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‘Hope Reef’, entered by AMV BBDO London on behalf of Mars Petcare’s Sheba brand, has picked up its second Grand Prix of the week, in the Media category. The campaign, centred on efforts to revive a coral reef in Indonesia, was selected by a jury determined to “reward bravery and creativity,” Jury President and global CEO of IPG Mediabrands, Daryl Lee, said. The campaign involved growing a living coral bed in the shape of the word Hope – drawing on the expertise of marine scientists and local communities. The reef acted as a natural billboard that could be seen from space. It was also subject of a dedicated YouTube channel which offered people the option of funding similar coral regrowth projects. Lee said the goal was to find campaign that “did good but authentically linked to the brand’s values and business”. The Sheba connection is that cat food depends in part on sustainable fish stocks. By regrowing coral, the Hope project also boosted the number of fish in the region. Looking beyond the Grand Prix, Lee said the Jury favoured campaigns that came up with unexpected, creative and innovative solutions: “ We were interested in the hacks, the renegades and disruptors. Attitude was the key for us.” Nine Golds were awarded including one for ‘Backup Ukraine’, a Grand Prix winner this week. There were Golds for India and Portugal, continuing a strong 2022 campaign for both countries.

The winner of the first ever Creative B2B Grand Prix is ‘Speaking in Colour’, a campaign created by Wunderman Thompson Minneapolis for Sherwin-Williams Coil Coating. Jury President Paul Hirsch, president & chief creative officer, Doremus said the campaign was a “perfectly-targeted B2B execution based on a robust technology that really worked. It covered so much ground from innovation to personalisation, but with the scope to have a global impact.” At its heart, ‘Speaking in Colour’ is a voice-led technology that allows architects to choose highly nuanced colours simply by explaining what they are looking for and then progressively narrowing down options until they get the exact shade they envisaged. AI-powered natural language systems mean users can start with a memory or a desirable location such as a ‘Caribbean sunset’ or ‘deep green paddy field’ and then add instructions such as ‘make it moodier’ or ‘add a splash of orange’ to reach their desired end goal. Hirsch said: “B2B often follows B2C in terms of ideas, but for this first year of the Creative B2B category we really wanted to focus on B2B first ideas. This is something that has started in B2B, but could go on to have an explosive impact when adapted to B2C applications.” The Jury also awarded three Gold Lions to campaigns from the US (2) and Belgium.

Direct Jury President Fred Levron, CCO of Dentsu International, said his jury wanted to show the industry and clients what a direct Cannes Lions winner really looks like. Their choice for Grand Prix? A $13m, 60-second NFL Super Bowl ad for cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, from Accenture Song, New York, called ‘Less Talk, More Bitcoin’. If that seems counter-intuitive, it’s important to experience the execution. In the midst of 50 or more high-polished NFL commercials from US megabrands, Coinbase elected to use its full minute displaying an image of a QR code onscreen. Reminiscent of an old computer game or retro screensaver, the QR simply bounced around the TV changing colour as it travelled. 20 million Super Bowl fans were interested enough that they decided to click through. When they did, they arrived on Coinbase’s landing page. Individuals new to Coinbase were invited to join the platform, and receive $15 worth of Bitcoin — an offer that generated 500,000 new accounts. People already signed up to Coinbase were entered into a $3m sweepstake. “So often, NFL campaigns are about layers and mechanisms and big budgets. But this campaign shows that modern creativity is all about understanding what the audience is doing,” Levron said. “Everyone stopped and engaged with this crazy call to action.” The Direct Jury also awarded seven Gold Lions to six separate campaigns. Winners hailed from the US, Spain, India, the UAE and Denmark.

With typical humour, actor and entrepreneur Ryan Reynolds tackled thoughts around next generation storytelling on Wednesday and charted his leap into the world of advertising, a world he “loves and feels privileged to be a part of”. In 2018, Reynolds and George Dewey launched Maximum Effort, their film production company and digital marketing agency, after working on promoting the first two Deadpool films. “I then bought Aviation Gin with some of that sweet, Deadpool money and we needed to market that,” Reynolds Said. “After, I acquired a significant stake in Mint Mobile… suddenly we were a marketing firm.” Moderator Wendy Clark, global CEO of Dentsu, said that the hallmarks of Maximum Effort’s work include speed, humour, placing the product front and centre and resisting perfection. “I love humour. Humour and emotion are the two things that travel the most virally,” “Combining both in one is the unicorn that everyone is looking for. If you can make people laugh… you can break down the artifice of marketing.” He added: “We make sure that product we are working with is very clean and at the centre of the campaign. It tends to travel more. If I tried to hide the fact that it’s an ad, I think people would feel manipulated.” Looking to the next generation of content and creative, Reynolds said: “I love Tik Tok – creators making things out of thin air. The idea that we are striving for perfection is insane. It’s also completely subjective. “Also, speed is a huge part of what we do. Culture moves really fast. Those conversations which are happening on social media, those watercooler moments – if you add production to that, you take it to a whole new level. “So many campaigns take 9 to 12 months to launch; if you are seeking cultural context you may completely miss the mark.” Reynolds latest initiative, The Creative Ladder, supports access to creative careers for people from underrepresented communities. He concluded: “Better stories are told with complex and diverse opinions. How can we continue to tell stories that are relevant, if they are only relevant to a few?”

