I Sea app shortlisted for Ad Stars
The controversial ‘I Sea’ app that won at Cannes in June despite being proven to be a fake and deleted from Apple’s app store has been shortlisted at Ad Stars, a global ad awards show to be held in Busan, Korea next month.
The app, which was billed as a device to save refugees, was among 1,680 entries to be shortlisted from 18,063 entries by 215 judges. It is a finalist in the mobile category.
On the executive judging panel at Ad Stars this year is Ali Shabaz, the Southeast Asia creative director of Grey, the agency behind the ‘I Sea’ app.
Also on Ad Stars’ shortlist for Grey Singapore is ‘Free my voice’ for Daily Times, an algorithm that reversed the meaning of posts beneath an article about Pakistan’s blasphemy law to stress the value of press freedom, ‘Extra life’ for Asia Soft, an in-game activation that encourages gamers to give blood, and ‘Never walk alone’ for DanChurchAid, an idea for a Danish charity to clear landmines from conflict zones.
The agency looks likely to win well at this competition, with five other entries in the final round, including ‘Cyber angel’ for security firm Quann Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, ‘Gift buddy’ for Zalora, ‘Hair on ice’ for P&G and ‘Lullaby’ for Fox Network.
Also on the shortlist from Singapore is DDB’s ‘Power to be’ film for Starhub, ‘A different Paris’ by TBWA for Airbnb, ‘Dove haircode’ by Iris and ‘2008 China earthquake’ for Twitter by Ogilvy.
About a fortnight after Cannes, Grey claimed that it would hand back the Bronze Lion it won at Cannes in the Promo & Activation category for the I Sea app after what the agency described as “unwarranted, unfair, unrelenting attacks by unnamed bloggers”.
The agency’s response, which came after a client wrote a strongly worded post on LinkedIn saying he would not ever hire Grey again until they returned the award, was said to be defensive and “petulant” by some industry observers.
The I Sea app is still listed among the winners on the Cannes Lions winners website. However, the case study video for the app has recently been removed from Youtube.
For the full list of Ad Stars finalists, click here.
Well it is Ad Stars…
Even so, would have thought someone – namely Shabaz himself – would had tried to avoid another PR cock up. Is there no shame?
ReplyIt is obvious by now that this agency is beyond listening to any reason.
They should have pulled it out of all award shows, but then how would the CCO justify his obscene salary for fake awards on fake efforts like this one?
I am fairly confident that the judges will not allow this fraud to occur again…but seeing who is the head of the jury….Im not 100% sure either.
ReplyIs this a joke? And why on earth was Ali Bullock called ‘defensive and petulant’? He was merely saying what a lot of people were thinking.
ReplyGood chance to win some cash prizes to fund some app testing.
ReplyMishandling of this situation alone, is reason enough to not appoint Grey. Is this guy Ali going to drag the whole reputation of an Award Show through the mud at the bottom of the sea for his own personal reasons?
@ Ambrish, turns out the entire office is petulant.
ReplyIt would be a scandal if this scam won again.
They need to retool this app to locate the integrity of this agency and all the hack participants involved.
ReplyLandmines, blood donation, blasphemy law.
LOL
What a joke.
And the joke’s on you, Ali. And the whole agency.
ReplyScamming for awards is all harmless fun.
ReplyThose who play the game well get promoted.
It’s a short cut out of retail hell.
No one gets hurt.
Riiiiiiiight!
00:56:54 Nru: “I can’t see a bloody thing!”
00:56:55 Low Jun: “Aaagh! Shit, I’ve been caught.”
00:56:58 Ali: “I don’t fucking believe this. Could everyone stop getting caught?”
00:57:01 Ali: “Low Jun, sit down and patch yourself up, you tart!”
ReplyAh, I totally misread – I though the article was referring Ali Bullock’s LinkedIn post (which was brilliant). Nope, Grey’s response was really petulant and horrible, and shows that clearly they don’t eat their own dog food.
ReplyNo point saying anything more to this agency….just avoid them.
ReplyAs Michael says, “it is (just) Ad Stars”, which is free to enter, hence the increasingly large number of entries each year. However, as a two times judge at the event, I support what the Korean marketing industry and Busan is trying to do with the Awards and hope they take note and disqualify any fake products or applications which threaten all our reputations.
ReplyMumbrella should do a 3month, 6 month and 12 month update on whether Grey has continued to work on this incomplete shell of an app mocked up just for awards…. and actually made it work.
This might be the only way for them to clear their name now.
ReplyDisgusting.
Reply@robin
Agree. But also for all the other scam work they have created under ‘Grey for Good’
I would also say that all award show ‘for good’ type categories should have a minimum campaign period (say 12 months) to be able to judge whether the work had an actual impact or was merely a PR stunt.
ReplyIt’s not just refugee boats that are sinking.
Grey has now lost the government run tender for Workplace Safety and Health…a very healthy chunk of revenue.
This is a real work account that they had for a number of years and they failed to produce any work of note on it.
Too busy saving refugees with fake apps…good for CCO’s salary, bad for business.
Hope the Monday morning round table to discuss next year’s Cannes entries is still on as planned.
Reply@carry on grey
First agenda item at that meeting:
Reply“Who was responsible for this year’s Cannes strategy and how much notice period do they have in their contract?”
You don’t think the expose of their scam work had any bearing on the client’s decision to not renew the biz?
ReplyAll clients, esp government, shy away from even a whiff of impropriety.
Leaves the decision maker open to attack from opponents.
Plus…time is a finite concept….more time spent doing scams….equals less time to do good work on real business…end loser is always the client.
And if clients dont do well…agencies dont do well.
The management at grey have a hard time understanding this simple business rule.
ReplyWe do anything to win. How desperate.
ReplyThe CCO has stepped down from judging at Spikes…..but NOT because he’s embarrassed to be at the top of the years biggest and most disgraceful scam drama…
Took a critically ill family member (that’s the official story)…..to make him do what he should have done weeks ago.
ReplyHave your say