For second straight year, ad firm captures top PR prize at Cannes

For the second year in a row, an advertising agency walked away from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with the top award in the PR category.

The Grand Prix Award for PR went to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for its “Break Up” campaign for the National Australia Bank.

The campaign was based on the idea that National Australia Break was “breaking up” with the nation’s other three big consumer banks. The reputation of Australia’s big banks have taken a hit after the financial crisis, and so National Australia Bank wanted to cast itself in a different light from its competitors.

The 24-hour PR blitz featured press, outdoor and radio ads, mobile billboards, street teams, street chalking, and helicopter banners. As part of the campaign, 60 couples publicly broke up on Valentine’s Day. The breakups were filmed and posted to the Web.

Clemenger’s BBDO Melbourne effort also included what appeared to be an errant tweet from one of National Australia Bank’s corporate Twitter feeds. The tweet referred to a personal breakup, and many people had thought it was a gaffe on the bank’s part.