As we gear up for the Friday night finale, the UK looks to be having a good year, with a third Grand Prix secured on day 4 following victories for Adidas UK’s Oasis tie up and Uncommon’s “Creative Fable.”
Adam&Eve TBWA (at least the Adam&Eve part) continued their long history of winning at Cannes, while Greece celebrated their first Grand Prix.
BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION One of the UK’s big hopes delivered when Adam&Eve TBWA’s “Expedition Impossible” for Columbia Sportswear got the Grand Prix. Described by the jury as “a brilliant promotion… that speaks directly to the world we live in today.” They also singled out its “impeccable craft” and “relentless focus on the brand.”
The experience and activation element involved challenged people to prove the earth is flat. A letter to the New York Times, an appearance on the news from the CEO, and mobile billboards, were all deployed to spread the word. The campaign 10 million organic views, plus more than 250 pieces of earned media.
Every brand is now doing non-stop activations and experiences of one kind or another, but this category had 30% fewer entries this year. Now that Cannes has started demanding real proof that the work is truly delivering for the client, it shows just how hard it is to achieve – and demonstrate – results in this category.
CREATIVE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION Greece’s first Grand Prix was thanks to “The Wedding Rice” for Wikifarmer by McCann Athens. It had the idea of selling inedible rice directly to wedding planners, creating new income for farmers. Jury said the work showed how cultural insights cand spark both creativity and business transformation.
INNOVATION “Supernova Adaptis” by TBWA Canada won for Adidas. Together they created a performance shoe for people with Down syndrome that “expanded the possibility” of running for this audience. Jury president Kazuhiro Shimura, ECD at Dentsu Japan, said: “In a world of AI, creating is easier than ever, but creating change is not.” He had asked the jury to focus on the idea of innovation as “a shift from proof of concept to proof of change.”
CREATIVE STRATEGY Heineken’s “The Pub that Refused to Die” by LePub Milan and Publicis Dublin is about keeping pubs alive by helping communities take ownership of them. Jury President Sarah Lemarié, CSO of Publicis, called it “a brilliant cultural engagement strategy that captured the national attention, and enabled Heineken to find its way into Irish people’s hearts and pints.”
LUXURY The Grand Prix went to Moncler’s “Warmer Together” by Wesayhi, Sliema, featuring Robert de Niro and Al Pacino. The judges said it was “cinematic, honest, and emotionally unforgettable.” Jury president Pum Lefebure, co-founder and CCO of Design Army, spoke in true luxury language when she said it “proved that simplicity, when deeply human, is the ultimate expression of luxury.”
CREATIVE COMMERCE “Lucky Fan Index” for Wisla Krakow Football Club by VML Warsaw, used AI to measure how much luck each individual fan brought to the games. Drove attendance, revenue and engagement to achieve a commercial success that judges said was “unmatched” in this category.
It’s the second Grand Prix this year for a football club struggling to get back to its former glory. McCann Lima won the Sport Grand Prix for its microdonations sponsorship initiative at Club Deportivo Municipal.
CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS went to AXA France’s “Three Words” campaign by Publicis Conseil. This win shows that the work deserved its triple haul of Grand Prix last year (Titanium, Direct, and Creative Business Transformation).
