Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the biggest global event for professionals working in communications, from creatives and marketers to technologists, designers and media specialists.
There are several categories in Cannes Lions, and for each category there will be a unique Grand Prix, which rewards the very best campaign.The jury can hand over a second Grand Prix within the same category if two campaigns are placed equal first. Then, come the prestigious Gold Lions, Silver Lions and Bronze Lions.
Since this global event hands out a multitude of prizes, at The Branding Journal we’ve decided to recap the winners of 2014’s Grand Prix. Because every brand professional enjoys nice shots of creativity!
1) Terre des Hommes “Sweetie”: Grand Prix for Good
The prize:
The Grand Prix for Good rewards work ineligible to win a Grand Prix in their sections because they are made for charities/not for profit or have charitable or public service messages.
The campaign:
This innovative digital campaign used a very lifelike avatar of a young Filipino girl to attract and identify patrons of webcam child sex for charity organization Terre des Hommes.
2) Volvo: Cyber Grand Prix and Film Lions Grand Prix
The prizes:
The Film Grand Prix rewards traditional TV and cinema advertising and film content produced for online airing and other screens.
The Cyber Grand Prix encompasses branded online, digital, and technological communications
The campaign:
Volvo, “The Epic Split” within the “Live Test Series” campaign from Forsman & Bodenfors won the Film Lions and Cyber Grand Prix. It shows how the steering on Volvo’s truck is stable and precise. Visual and original!
3) Chipotle “The Scarecrow”: PR and Cyber Grand Prix
The prizes:
The PR Grand Prix rewards the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organizations and their audiences. The Cyber Grand Prix encompasses branded online, digital, and technological communications
The campaign:
Chipotle and CAA Marketing produced a beautiful animated video that represents a statement from the restaurant chain about the world of industrial food production. It was accompanied by an adventure game for iOS. This campaign is really interesting, as despite not mentioning the restaurant’s name, it still manages to communicate a strong brand message in a discrete but powerful way.
4) British Airways “Magic of Flying” Billboard: Direct Grand Prix
The prize:
The Direct Grand Prix recompenses targeted direct communication designed to generate response or specific action whilst building relationships.
The campaign:
OgilvyOne London produced a creative outdoor campaign that involved the use of digital billboards, which reacted in real-time to their environment. The billboards were located in various locations of London and showed children pointing at British Airways planes flying in real time.
The ads even featured the flight number and place of destination/origin. Impressive!
5) V/Line “Guilt Trips”: Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix
The prize:
The Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix recompenses shortlisted or awarded creative campaigns, which show a measurable and proven impact on a client’s business.
The campaign:
McCann Melbourne created a campaign for V/Line, an Australian train company which helped parents to make their kids buy V/Line tickets to take a trip home. The campaign generated $4 million in revenue for the brand and improved the overall brand equityBrand equity represents the value of a brand. It is the difference between the value of a branded product and the value of that product without that brand name attached to it..
6) MegaFon/Asif Khan “Sochi 3D Selfies: Innovation Grand Prix
The prize:
The innovation Grand Prix rewards breakthrough technology and innovation that may allow brands to communicate with their customers in a new way, or might stand alone as significant innovation in their own right.
The campaign:
Russian telecom brand Megafon and archictect Adif Khan teamed up to produce this interactive guerilla marketing installation at the Shochi Olympics Olympic. The campaign consisted in turn photo booth portraits into giant 3D portraits of consumers.
7) Pharrel Williams “24 Hours of Happy”: Cyber Grand Prix
The prize:
The Cyber Grand Prix encompasses branded online, digital, and technological communications.
The campaign:
Pharrell Williams and production company Iconoclast unveiled a 24h interactive video for Pharrell’s song “Happy”. The online experience generated a very high interaction rate and a positive emotional response through an excellent interface.
8) G-Star Raw/Pharrell Williams “Plastic Fashion”: Product Design Grand Prix
The prize:
This new prize rewards the use of physical products in aiding the communication of a brand’s value as well as its use to have a positive impact on consumers’ lives.