Direct from delivering an impassioned roar of encouragement to Cannes Lions delegates in the Debussy Theatre, UN Development Programme ambassador Frankie The Dinosaur met with the Lions Daily News to discuss his climate change lobbying efforts. Joining him were UNDP chief creative officer Boaz Paldi, actors Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Aïssa Maïga, and Florian Weischer, president of global cinema advertising association SAWA. Frankie is the centrepiece of UNDP’s ‘Don’t Choose Extinction’ campaign, which raises awareness about the huge government subsidies channelled into fossil fuel firms. He was first seen in a CGI-based film made inside the UN General Assembly building. In the three-minute film, a computer-generated version of Frankie storms into the iconic building, seizes the speaker’s podium and urges stunned dignitaries to avoid the dinosaurs’ fate – extinction. The film was voiced in 39 languages and features well-known actors, including Coster-Waldau and Maïga. Initially it was released online, but now, through a partnership with SAWA, a cinema version of the film is screening across 30 countries. So far, the film has been viewed 1.8 billion time worldwide. Paldi said: “These issues are complex, dense and scary. So we need to talk about them in a way that relates to people. Fossil fuel subsidies were $423bn last year and will hit $800bn this year. That’s money being directed away from renewables.” Coster-Waldau, who has worked with the UNDP for several years, said humour is “a great way to reach people and avoid just preaching to the choir”. On the positive impact of his own celebrity status, he said: “I don’t think being an actor means you have an added responsibility, but if you care about these issues it can open doors and raise curiosity.” Maïga was delighted to give Frankie a female voice in France. “I’ve always been vocal on issues like diversity. But I didn’t really have legitimacy to talk about the climate until I filmed in Niger about access to water. I think this project provides a sense of hope and truth.” Weischer said SAWA has partnered the UN since 2015. “Cinema is a great channel for this kind of message because people need to pay attention. No other medium concentrates the audience’s focus like the big screen.” Cinema also attracts younger demos “who put climate action high on the list for themselves, the brands they use and the companies they work for.”

Leo Burnett Chicago has won the Creative Commerce Grand Prix for its ‘Thighstop’ campaign for US food chain Wingstop. When the supply of chicken wings ran out in 2021 due to the pandemic, Wingstop found itself looking at several months with nothing to sell. When the company decided to sell chicken thighs instead of wings, it was faced with the need for a rapid re-branding campaign. Leo Burnett’s solution succeeded brilliantly. “We were looking for commerce-led thinking that did justice to the brand and solved a genuine business problem — and ‘Thighstop’ did that to perfection,” said Creative Commerce jury president Beth Ann Kaminkow, global CEO of VMLY&R Commerce and CEO of VMLY&R NY. “Wingstop reinvented its brand in a matter of days. They earned 6.5 billion media impressions with a cheeky and funny campaign. In fact, Leo Burnett defines what’s possible with a campaign that is absolutely bursting with seasoned experience.” Kaminkow said the success of ‘Thighstop’ has given other brands “permission to implement truly consumer-centric ideas”. She added: “To have pivoted so brilliantly literally overnight is a true reflection of our times and makes us look at the world differently. Their agility was totally breathtaking.”

