Mccann's winning wedding

The winner of the Creative Business Transformation Grand Prix for 2026 is ‘The Wedding

Rice’, entered by McCann Athens on behalf of Wikifarmer.

At its core, the campaign helped Greek farmers tackle an agricultural crisis by leaning into a

popular tradition. Farmers were being forced to throw away large volumes of rice which failed to meet tough EU regulatory standards. At the same time, Greeks were buying huge amounts of rice to scatter over brides and grooms at weddings.

A system was devised whereby the substandard rice could be sold into the wedding market.

In the first 10 months, 41 tons of ‘broken rice’ were sold, servicing 11% of Greece’s huge wedding market.

Jury President Gugu Mthembu, chief marketing officer, Telkom, South Africa, said the unanimous view of her jury was that “the creative brilliance of the campaign lay in its simplicity. It used a cultural insight to solve a problem without needing any significant infrastructure investment or changes in go to market processes”.

In terms of trends, Mthembu said it was noticeable that entries involving “ecosystems and partnerships rose to the top.There was a recognition that transformation can’t always be achieved within the walls of your own organisation.”

She also advised entrants in this category that they need to be clear about how creativity is

leading business transformation.

“We couldn’t always identify if creativity was the engine or spark that led the process,” she said.

The jury also awarded one GoldLion to ‘Protect The Peanut’, entered by BBDO Chicago for

Mars Snacking/M&M’s.