The product:
‘Raw for the Oceans’ was produced by FHV BBDO, G-Star Raw and Amsterdam-based Part of a Bigger Plan. The campaign is a G-Star collaboration with Pharrell Williams, owner of Bionic Yarn, a company that makes yarn and fabrics out of recycled plastic bottles. G-Star Raw are innovative eco-friendly jeans made out of plastic bottles!
9) Nivea “Sun Block Ad”: Mobile Grand Prix
The prize:
The Mobile Grand Prix rewards creative work which lives on or is activated by a mobile device, app or mobile web.
The campaign:
Nivea teamed up with agency FCB Brazilto release a magazine ad that included a bracelet with location tracking technology that can be detached and placed around a child’s arm. Parents are required to download the Nivea Protege app, which will alert them if the child goes beyond the distance they pre-set.
The campaign uses mobile technology to answer an important need and deliver the right brand message in the right place. Click here to read more about this campaign.
10) ANZ Bank “GayTMs”: Outdoor Grand Prix
The prize:
The Outdoor Grand Prix rewards creative billboard and poster advertising as well as innovative outdoor executions.
The campaign:
Whybin/TBWA and New Zealand’s ANZ Bank teamed up to create an outdoor campaign that highlights the brand’s sponsorship of Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. For the occasion, the bank redesigned its ATMs around Sydney into “GayTMS” that dispensed rainbow-colored receipts and sent transaction fees to a gay charity.
The campaign was appreciated for its bravery and for promoting awareness of social matters.
11) Coca-Cola “Happy ID”: Media Grand Prix
The prize:
The Media Grand Prix rewards the use of media that demonstrates the understanding of the target market in an innovative way and across channels.
The campaign:
Havas Lima, McCann Lima and Coca-Cola teamed up to promote Coke’s happiness in Peru. The campaign unveiled photo booths around Peru that citizens could use to take pictures for their national ID. However the photo booth would only take the picture when the person smiles, in order to increase the number of smiling faces on Peru’s national IDs.
The campaign achieved positive recognition for using a brand new channel: the government.
12) Harvey Nichols “Sorry, I Spent it on Myself”: Promo/Activation, Press, and Film Grand Prix
The prizes:
The Promo and activation Grand Prix rewards activities designed to create immediate activation and/or offer for the sales of products and services. The Press Grand Prix rewards published printed media (Newspaper, Magazine, Journals and Single Page Inserts) and the Film Grand Prix rewards traditional TV and cinema advertising and film content produced for online airing and other screens.
The campaign:
Adam & Eve DDB London created a film, print and line of products that encouraged consumers to buy what they really want for themselves for Christmas and offer cheap Harvey Nichols-branded goods to their relatives. The campaign was praised for taking the risk of using dark humor and being bold within the highest selling season of the retailer!
13) Lucozade “Give me Strength”: Radio Grand Prix
The prize:
The Radio Grand Prix rewards traditional advertising on Radio stations and paid-for online radio channels.
The campaign:
Ogilvy Johannesburg created three radio spots for energy drink Lucozade that gave motivational talks to unusual heroes such as a worker giving a powerpoint presentation. The campaign was praised for its production and its text.
Teleconference
Kids
Enrique concert
14) Bergen International Festival Rebranding: Design Grand Prix
The prize:
The Design Grand Prix recompenses the use of design as a tool in communication and experience to inform brand ethos and product messages.
The campaign:
The campaign consisted of the rebranding of Norway’s Bergen International Festival, which is a classic avant-garde music festival. The new identity was made of a mathematical system that expands the festival’s “f” logo into music imagery. It was praised for the complexity of the design project itself.
15) Honda “Sound of Honda Ayrton Senna 1989”: Titanium and Integrated Grand Prix
The prizes:
The Titanium & Integrated Grand Prix rewards breakthrough ideas, which are provocative and point to a different direction.
The campaign:
Dentsu, for Honda Motor Co, recreated racecar driver Ayrton Senna’s 1989 record-setting lap during the Japanese F1 circuit in Suzuka in a fascinating sound and light-filled installation. It was praised for transforming dry data in an emotional experience, which also talks about both the legacy and the future of the brand.
References: Cannes Lions, AdAge, FirstBiz
