Orcon's Iggy ad bags global gong for Special Group

Orcon's Iggy ad bags global gong for Special Group

By Pattrick Smellie

June 22 (BusinessWire) - The man who invented crowd-surfing, on-stage chest-slashing and once proclaimed himself "Chairman of the Bored" has helped Kiwi internet service provider, Orcon, bag the most prestigious prize in global advertising.

Orcon used Iggy Pop, sometimes called "the grandfather of punk", in an advertisement where he jammed in real-time with a range of New Zealanders - some clad in their underwear and prancing round their bedrooms while playing musical instruments - to advertise Orcon's fast broadband service.

Made by Auckland advertising agency The Special Group, the ad won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in France, one of the pinnacle achievements in the advertising world.

The Grand Prix is the supreme award, chosen from all the entries that have won Gold Lions across 12 categories. Orcon’s Iggy Pop campaign also won its Lion in the direct advertising category, beating out a record 1500 entries.

The Special Group swept the pool earlier this year in the New Zealand equivalent, the Axis Awards, also for the Iggy Pop ad. It lists TSB Bank as among its client and ran the much-praised Green Party viral election campaign in 2008.

The Cannes jury members called Orcon+Iggy one of the best uses of celebrity they had seen, in an advertisement that also demonstrated clearly the Orcon service.

Perhaps less pride-inducing are report from Cannes that it is the first time in the awards’ 57 year history that an ad that repeatedly dropped “F-bombs” has won the top prize.

(BusinessWire)