The 2024 Lions mark my first time as a juror at Cannes. It’s not that I’m surprised at how much wonderful work is around, but I don’t think I expected how hard it will be to judge between my favourites. So this was a good chance to practice (although obviously I’m steering well clear of the category I’m judging, the Creative Business Transformation Lions).
Top Tips for Cannes
Somehow I’ve narrowed my selection down to 3 favourites. One thing which unites them is their simplicity. Another is that they all triggered pangs of envy in me, the kind you only get when you’re seeing something you know is really good.
Which brings me to my first pick, in the Outdoor category, Coca-Cola’s ‘Recycle Me’ campaign. Every bit of advice you read about good design practice will stress the importance of having and enforcing logo usage guidelines; Coca-Cola’s logo is so well-known that different elements of it are trademarked. And then in ‘Recycle Me’ Coke breaks all those rules, by showing the logo crushed in various ways. It’s so simple.
Coca-Cola ‘Recycle Me’
My tip for the PR category is Coors Light, whose response to its billboard being damaged in a baseball match will be a textbook case study about how to do reactive marketing for decades to come. Again, it was simple, but executed impeccably – not only from a brand favourability point of view, but also by generating sales with its limited edition packaging. Bravo!
Coors Light ‘Lights Out’
Yes, I’m tipping a piece of work from my own agency, Marcel, but I apologise for nothing because it’s another example of a simple idea which is incredibly powerful . Also, I was not part of the team which created it, so it fulfils my own criterion of work I’m jealous of!
Orange France ‘WoMen’s Football’
Clément Séchet is creative director, Marcel.
