As Canadians continue to rack up the hardware in Cannes at the International Advertising Festival, they had a nice showing tonight in the Cyber Lions competition. Seems Canadians get digital. And that’s a good thing, as a lot of the agency and marketer chatter at Cannes touches on this realm. Ad execs are increasingly seeing cyber as a key area to master as part of that Holiest of Grails, the Truly Integrated All Encompassing Ongoing Campaign.

Mini Canada and Taxi’s Toronto team took a Gold Lion for their Mini ‘Dominatrix’ work and a Bronze for their Mini ‘Quartet’ effort. Leo Burnett Toronto scored a Silver with its ‘Big Ideas Come From Big Pencils’ site, which was adopted globally by Leo B. ‘There are examples at Cannes so far of Canada embracing new media and work that is crossing channels seamlessly,’ said David Moore, president of Leo Burnett Canada, of Canada’s showing at the Cyber Lions.

The Interactive agency of the year nod went to Crispin Porter + Bogusky out of Miami, who won a Grand Prix for its Volkswagen ‘GTI’ work. droga5New York also took a Grand Prix for its Ecko ‘Still Free’ entry.

And in the Press competition, Cossette Atlantic’s ‘Fries’ entry for McDonald’s was awarded a Silver Lion. When asked about scoring the lone Canadian Press win, Chuck Coolen, marketing manager, McDonald’s Dartmouth, said: ‘It’s reinforcement that if you believe in the brand, the team and your idea, you go for it.’ Meanwhile, the top nod went to ‘Periscope,’ Lego work out of FCB Johannesburg.

The Media Lions were unleashed at the 53rd annual International Advertising Festival tonight in Cannes, and the Media Grand Prix was bagged by Unilever’s teen boy fantasy brand for a Lynxjet Bodyspray effort out of Universal McCann in Australia. Universal McCann, Sydney is also the 2006 Media Agency of the Year, based on its Lion tally. The Media Agency of the Year is a new feature at Cannes this year. Tied for second is Ogilvy and Mather out of Santiago, Dentsu Tokyo and Switzerland’s Jung von Matt. Canada’s lone media winner is Leo Burnett Toronto’s ‘Lipstick Tube’ work for the Assaulted Women’s Help Line, which took a Bronze Lion.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Looks like women are getting more of it – and a lot of other things — these days, according to research conducted by JWT and the W Network. New York-based, global trendspotter and JWT EVP and director of strategic content, Marian Salzman, the woman who coined the term metrosexual and author of Buzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand interpreted key findings of the research in Toronto last week.

At the Association of Canadian Advertisers Executive Forum yesterday in Toronto, Corus Entertainment president and CEO John Cassaday was inducted into the inner circle of Canadian adverati with a standing O honoring him as the newest recipient of the ACA Gold Medal Award. Accepting his award at a luncheon ceremony, Cassaday spoke about a life spent in advertising, and the importance of valuing and empowering the people around you. Since he was being recognized for his exceptional leadership within the industry, as well as in philanthropic endeavors, it comes as no surprise that from his Campbell Soup (‘better than a sweater’ ) and General Foods days, to CTV and now Corus, that this a constant theme. The other trait he was honored for – innovation – also came through in his closing remarks. He left the audience to mull over the two reasons a marketer can be fired: doing nothing; or doing something, but failing, and advocated on the side of always trying.

This dovetailed nicely with the morning agenda, which focused on media innovation. The keynote, delivered by Charlie Crowe, MD of London-based C Squared, went over the reasons that the old hierarchy is breaking down and the traditional model is dead, and pointed out the archaic nature of some of the thinking, including nuggets such as that while 24-39 may have once made sense as a demo, it certainly doesn’t now. He illustrated the point with a chart noting the widely divergent preoccupations within the span – such as the 24 year-old worries if he can afford a beer at the pub, while the 39 year-old family man wonders if he can escape out with the lads to grab a pint.

The themes of responding to the consumer being in control of media, the need for more targeted plans and more elegant metrics kept cropping up during the panels and presenters that took the podium during Forecast 2006, MediaPost‘s annual conference on The Future of Media. One fascinating research project was presented – the Middletown Media Studies – that seems to hold the key to at least part of that puzzle.

Mike Bloxham, director of testing and assessment and Robert Papper, telecom prof of Ball State University Center for Media Design, unveiled some top-line findings from a deeply forensic media consumption study conducted on 400 Indiana consumers, 18+, over the course of a week. Researchers observed the Muncie and Indianapolis subjects from as early in the morning to as late in the day as permissible, logging their media consumption in 15 second intervals, in context of the person’s activities – eating, watching kids, etc. They went shopping with them, they went to work with them, and they logged it all. With over 5,000 hours of observations and 1.2 million data records they believe it to be the largest observational media study of its kind.

NYC: It’s Advertising Week in New York City, and the realization that the consumer is in control – and that no one’s business model is geared to dealing with that – is coming up. A lot.

One of the first events of the week-long agenda of conferences, awards and parties, was Forecast 2006, MediaPost‘s annual confab on The Future of Media, suitably held at the Marriott Marquis, plunk in the middle of Times Square, the ultimate clutter zone.

As of Jan. 3, there’s a new digital media player in town touting a strong measurement and optimization bent.
Media Contacts, which is the global interactive realm of the Media Planning Group (MPG) within Havas, focuses on media planning and marketing solutions within the digital/direct response/data base analytics area, and utilizes Artemis, a proprietary tech platform wired to yield very granular results.

For maximum efficiency, the Diesel table should have been situated on the Cassies stage. The Montreal ad agency won a third of the 18 awards handed out yesterday at Canada’s advertising effectiveness awards show held in Toronto and Montreal.