Face to Face with... Bart & Pol

Bart Mol and Pol Hoenderboom, from Tribal DDB Amsterdam, headed to Cannes last week on holiday but with the knowledge that their campaign for Philips, Obsessed With Sound, was in the running for a Cyber Lion or two. 

Turns out it picked up four Lions; two bronze, a silver and a gold. Here the pair talk about winning their first Lions, how they celebrated and what the Cannes festival win means for them.

You’ve gone from zero to four Lions in one fell swoop; how does that feel?

We still can’t believe it actually. It’s only a few year ago we joined the Cannes Lions festival for the first time with the Dutch Young Creatives. Seeing creatives in the Gutter Bar holding their gold Lions was one reason to work harder. Winning gold was a dream come true. I mean, winning bronze and silver is great, but getting up on stage and actually taking home your gold Lion straight away is what you’re aiming for.

The campaign for Philips is fantastic but did you have any expectation of it winning so many Lions?

Every creative in the agency was convinced we would pick up something, but we still wouldn’t believe it. You just don’t quite expect winning a Lion. Imagine winning four!

You were in Cannes on holiday rather than officially for work; is this now the best holiday you’ve had?

It’s definitely one of the most exhausting ones. Coming home at 06.00 in the morning and finding all of your friends in the jacuzzi celebrating, is another reason not to go to bed. And that for eight days…

How do you think winning the awards will impact on your careers?

It's very worthwhile to win awards in this line of work, there are so many people in the industry and it helps to stand out. If someone goes through your portfolio and there is  awarded work listed it catches attention. Next to that, the win is great for the agency as well; doing category defining work attracts clients that appreciate creativity and that's exactly the brands you want to work for.

What did you do the night you picked up the trophies?

The best day to win a Lion in Cannes is probably Wednesday evening. You can walk straight from the Palais to the beach party (this year MassiveMusic and MediaMonks) and celebrate with your friends. Looking back at the pictures you can tell how great time we had. Of course we had a few drinks at the Gutter Bar but after eating a cold & nasty 25 euro burger at 4AM, it was time to go home. We finished the night off by taking the Lion for a swim in our pool.

Can you remember much about it?

You know what they say: "Everything that happens in Cannes, stays on Facebook."

Apart from the win, what was the highlight of the festival for you?

The weather, drinking rose and working with FinchFactor.

What are you working on now and does the win put any added pressure on what you do next?

We just came back from Stockholm where we were shooting the new Obsessed with Sound campaign for this year (the campaign is going live in September).  It’s a completely different campaign with a whole different brief, but it’s going to look amazing.