Is Stoli admitting to ghost ads at the last Cannes?

While doing my daily search through the news for interesting things to post I came across a press release from Stoli for their new multi-million dollar "Frozen" campaign starting this month, created by Publicis NYC. The campaign aims to inform people that Stoli vodka is best served ice cold.

The odd thing about the press release is that it states that the ads were previewed at Cannes this year- and won Bronze Lions in the outdoor/out of home category. But how were these ads eligible for a Lion if they ads are just breaking now?

One guess is that it ran in Europe- although the press release does not clearly state anything about that.

The new Stoli campaign already has received considerable acclaim, even before it was unveiled to the general public. The three "Frozen room" executions won awards when previewed at the recent 2004 Cannes International Advertising Festival competition.

"Before it was unveiled to the general public"- so, what the hell does that mean?

So the way in which the press release is worded, it sounds like the ads were just previewed at Cannes - which would make it not eligible to win. We call these ads that have not run ghost ads or scam ads.

I have tried to contact two different people to see if there is some clarification they could add, but so far no response in the last two days.

And the worst part about this press release- not an article by a journalist- is that if there is a mistake - either by admitting to entering a set of ads to Cannes which had not run, or by mudddling the information so badly that it appears that that is the case - it's by their PR person or someone in-house.

If any of you know where or when these ads did run prior to Cannes, please let us know.

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Anonymous Adgrunt's picture
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Dabitch's picture

Always have the contact people available - ie; reply to the emails that have been sent to you. Sheesh, why is this so hard?

Dabitch's picture

Something is fishy then. You've asked for a clarification in order to write a proper article based on their press release, but must have pressed the wrong button when pointing out the strangeness of an ad camopaign that premieres now having won a bronze lion last year. Either they've blatantly cheated or they simply talking about a new set of ads that are premiering now? Either way they should reply as they sent out the pressrelease - and it quite suspect that they don't.

caffeinegoddess's picture

That's what I'm thinking as well. If the press release was badly worded and gave the wrong impression - you'd think they'd rush to clarify the error.
But if they did accidently tell of their entering an ad campaign that shouldn't have been eligible, then I could see why they wouldn't want to respond to that. Why would they want to admit- again- to it?
Their silence just makes them look all the more suspicious.

Andreas-Udd's picture

That is really weird! Nice work detective!

kamari's picture

Perhaps someone should call up the Cannes awards on Monday and see when and where the ads that won bronze were claimed to have run. Cheating is for loosers and I smell a rat.

Neaner's picture

Strange. Well spotted. I think we have a cheater.

caffeinegoddess's picture

Update: Still no word from these folks. I sent the email out October 12th. Since it's been so long, I have a feeling that I won't be getting one.