June 24 at Cannes Lions, Manuel Oliver will ask: “Are you ready to break the norm and become the next brand to create a campaign standing against gun violence?” – at a session titled Take the Risk, on the Terrace Stage at 15.30. Florida-based Oliver and his wife Patricia are the parents of Joaquin Oliver, a 17-year-old murder victim of the 2018 Parkland school shooting in the US. Their non-profit organisation Change the Ref has a mission to use the memory of their basketball-loving teenage son to remind the world that gun violence is annihilating far too many young lives. The goal is for a major global brand owner to use its reach to send a forceful anti-gun message that will put a stop to these killings. “I am trying to find the next brand willing to go against gun violence, to be a brave activist, even if it comes at a financial risk. This is about saving lives,” Oliver said. “The US is waiting for the next Nike to make a statement: my personal dream is to have a brand with such a powerful message, it will be featured at the next Super Bowl.” Oliver has already enlisted a host of high-profile ad agencies, working with Leo Burnett to create The Lost Class, an impactful campaign illustrating how thousands of children will never graduate because bullets put an end to their short lives. In 2019 Joaquin’s parents joined forces with ad agency Alma to create a 3D-printed life-size sculpture of him, which won prizes inCannes. “This was used to fight against the gun industry’s promotion of how easy it is to use 3D printing to make guns at home,” Oliver said. “We want to send a message against injustice.”

Oscar-winning actress, author, director and producer Lupita Nyong’o took to Lumière stage yesterday to talk about flipping the script on Hollywood, finding new ways to build communities and enlighten brands and how she succeeded in winning our hearts and minds. “The success of Black Panther was hailed as a validation that ‘black films’ can work,” she told Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s vice-president of global business group. “But really, when you look at the history of Hollywood, Coming To America was the third-highest grossing film in 1988 and Sidney Poitier’s films were hugely successful in the 1960s. So how many times does it have to be conclusively proved that ‘black’ films have an audience?” Despite that slightly world-weary comment, even Nyong’o was shocked by the fact that Black Panther grossed $1bn in a mere 26 days. “We had no idea it was going to have such an effect,” she said. “People were dressing up and taking drums with them to the cinema to celebrate African culture. When I went to Korea to do a series of interviews to promote the film, the journalists were turning up in traditional Korean clothes. We were all shocked that what the film really did was to empower the idea of indigenous cultures all over the world. That’s an amazing thing.” Nyong’o also gently mocked Hollywood attitudes: “I call it motivated reasoning, which is the ability of all human beings to make things fit preconceived ideas. So America has never acknowledged its original sin — which of course is slavery — and that narrative affects Hollywood’s attitude to ‘black’ films. We never say ‘white’ films don’t work, even though many of them don’t. What this all boils down to is the need for us all to acknowledge our shared humanity.” Nyong’o also admitted to having had a hard time enjoying her early success. “After 12 Years A Slave, so many doors opened for me and it was disorientating for a while. People really don’t have much sympathy for someone having major success. But once I learnt to give myself permission to fail, it got much better.”

The Creative Strategy Grand Prix has gone to the brilliant and inspiring “The Breakaway: The First eCycling Team For Prisoners” by BBDO Belgium for Decathlon. Using virtual cycling platform Zwift, inmates from a maximum-security Belgian prison cycle and interact with people in the outside world — a life-changing experience that has had a significant impact on the mental-health of the participants. In fact, so positive have the results been that the initiative has now been extended to all Belgian prisoners. Creative Strategy jury president Chrissie Hanson, global chief strategy officer at OMD, said: “Great work should move people to think differently and spark a broader discussion about inclusivity. This work does that brilliantly. It also opens up a debate about fairness and empathy.” Hanson also offered an insight into the process of picking the winner of the Creative Strategy category: “We were looking for that killer combination of purpose, profit and play. But perhaps most importantly, we wanted to see work that sent a motivating signal to other brands and was brave. We wanted to see campaigns that had a broad appeal and that were scalable and sustainable.”

The ‘Pinatex’ campaign, created by L&C New York for the Dole Sunshine Company and Ananas Anam, has taken the 2022 Grand Prix for Creative Business Transformation. Dole Sunshine Company, one of the largest producers of pineapples in the world, partnered with Ananas Anam to produce Piñatex, a sustainable replacement for leather, the planet’s second-most polluting product. The fibres from pineapple leaves are used create the vegan, cruelty-free leather alternative, which is now being used by over 1,000 brands and has generated more than $100m in revenue. Jury president Ronald Ng, global chief creative officer of MRM, said: “We were looking for an idea with genuine longevity and one that also brought with it an undeniable magnitude of transformation. We were also looking for the sort of craft and elegance that takes an idea to the next level. And we were keen to see end-to-end transformation and measurable, credible impact. Piñatex ticks all those boxes perfectly.” And Piñatex has turned the problem of millions of tons of pineapple-leaf waste into an opportunity and Dole Sunshine’s Philippines-based operation predicts it will be producing zero waste by 2025. “It’s a brilliant idea that creatively connects all the dots and turns waste into profit.” Ng added.

