Every year, some of the best CDs in the world all gather in Cannes to judge the Cannes Lions. Our idea was simple, we decided to create a case study and a radio spot with a job offer that talked directly to the judges, and then disguised them as award entries.

The job offer followed the typical structure of a case study video, but presented an unexpected problem: How do we find and reach the best CDs in the world?

We then introduced “The most direct recruitment ad ever” and called some of the judges by name, saying we wanted to hire all of them. We then showed the results they could expect by taking the offer: 120% increase in days of sunshine at one of the sexiest agencies on the planet. All they had to do was email us.

The case study was entered into the Direct category and a radio version of the offer was entered into the Radio Lions.

Judges broke the rules and tweeted about the idea. The media covered the stunt and helped spread our offer beyond the south of France. Traffic to 180LA’s website skyrocketed by 352% in just two days. We were contacted by over 30 creative directors, including various Cannes judges, and hired Jessica Schnurr – one of the judges we had specifically called out in our job offer.