MOBILE KAREN BOSWELL
HEAD OF INNOVATIONS, ADAM & EVE/DDB
I saw two main themes in the Mobile category. First, as the category suggests in its call for entries, we’re finally starting to get to grips with the fact that “mobile” isn’t just the smart-arm extension of its 2.32 billion global users. We’re moving well beyond a mobilefirst world in every market. Second, we’re not just creating amazing content but experiences and services that go beyond the normal utility we have come to expect. Standout work expertly exploited a mobile-centric approach in an increasingly fluid set of human-centred design. “Chat yourself”, a Facebook chatbot helping people with Alzheimer’s to remember things, left me breathing a sigh of relief. “Google Home of the Whopper” leveraged a clever (if not mildly alarming) convergence of channels executed in an effectively simple way. Other shout-outs: the Gorillaz app launching their new album and “Hungerithm”, which nailed an ontrend, end-to-end consumer journey. I must acknowledge the Grand Prix winner, “The family way” – our only contender as a jury. It leveraged the phone’s most popular asset, the camera, to enable male home fertility testing, tackling both the issue and the taboo surrounding it head-on. Biggest disappointment? Not one virtual-reality entry that was true to the immersive capabilities of the medium. In summary: some truly fantastic work, a brilliant experience but still so much unexplored territory to be ventured into and claimed.