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Bullets from Gunn

The Gunn Report > Content > Bullets from Gunn

For the last 4 years or so, Emma and I have made it our custom to end off Gunn Report Presentations (at Festivals or other industry Forums or Agency or Client conferences) with a selection of rapid fire mini-cases.
These establish business results for a succession of the most famous campaigns of the moment from anywhere in the world. Their purpose is to provide evidence that virtually all of the work that our industry admires and applauds and awards the most is also highly successful in doing its job in the marketplace.

These mini-case features have come to be known as 'Bullets from Gunn'. This name was coined by Matias Palm-Jensen, co-founder of the renowned Swedish digital Agency, Farfar (top 4 in The Gunn Report's Digital Agencies table for 4 years in a row). And since May this year, Matias has been Chief Innovation Officer, Europe at McCann Erickson.

Matias saw the mini-cases feature in our presentation at the Wave Festival in Rio de Janeiro in May 2008. Liked what he was seeing and thought it was a message that our industry needed. And was waiting on the Copacabana Palace terrace afterwards with a big smile (like the one in the photo), a brace of Caipirinhas and a name for what we're doing.

matthias
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  • The Bullets Story
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  • <strong>"#Like A Girl"</strong><br /><strong>Always - Leo Burnett Toronto/London/Chicago </strong> <br />Film of a social experiment asking adults and young girls to do things – per the playground insult – “Like A Girl”. 85m views in 150 countries. The most viral video in the world by its second week. Became the most watched video in P&G’s history.
  • <strong>"I Touch Myself"</strong><br /><strong>Cancer Council NSW - J. Walter Thompson Sydney</strong> <br />Brought together 10 of Australia’s top female singers to create a moving video. Within 2 weeks, 47% of Australian women saw it. 250,000 visited website. Average dwell time was 7 minutes. 86% used the self-examination info.
  • <strong>"Monty’s Christmas"</strong><br /><strong>John Lewis - adam&eveDDB London</strong> <br />Christmas = 40% of John Lewis sales. With "Monty", thoughtful gifting strategy (see “The Long Wait” – 2011 and “Bear and Hare” – 2013) continued. Sales up 5.8% vs. Christmas 2013 (previous record). 29m+ YouTube and Facebook views.
  • <strong>"Lucky Iron Fish Project"</strong><br /><strong>Lucky Iron Fish - Geometry Global / Memac Ogilvy Dubai</strong> <br />Program activates people to cook with a Lucky Iron Fish in their pot. 9 months have seen a 50% drop in iron deficiency anaemia and directly helped 54,800 men, women and children in Cambodia.
  • <strong>"No Bigger Prize Than Sharing"</strong><br /><strong>Loterias Y Apuestas del Estado - Leo Burnett Madrid</strong> <br />A story about generosity, TV-led plus an immersive experience on the website. Manuel hadn’t bought a ticket when all his friends won: but Antonio, the bar owner, had been saving a tenth for him. The most viewed viral campaign in Spanish history. $110 million increase in sales.
  • <strong>"Groceries Not Guns"</strong><br /><strong>Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense In America - Grey Canada Toronto</strong> <br />Campaign asked top retailers to disallow carrying of loaded guns in their stores. Largest grocery chain in America, Kroger, declined. MDA got 360,000 petition signatures plus 120,000 new member sign-ups. Kroger got 16,000 complaint calls and lost $250,000 revenue.
  • <strong>"Penny The Pirate"</strong><br /><strong>OPSM - Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney</strong> <br />Cannes Cr.Eff. Bronze 2015. Due “Penny The Pirate” book and app, OPSM eye tests up 22.6% yoy. And sales up 22.4% (at expense of Specsavers – selling on price). Penny has helped improve the lives of at least 120,000 children.
  • <strong>"Radiant Return"</strong><br /><strong>Radiant Detergent - DDB Melbourne</strong> <br />Clothes bought/tortured in extreme ways from paintball to pottery/washed with Radiant/returned to stores where they’d been bought. 14 “spy camera” films chronicled process. Radiant household penetration up 6.2%. Sales up 27%. After nearly being delisted, became fastest growing laundry brand in Australia.
  • <strong>"Smellcome To Manhood"</strong><br /><strong>Old Spice - Wieden+Kennedy Portland</strong> <br />‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ and ‘Responses’ (see Bullets 2010 and 2011) made Old Spice #1 male deodorant brand in the USA. But Axe dominated in body sprays. ‘Smellcome To Manhood’ dramatized the effect of Old Spice Body Spray and the transition from boyhood to manhood from the perspective of Moms. And propelled it into 2 years of double digit growth. Cannes Cr Eff Gold 2016.
  • <strong>"Not A Bug Splat"</strong><br /><strong>Reprieve/Foundation For Fundamental Rights - BBDO Pakistan Lahore</strong> <br />Drone operators call civilian casualties “Bug Splats”. 90 x 60 foot poster of child victim, which operators many thousands of miles away saw on their screens, installed in heavily-bombed area of NW Pakistan. Operators’ morale plummeted; US government imposed new guidelines; no. of drone strikes down; civilian and child deaths reduced to almost zero.
  • <strong>"Look At Me"</strong><br /><strong>Samsung - Cheil Worldwide Seoul</strong> <br />A fun and easy-to-use app to help children with autism react with people. Created in South Korea, one of most downloaded apps globally in “Education” category. Helped 60% of children with autism make better eye contact: 40% improved on expressing themselves emotionally.
  • <strong>"1914 Truce"</strong><br /><strong>Sainsbury's - AMV BBDO London</strong> <br />In centenary year of World War 1, celebrated the famous ‘Christmas Truce’ where British and German soldiers emerged from the trenches to play a game of football. Sainsbury’s 2014 Poppy Appeal raised £7 million for the Royal British Legion (including £500K from sales of the chocolate bar in the ad). Whilst, defying city predictions, Sainsbury’s overtook Asda to become #2 supermarket in the UK. Cannes Cr Eff Silver 2016.
  • <strong>"Aussie Builders"</strong><br /><strong>Snickers - Clemenger BBDO Melbourne</strong> <br />“You’re not you when you’re hungry” can have positive effects too! Webfilm showed construction workers calling out empowering statements instead of the usual. Viral delivered A$11m in earned media. Sales of Snickers grew 36% (compared to 9% year ago).
  • <strong>"The Gun Shop"</strong><br /><strong>States United To Prevent Gun Violence - Grey New York</strong> <br />SUPGV opens gun shop in Manhattan, inviting first-time gun buyers. Histories behind each firearm displayed (homicides, suicides, mass shootings, etc.) 12m views of online film. Major increases in gun control petition signatures and unsolicited donations. 80% of potential customers decided not to buy a firearm.
  • <strong>"Pay Per Laugh"</strong><br /><strong>Teatreneu - The Cyranos McCann Worldgroup Barcelona</strong> <br />Each seat has a facial recognition system in this Barcelona theatre. You pay per laugh (to a max. of 80 laughs or 24 euros). Ave. performance takes €7,200 (vs. €4,000 before). Media stories led to 35% increase in audiences.
  • <strong>"The Ice Bucket Challenge"</strong><br /><strong>The ALS Association - The ALS Association New York</strong> <br />Dared folks to dump a bucket of ice water over their heads, post a video on Facebook, tag friends to do the same and donate to ALS. 159 countries participated. 17m videos were created. In July-August 2014, ALS received $98.2m in donations (vs. $2.7m same period last year).


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