimer’s Association. The campaign linked the sensation of memory loss due to Alzheimer’s with the common frustration of forgetting your password on a website. Users of Spanish-language site Univision.com who requested a new password were also sent this message: “If something as insignificant as forgetting your password complicates your life, imagine what it’s like living with Alzheimer’s.” A link to the Alzheimer’s Association website was included, and traffic increased by 400% during Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in November 2011.