All true stories.

BRONZE

A friend of mine was in Cannes. Somebody passed and told him he won a Bronze Lion. Excited, he called his family.

-          Dad?

-          Son, how is everything in France?

-          I won a Bronze!!!

-          …

-          Dad?

-          Oh, kid, never mind, third place is fine too. Don’t be sad.

SILVER

Another friend, in another year, won a Silver Lion. He also called his family, who lives in a very small town.

-          Mom, I won an award here in Cannes! A Silver Lion!

-          Wow, I am so proud! But don’t spend all the money, save for the future!

-          What money, Mom?

-          The money from the award.

-          Huh…Mom, there is no money, just a trophy.

-          No money? Well, ok… So bring your trophy here so your brothers can see it.

-          I’ll try. But they’ll just give one trophy and it goes to the agency.

-          But it’s your work, dear. I am sure that if you ask the organization, they’ll give you another trophy.

-          Actually, mom, they sell these trophies if the agency asks for another one.

-          They sell the trophies?! What kind of award is that? So they pick up your work for free, use it and…

-          No mom, it is not free, we had to pay for submit our work.

-          Pay? How much?

-          A thousand of Euros or something…

-          What?! And how much is the trophy?

-          I don’t know, something like that too. Maybe less than a thousand.

-          You pay thousands of Euros for submitting and for the trophy… I don’t get it. Well, ok. At least you are The Silver Lion of the Year, right?

-          Maybe not “the” only Silver but…I mean, yes, Mom, that’s right.

-          That’s great, son!

GOLD

School class reunion. A friend of mine wanted to know about a friend that we have in common, who is also a creative.

-          So, how is he?

-          He is doing great, actually. He recently won a Gold award in an international festival, so he got an offer from another agency, he was promoted and stuff.

-          Cool. And how did he get this Gold award? With which commercial?

-          Maybe you don’t know it. It was a print ad for…(I described the ad).

-          Ha ha ha ha…

-          Funny ad, right?

-          No, I am laughing at you guys. That’s fantastic. A guy does an ad that I’ve never heard of, for a client that I’ve never heard of. Then he wins a gold award in an international festival and changes his entire career with this. Man, this month I saved the life of four kids there at the public hospital. All I got was some handshakes!

- Fabio Seidl