Rob McLennan

With 5 Grand Prix in the last 5 years, South African advertising is between the most creative in the world. Some say just because they speak English and they have a point. It´s much easier to win awards when you write your ads in English and, not only that, if it looks English. Getting crazy things approved by clients is also much easier in a third world country, where, let´s say, people are not as boring as in developed places. Multicultural life in Johannesburg is also a great advantage for the South Africans. But let´s also be reasonable. Mumbai is also very multicultural, English speaker and third world and yet, did not produce as many great stuff as the capital of South Africa.

From the many South African stars, Rob McLennan, above his 21 lions, is one of the biggest, together with Julian Watt, Gareth Lessing and Graham Warsop. Others like Tony Granger and John Hunt were too big for Africa and are now heading multinationals in New York.

Rob is not different from the big advertising stars. He began working in boring jobs like banking and house painting, until reaching in a short period of years the creative lead in a big multinational agency, Lowe Bull. Rob´s creativity was very award oriented, with lots of ideas who looked scams, until he finally did a hell of a campaign: Axe´s "Get a Girlfriend", one of the most successful and original concepts of the last years. Cannes gave him a late recognition with a Radio Grand Prix last year for an absurdly crazy campaign for Virgin Atlantic. Unfortunately, I just don´t know how to post audio files here, so you won´t be able to hear the great radio work from Rob.

Ad Genius 15: Rob McLennan.
Country: South Africa.
Agencies: Lowe Bull, Network BBDO.
At Cannes: 21 Lions, 1GP, 6 Gold.
Strong Points: Radio Ideas.

Erik Vervroegen

With almost 70 lions, Belgian art director Erik Vervroegen is the most awarded advertiser in Cannes Festival, technically tied with Brazilian super-star Marcello Serpa (76 lions). With such numbers and his well-known reputation, he has definitely a space in advertising Olympus. But, moving ahead, we won´t avoid the question: "Is Erik the best advertiser in the world?"

If talent could be measured in awards, yes, we might say he is. TBWA Paris was three times agency of the year in Cannes, all under his rule, against Serpa´s lonely prize in 2000 for Almap. And we are talking about a guy who has made success in different markets, being named the best in South Africa (TBWA Hunt) and in New York (Bozell). Serpa, on the other hand, has worked just in Brazil and always with the best talent since the beginning of his career, at DPZ.

But if you pay more attention, you will see that Erik´s talent has its border. Contrary to David Droga, for example, he has not gone beyond classical advertising. Even in standard print, we can see that works from Crispin Porter or early Kesselskramer have brought much more freshness to the market than the visually stunning tricks from mr. Vervroegen. In film, his commercials for Amnesty International and AIDES have never gone beyond their top awards in Cannes, finding resistance to win respectability at One Show and D&AD. What would be his most particular contribution to advertising, the visual puzzles for Playstation, was not actually begun by him, but by TBWA London some years earlier. It´s not overstatement to say that he has actually repeated formulas. Brilliantly, of course, but never bringing anything real new.

Maybe to avoid this craftsman identity, Erik moved to Goodby Silverstein Partners, one of the most innovative agencies in the world. With his stunning talent together with GSP defiance, he may do real unique work and leave the category "one of the bests" to become the biggest of them all.

Ad Genius 6: Erik Vervroegen.

Countries: Belgium, South Africa, France and USA.

Agencies: TBWA Hunt, Bozell NY, TBWA Paris, Goodby Silverstein.

At Cannes: Almost 70 lions, 2 GPs.

Strong Points: Flawless visual, smart tricks.