Two-time Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot goes to wish extra room in his trophy case.
The filmmaker is coming back from Europe with a number of Cannes Lions for his documentary The Ultimate Copy of Ilon Specht, a movie in regards to the girl who created the enduring L’Oréal Paris tagline, “As a result of I’m price it.”
These 4 phrases, penned within the early Seventies by Specht as a younger copywriter for the advert company McCann-Erickson (now McCann), “empowered generations of girls globally,” McCann notes, “and helped to construct L’Oréal Paris into the most important magnificence model on the earth.”
The quick movie’s 5 honors on the 2025 Cannes Lions Worldwide Pageant of Creativity embody the Grand Prix for Movie; Gold for Leisure, Silver for Leisure, PR, and a Bronze for Movie Craft – the latter award recognizing the work of editors Mónica Salazar and Tim Johnson. Proudfoot shot the movie with Specht within the final months of her life. She died of most cancers in Could 2024 on the age of 81.
TRAVERSE32/Breakwater Studios
“Many gifted palms formed this movie, however this extraordinary recognition belongs to 1 particular person: Ilon Specht,” Proudfoot stated. “She remodeled promoting without end together with her phrases however by no means gained a Lion—till now. I hope this delight of Lions and Grand Prix finds her. A worthy, if belated, triumph. Thanks to the jury, and to L’Oréal Paris, McCann, and TRAVERSE32 for doing what few dare to do: fully belief the filmmakers. That was the magic. As Ilon stated, ‘It’s about people. It’s not about promoting. It’s about caring for individuals.’”
To at the present time, “As a result of I’m price it” stays core to the L’Oréal Paris model, translated into greater than 50 languages for markets world wide. L’Oréal calls these phrases “a rallying cry for self-affirmation, id, and company.”
“Ilon Specht was greater than only a copywriter, she was a visionary,” Delphine Viguier-Hovasse, world model president of L’Oréal Paris, noticed. “She defied the norms of her time with one daring assertion that become a worldwide motion. I’m grateful to our companions at McCann who’ve helped carry her remaining phrases to the world in a manner that honors her legacy.”
Director Ben Proudfoot speaks after ‘The Ultimate Copy Of Ilon Specht’ premiere At Tribeca X on June 10, 2024 in New York Metropolis.
Slaven Vlasic/Getty Photos for Traverse32
The Ultimate Copy of Ilon Specht premiered a 12 months in the past at Tribeca X Pageant in New York, occurring to win Greatest Documentary Brief on the HollyShorts Movie Pageant in Hollywood, the Scorching Springs Documentary Pageant in Arkansas, and the Chelsea Movie Pageant in New York, in addition to Greatest Brief Documentary and the Greatest Atlantic Filmmaker Award on the Lunenberg Movie Pageant in Nova Scotia. It’s presently streaming on TED, AMC+, and Prime Video.
“Ilon’s story is the essence of Reality Nicely Informed, an sincere, brave expression that challenged the established order of promoting, reshaped how girls see themselves, and adjusted how manufacturers communicate to girls,” commented Charlotte Franceries, CEO of McCann Paris. “We’re celebrating Ilon’s legacy, however we’re additionally serving to individuals perceive what ‘As a result of I’m Value It’ actually means to girls everywhere in the world.”
Added Javier Campopiano, world chief inventive officer of McCann Worldgroup and McCann, “Probably the most highly effective truths, those that transcend time and turn out to be common, are additionally probably the most private, people who come from the center. For Ilon Specht, ‘As a result of I’m Value It’ was way more than a slogan, it was her option to specific her anger in direction of the ethos of the time, and her ardour for concepts. That’s the reason why these 4 phrases she coined 50 years in the past have touched so many hearts and are nonetheless related immediately.”
Cybill Shepherd in a L’Oréal Paris advert
L’Oreal Paris
A rare array of stars has appeared in L’Oréal Paris adverts, voicing these well-known phrases written by Specht, together with Oscar winners Jane Fonda, Helen Mirren, Kate Winslet, and Viola Davis, in addition to Eva Longoria, Andie MacDowell, Gwen Stefani, Beyoncé, and Cybill Shepherd, amongst others.
The Ultimate Copy of Ilon Specht marks the primary collaboration between the groups at TRAVERSE32, IPG Mediabrands’ world branded manufacturing firm and improvement studio, and Proudfoot’s Breakwater Studios. Along with directing, Proudfoot produced the movie alongside Breakwater Studios’ Kirstin Falk and Rachel Greenwald, and TRAVERSE32’s Brendan Gaul and Brett Henenberg. Daryl Lee, International CEO McCann Worldgroup, Charlotte Franceries, President, McCann Paris, & EVP International Enterprise Chief, L’Oréal Paris, and Julien Calot, Chief Artistic Officer, McCann Paris served as govt producers.
Proudfoot gained his first Academy Award for the 2021 quick documentary The Queen of Basketball. He gained his second Oscar for the 2023 nonfiction quick The Final Restore Store, co-directed with Kris Bowers. Proudfoot and Bowers have been Oscar-nominated for the 2020 quick doc A Concerto Is a Dialog.
