We’re half way through the week, and it’s business as usual at Cannes. Unilever and Procter & Gamble led the conversation on creativity and effectiveness, plus there was plenty of party FOMO or bragging, depending on whether or not you got invited.
The “Engagement” track is awarded on day three, and the UK held its own thanks to Ogilvy London which – together with Mindshare and David Madrid – won the Media Grand Prix. This was for Dove’s “Turn your back” campaign, which was an influencer-led backlash against the perfection of TikTok’s “bold glamour” filter.
Creative Data was won by Stella Artois and an agency called Gut Argentina, which went back over old masters to check whether artists like Manet might have painted Stella into famous works of art.
Social and Influencer’s Grand Prix was won by Samsung for “Flipvertising” by Chep Network in Sydney. Samsung challenged Gen Z to “engineer the algorithm” in order to discover free phones hidden in YouTube ads.
Direct Grand Prix went to Adidas and FCB Toronto for the “Runner 321” campaign which championed athletes with Down’s Syndrome. Marmite’s “Baby Scan” won two golds in this category.
Finally, Creative B2B’s second ever Grand Prix winner was Almap BBDO in Brazil and the UN Global Compact. Together they turned earth into a publicly traded company, listed on a stock exchange.
“Procter & Gamble led the conversation on creativity.” Boy, back in my Mad Man days that would have been the greatest oxymoron off all time. Working at Benton & Bowles on Charmin “Bathroom tissues,” (If you called them toilet rolls, you were immediately fired.) I had the agonizing pleasure of creating some of the Mr. Whipple spots that would score highest in the Focus Group nightmare world of P&G in the sixties. Creativity indeed. Thank God for the three martini lunch.
Cheers/George