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Creativity at Cannes Lions 2014 Victoria Biggs
David Weinstock
Managing Director, Consumer Group London, MSLGROUP
Executive Creative Director New York, MSLGROUP
This was the 61st year for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This week-long event was aptly named with creativity being at the center of the conversation. It historically has been a showcase of global advertising creativity, but in recent years has expanded to all things communications, innovation and ideas with a distinct layer of technology.
Top Industry Trends at Cannes 2014:
True Integration of Technology, Design with Storytelling
Social Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship
...in ways that achieved great work.
...was organically infused into the story as brands took the “authentic highroad.”
Big
Data-Magination
Big themes, big emotions, and great, authentic stories dominated.
Data proved to be a clear partner of creativity with increased opportunities and effectiveness.
Merging of the Different Marketing Disciplines ...was apparent as many of the award-winning promotional, digital, integrated, PR and even ad campaigns were entered into multiple categories.
Content Spread Across Multiple Screens Platforms and Technologies ...showed effectiveness.
Best Creative Picks Compendium:
chIpotlE meXican grilL “scArecrOw”
thiS is whOlesomE
The winner of the most prestigious PR category the– PR Grand Prix award – was for the Chipotle Mexican Grill ‘Scarecrow’ campaign. It’s worth noting that the campaign launched on YouTube with no paid media for the first four weeks, then followed a placement in a national newspaper and a social / PR drive as well as an interactive game and a mobile coupon to drive consumers to Chipotle restaurants. Not only did this campaign win in PR, it also won Grand Prix in Cyber and Branded Content categories.
This entry for Mondelez’s ‘This is Wholesome’ campaign for Honey Maid breakfast snacks focused on contemporizing what family means, and managing the furor from some sectors of middle America which the campaign creators capitalized upon.
swEetie, terrE deS hoMmes
dad’S prEgnanT toO
This entrant by an agency in the Netherlands for the Children’s International Organization showcased technology and creativity with the creation of a little girl used to lure sex predators to their capture, highlighting the trade in child webcams.
Huggies needed to regain the leadership in the newborn segment and increase their sales. The brand worked to integrate fathers into a market that always had been targeted to mothers. The idea was born from a very under-appreciated observation: only moms can feel the baby in their bellies. Why not compensate fathers and replicate the baby’s movements and kicks in the dad’s belly?
riCe-codE
balD caRtoonS
A small village in northeast Japan – Inakadate, famous for rice - was struggling with an aging and declining population and a drop in rice sales. To save the village, huge art pictures were created in the rice fields by planting different colors of rice. A new technology called “rice-code” was developed to let visitors scan the rice art with their phones like a QR code and purchase the rice. “Rice-code” transformed the scene into a brand-new selling place that people naturally wanted to photograph.
Many kids said that one of the hardest parts of battling cancer is the stares and whispers in the playground, as other kids react to their bald heads. The idea was to challenge people’s perceptions. Baldness wasn’t something to be stared at. Baldness was just another part of life for normal kids who happened to be fighting for their lives.
hoNda “sounD of hoNda — ayRton sennA 1989”
handS on seArch
Honda took an unusual approach to storytelling in this Titanium Grand Prix-awarded campaign. It used 1989 data pulled from Honda’s Internavi telemetry navigation system during one of F1 driver Ayrton Senna’s record-breaking laps to recreate his drive in a dazzling light and sound-filled installation and online experience. It’s an example of amazing use of technology to bring to life a story from the past.
Yahoo! Japan was awarded a Silver PR Cannes Lion for ‘hands on’ search which saw the creation of a vending machine-like pod that recognized verbal search and, with the aid of a 3D printer, transformed 100,000 words into tangible objects that visually impaired children could feel, helping them re-imagine the world.
niveA suN kidS
alviO qol reSpiraTory apP
The main goal of this mobile category grand prix winner was to win new consumers for NIVEA SUN KIDS. The message reinforced the product’s main attribute: protection. “Nivea Protects” is an app made for an ad. But different from any app already made for an ad, this app was actually an extension of it. All that was needed was downloading the app on App Store or Google Play, pairing the bracelet, identifying the child and choosing the distance they could go. If distance was exceeded, an alert was sent by the app. With radar, it was possible to see if parents were getting nearer or further from the children.
Children with asthma, and their parents, benefited if the kids would do more breathing exercises. But, existing devices were scary or boring, or both. This program seized an opportunity to create a breathing trainer that acted like a game controller. Alvio tracked kids’ progress while they played. And because it was fun, kids kept playing while they got healthier.
reMote coNtrol toUrist For this Cyber Lion Bronze Award winner, a custom platform was architected allowing people worldwide to watch and control remote control tourists through requests on a website, Twitter and Facebook. Aside from the real-time HD video stream, viewers also followed along on an interactive Google Map. The Tourism Victoria interactive web campaign allowed visitors to Melbourne to uncover hidden gems for themselves through their eyes and the eyes of four real tourists.