"It is your last night in Cannes. Make it more comfortable."
That's the message, printed on the pillows, that awaited Cannes Lions attendees who discovered a mattress on the event's red carpet during the festival's final hours.
The stunt was a well-played callback to this year's much-buzzed-about moment when two unidentified people had sex on the red carpet of the Palais des Festivals around 4:30 a.m. last Tuesday.
Mad respect for this couple having blatant sex on the #CannesLions red carpet just now. pic.twitter.com/JVgVYIsC8z
— David Griner (@griner) June 23, 2015While re-enacting the public sex became a frequent gag in photos from the event, one creative team decided to take it a step further.
Valery Volchetsky, group creative director for Moscow-based agency Hungry Boys, said he brainstormed the idea while talking about the sex photo with Romanian creatives Razvan Ghilencea, Anca Wirdy, Robert Capraru and Bianca Dumitraşcu. A gathering at the Gutter Bar turned into a brainstorming session as they tried to think of a way to play off the growing conversation around the sex act.
Initially thinking they'd make a spec bit of guerrilla branding for a brand like Ikea ("We even thought about PornHub, but they definitely do not need any comfort for sex"), the team instead decided to simply turn the whole thing into an attention-grabbing joke.
They created pillow cases printed with the message about making your last night in Cannes more comfortable, then brought their mattress and pillow setup to the entryway of the Palais. About 60 people gathered to photograph the stunt, Volchetsky said.
Here's a brief video clip they created from the prank:
