DURAND ACADEMY | Shine a Light on Opportunity | 2011
The London Public Primary School That Beat the UN and Renault / Durand Academy "Shine a Light on Opportunity"
A public primary school in London beat out the United Nations and Renault to win Gold in the PR category at Cannes. Just the idea of a school's PR effort taking down national institutions is fascinating on its own.
The problem
Durand Academy was a public academy school located in Lambeth, London. The lobbying firm PLMR had been handling PR for the school since 2009.
The insight
Christopher Graves, one of the judges and CEO of Ogilvy PR, described this campaign as "a kind of conceptual jiu-jitsu," noting that the idea was to turn the competitors' own strength against them. For a small public school to compete on the same playing field as rivals with vastly greater budgets and reach, it seems they chose a jiu-jitsu-like stance: using the opponent's strengths to their own advantage.
The idea
What impressed the judges was the integrated design that combined paid media, earned media, shared media, and owned media across the board. The specific details of the actual ad creative couldn't be confirmed from the available materials.
What happened
At the 2011 Cannes Lions PR category, the campaign won a Gold Lion, beating out strong competitors including the Government of Kosovo, the United Nations, Renault, and National Australia Bank.
Afterthought
Honestly, I couldn't find much detail about the video or the specifics of what they actually did. But just the picture of a public primary school's PR beating the United Nations is already plenty interesting. The way of thinking about competing against opponents you can't beat on scale is something worth learning from, no matter what industry or field you're in.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2011
