WHAT HAPPENED ON WEDNESDAY?
WHAT A ROUNDUP WE HAVE IN-STORE FOR YOU! Pete Way saw a dinosaur on stage (!) oh and of course… 7 new categories were awarded: Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy, Brand & Experience Activation, Creative Business Transformation, Creative Commerce, Innovation and Mobile.
Keep reading to hear more about our…
…LIONS OF THE DAY!
Today STRATEGY took the stage together with experiences in all sorts and forms. Here are the winners…
- The Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness goes to Contract for Change by FCB Chicago for Michelob Ultra. IF you were an avid fan of last year's rendition of Poolside with Petra (as you should be), you'd know this campaign won a Grand Prix in PR last year. The Creative Effectiveness category was introduced last year, and you can only compete upon invitation. This category is for campaigns that can prove they create real change – last year it went to Dream Crazy by Nike. A quick Contract for Change recap for the somewhat less avid Poolside with Petra fan – 90% of Americans want to buy organic produce, but only 1% of farming is currently organic. It takes roughly 3 years for a farmer to go organic, a massive investment with little return. So Anheuser-Busch made a deal – if farmers went organic they promised to buy all their produce for the next 3 years. That includes the transitional crops which will be used by the brewery's non-organic beers. I still love this as they managed to identify the main barrier to farmers going organic AND turning the problem into a win-win situation! I'm very glad it worked our IRL as well!
- The Grand Prix for Creative Strategy goes to The Breakaway: The First ECycling Team For Prisoners by BBDO Belgium for Decathlon. Decathlon's mission is to make sport accessible for everyone, so they decided to team up with those who have the least access to sport and freedom – prisoners. 6 prisoners got to join an ECycling team where they competed anonymously against other cyclists. I think this campaign does a really good job of living up to Decathlon's brand promise, just as the Dirt is Good Campaign used prisoners to convenience parents that staining clothes is the cornerstone of childhood.
- Piñatex for Dole and Ananas Anam by L&C New York snatches the Grand Prix for Creative Business Transformation – and was one of my faves amongst the Gold Lions for design! The Philippines are one of the biggest pineapple producers – but for each tonne of pineapple, 3 tonnes of pineapple leaves are left behind. Dole partnered with Ananas Anam to turn the leftover pineapple leaves into vegan leather as leather is the second biggest polluter after oil. Sometimes a real killer idea is just to find the right collaboration partner – this has been amazing for Ananas Anam to take off and share their product with the world and great CSR work for Dole – another win-win!
- The Unfiltered History Tour for Vice by Dentsu Bengaluru wins yet another Grand Prix! This time for Brand & Experience Activation. This is the third time the campaign is mentioned here, but a quick (and inclusive) recap – most items in the British Museum were stolen from others. This campaign uses AR to give people visiting the museum another perspective, by listening to the objects and their history being told by the very people from whom they were stolen. I LOVE!
- The Grand Prix in Creative Commerce goes to Wingstop for Thighstop by Leo Burnett Chicago. No one can have forgotten the chicken shortage of 2021 when not only KFC, but also Wingstop, ran out of chicken. BUT it turns out the chicken thighs were going strong all along. In just a couple of days, Wingstop changed its entire branding from logo to packing to become Thighstop – an online store where the US could order their favourite thighs. The most impressive thing about this campaign is that they actually managed to do it. Is it creative? … YOU be the judge.
- The Grand Prix For Innovation goes to Suncorp Group for One House to Save Many by Leo Burnett. This modern easy-on-the-eye house design isn't any old architectural house – it's a climate and weatherproof house, built to survive extreme flooding, fires, and storms. The initiative was made as Suncorp wanted to reduce claims by encouraging customers to better protect their houses. The team also consisted of a government agency and architectural firm, ensuring the final design was as credible as it possibly could be. Well done!
- The Grand Prix for Mobile goes to Real Tone for Google by Google Mountain View. The campaign was made for the launch of Pixel 6. Historically, technology hasn't accurately represented darker skin tones. So Google set out on a mission together with photographers, cinematographers, and colourists to create a better camera and editing technology, The result is Real Tone, which more accurately represents different skin tones. They launched the product with using several different human stories – including one featuring Lizzo for SuperBowl. This is obviously a great invention that should have been done ages ago, and as much as I acknowledge that (believe me I do) the execution isn't very creative. This to me is more of a Glass Lion than the best mobile solution of the year.
And so ends the third day of the advertising championships.
THINGS TO COME
- Will BCW Delegate Pete Way somehow manage to watch Malala's talk before he rushes to the airport?
- We WILL get to see the winners of some of my favourite categories – PR, Direct and Social!
- Will the Unfiltered History Tour be featured in Poolside by Petra for the 4th time in a week and win yet another Grand Prix?
You DO NOT want to miss out on these highlights! Keep that inbox updated for the best of the best from Cannes Lions!