The Grand Prix winner in the Creative Effectiveness category is Contract For Change by FCB Chicago and New York. The Award was announced yesterday by Jury President RAJA Rajamannar, chief marketing & communications officer at Mastercard Global. Created for Michelob Ultra Pure Gold, the initiative came about because, despite the fact that 90% of Americans would prefer to buy organic products, only 1% of cultivated land is organic. Michelob offers farmers a Contract for Change which guarantees that it will become a customer of organic produce once their farm has gone through the three years needed to convert land to certifiably organic. It also promised to pay 25% above the market rate in order to help the farm recoup the losses incurred during the conversion process. “We chose the campaign because it goes above and beyond expectations. It is, in fact, utterly game changing for farmers and for other brands, not just Ultra Pure Gold. It’s a movement and a platform for the farming community, for the brand and for the planet. The overall impact is completely astonishing and we were all blown away by the brilliance and the sheer seriousness of this campaign.”

Leo Burnett best in Innovation The winner of the 2022 Cannes Lions for Innovation is ‘One House To Save Many’, entered by Leo Burnett Sydney on behalf of Australian insurance group Suncorp. Jury President Cleve Gibbon, chief technical officer of Wunderman Thompson, US, said: “This entry gave me goosebumps when I first saw it. It got the jury’s attention and now it deserves to get the world’s attention.” Led by Suncorp, ‘One House To Save Many’ was a collaborative engineering project launched to create a house that could withstand Australia’s extreme weather systems. Utilising expertise from a range of scientific fields, the resultant house is capable of withstanding extreme attack from fire, flood and wind. The goal now is for the house to provide the basis of a damage-prevention strategy that can be applied in Australia and beyond. According to Gibbon, the jury spent a lot of time thinking about what “it really means to be innovative”. He added: “We saw a lot of good corporate hospitality work, but it wasn’t necessarily innovative. It was what those companies should have been doing anyway.” The jury was keen to see work where innovations could have a direct impact to a brand’s business. In this case, Suncorp has to pay out billions in disaster claims every year, so any innovation that builds resilience into people’s lives is a potential bottom-line saving. The jury also awarded a Gold Lion to ‘McEnroe vs McEnroe’, entered by FCB New York on behalf of AB InBev beer brand Michelob Ultra. ‘Empowering’ ‘Real Tone’ wins Mobile The 2022 Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Mobile has gone to ‘Real Tone’, an ingenious product development entered by Google, T Brand Studio New York, Wieden+Kennedy Portland and GUT Miami. Mobile jury president Hugo Veiga, global chief creative officer for AKQA, called ‘Real Tone’ “an easy Grand Prix to give. It was simple, yet very empowering.” In simple terms, ‘Real Tone’ is a Google innovation. It addresses a historic bias in photography that makes it difficult to capture dark skin tones accurately. Veiga said: “We’ve had a situation where black people can’t see themselves properly in photos. So this technology repairs a historical issue with something that really shouldn’t be a problem. And it’s just the beginning for a technology that will allow people to see themselves as they really are.” Veiga said the jury’s approach to its task was “to let the work guide us”. He added: “We didn’t come away with any specific trends, but we did identify some powerful thoughts — for example, the ability of mobile tech to make everyday life better for people. We also saw some examples of how mobile-led ideas can be key to business transformation.” The mobile jury awarded three Gold Lions, all of which originated in the Latin American/Hispanic markets. These included Burger King’s ‘Burger Glitch’, which also won Gold in the Brand Experience & Activation category. Dentsu takes second Grand Prix for Vice’s History Tour ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’, an innovative campaign for Vice Media by Dentsu Creative Bengaluru/Mumbai/Gurgaon, has won its second Cannes Lions Grand Prix of the week. Brand Experience & Activation jury president Yasuharu Sasaki, chief creative officer of Dentsu Japan, called it “a strong and provocative experience that shows how the use of tech has the power to change mindsets. It also comes at a time when cultural appropriation is a hot topic.” ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ is based around a series of culturally significant artefacts that were stolen from their homelands and are now on display in the British Museum. By using Instagram AR filters and immersive audio, visitors to the museum are able to access an unofficial tour of the treasures, which explains the significance of each object and how it came to be a landmark of the London cultural scene. Series subjects include the Elgin Marbles, the Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone. Sasaki said Brand Experience is a tough category to judge because “everything is an experience, whether people are in the real world or digital”. He added: “One of the key things we looked for was the relevance and consistency of the brand experience. We were also looking for experiences that empower people not just in the moment but that have a long-term impact.” The jury also awarded nine Gold Lions to seven different campaigns. Latin America featured strongly among the Gold recipients, with wins for Brazil, Peru and Honduras.