[Cannes Lions 2022 Commentary] A PR Agency Planner’s “My Best of Cannes 2022,” Selected from Cannes-Winning Work
This is a series, “SSU’s PR Methods,” that unpacks PR approaches and branding know-how suited to today’s era. This time, I will be discussing the theme: “A PR Agency Planner’s ‘My Best of Cannes 2022,’ Selected from Cannes-Winning Work.”
Previous PR Methods articles are available here.
It has been a while, everyone. This is Kameyama, a PR planner. It has been four months since the last Methods article—how have you been? I have been busy with moving procedures, choosing furniture, and the like, and as a result, this article is being published more than a month after Cannes Lions 2022 ended… I did not realize that disposing of unwanted items costs money. It cost about as much as the moving fee, and I am nearly in tears.
Putting that aside, Cannes was held in person this year for the first time in three years. While I keep thinking I would like to go in person someday, I usually just follow what it is like on site through social media and web articles.
■ What is Cannes Lions, to begin with?
It is one of the world’s three major advertising festivals (and effectively No. 1), and an event that honors advertising industry work from the past year (Cannes Lions 2022 covered work from March 1, 2021 to April 30, 2022). Having an advertising festival like this not only helps you understand global trends and movements in the advertising industry, but also boosts the motivation of the awarded advertisers, their agencies, and creators.
Because advertising festivals mainly serve three functions—(1) awards, (2) seminars, and (3) networking—you can participate even if you are not entering any work. Attending also has benefits such as learning opportunities and expanding your professional network.
This year, there were 29 categories (see the lower section of the image below).
(Reference: Official Japan website)
■ How to view Cannes from a PR planner’s perspective
Before reviewing Cannes-winning work from my personal perspective, I would like to first share my selection criteria—how I look at ideas (I am still inexperienced and it may be presumptuous, but I appreciate your understanding).
I will raise four points. The first two may already be prerequisites for winning, but the latter two are more self-serving, as I would like to use them as references for my own future planning.
1) Is it aligned with today’s era / mood?
This applies not only to PR but broadly to advertising: it is important whether communication is aligned with the times. For example, is it a sustainable initiative, and does it avoid communication that sacrifices someone (such as respecting diversity)?
2) Does it have business impact?
Whether it delivered results. Not merely being picked up by the media, but whether it moved people; and if the advertiser is a company, whether it contributed to sales or customer acquisition, etc.
3) Does it have a new idea (expression / mechanism, etc.)?
In the classic book “A Technique for Producing Ideas,” an idea is described as “a new combination of existing elements.” I would like to see whether it creates a “wow” with something new.
4) Is there sharpness in the message / angle?
At a time when it is increasingly difficult to differentiate products, what you say is becoming more important. The sharpness of the message and the context in which the idea becomes a topic of conversation are also areas I want to refine when developing ideas, so I am including this as a point.
■ Introducing my 5 Best of Cannes picks!!
Now, let us get to the main topic and break down my five Best of Cannes selections.
1. THE BREAK AWAY
Cannes PR Lions / Creative Strategy Lions 2022 Grand Prix
A campaign in which a sports brand created opportunities for prison inmates to participate in sports in order to express its vision, “Sport is freedom.”
What is interesting is how it equates inmates behind bars with people who were confined at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While I felt that expressing the idea that sport can liberate anyone would be risky in Japan, I also found it undeniably cool.
Enabling inmates to participate in a sports event by joining an online competition as part of an eCycling team was, I believe, a new and innovative approach.
I imagine they searched for people far removed from “freedom” in order to express the vision, and arrived at inmates—but it is not easy to come up with an idea that makes such people “free.” This campaign is truly outstanding in both ideation and the methods used to bring it to life.
Image sources:
https://www.canneslions.com/
https://road.cc/content/tech-news/decathlon-launches-ecycling-team-belgium-prisoners-282331
2. LIQUID BILLBOARD
Cannes OUTDOOR Lions 2022 Grand Prix
This is an interesting expression of participatory OOH.
It is a beautiful OOH execution in which the creative is completed by people actually swimming.
In Japan recently, 3D DOOH has been a hot topic, but this is not so much 3D as it is an extremely innovative expression in which real people can enter the ad space.
Moreover, the novelty of the expression is properly linked to the message they want to convey—an idea I found myself envious of.
Image sources:
https://www.canneslions.com/
https://www.jackmorton.com/work/liquid-billboard/
3. THE KILLER PACK
Cannes HEALTH & WELLNESS Lions 2022 Grand Prix
An idea that solves a problem by modifying the packaging.
The solution is simple: using mosquito coil packaging—something that would become trash anyway—people can participate simply by throwing it away as usual.
It is a satisfying idea.
There have been ideas such as making product packaging more sustainable or label-free, but this one is new in that it gives the packaging a new role after the product is used.
While it is not exactly an insight, connecting waste collection sites (a cause of the social issue) with product packaging that will eventually become trash was also a sharp perspective.
Image sources:
https://www.canneslions.com/
https://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2022/235525/the-killer-pack/
4. DATA TIENDA
Creative Data Lions / Glass: The Lion for Change 2022 GRAND PRIX
As its name suggests, Creative Data Lions is a category that honors creative campaigns driven by data utilization. This initiative enabled the issuance of microcredit (a financial service for low-income people that provides small, unsecured loans) by collecting and analyzing women’s past purchase histories in Mexico.
Because it supports women entrepreneurs, it also benefits the advertiser (an investment company) by increasing potential new investment opportunities.
It is a compelling campaign that creatively solved a social issue through a data-driven idea.
Image sources:
https://www.canneslions.com/
http://www.latinspots.com/sp/comercial/caso-data-tienda/40044
https://adage.com/article/special-report-cannes-lions/ddb-mexico-wecapital-win-cannes-glass-lion-data-tienda-womens-credit-history-campaign/2421741
5. Long Live The Prince
Titanium Lions 2022 GRAND PRIX
A campaign in which a foundation working to eradicate violence aimed to generate buzz by featuring, as a soccer player in FIFA’s soccer game, the boy who was stabbed to death—an incident that prompted the foundation’s establishment.
Recently, promotions that create content within games that differs from the usual have been increasing, but what I found excellent here was how even the background and intent behind creating the content matched the content itself.
For young people, knife crime can be difficult to relate to personally; however, because there is a touchpoint within content they play regularly, and once they learn about it they cannot help but empathize, I felt this demonstrated planning capability beyond a merely trendy in-game promotion.
Image sources:
https://www.canneslions.com/
https://www.creativereview.co.uk/kiyan-prince-foundation-long-live-the-prince-campaign/
https://www.creativebrief.com/agency/engine/case-studies/kiyan-prince-football-prodigy-killed-aged-15-returns-as-a-virtual-professional-footballer-to-raise-awareness-of-knife-crime
■ Bonus: Honorable mentions
While these are not as strong as the campaigns introduced above in terms of novelty or message sharpness, I would like to introduce campaigns that simply competed on creativity (expressive power).
Better With Pepsi
See below:
https://agenda-note.com/brands/detail/id=5125&pno=2
This is Pepsi’s graphic ad that says, “Any burger tastes better with Pepsi,” and it is truly outstanding. It finds Pepsi colors in the wrappers of various burger brands and expresses that in the ad.
I also like the decisiveness of keeping the copy simple with “better with,” and not saying more than necessary.
LESS TALK, MORE BITCOIN
Direct Lions 2022 GRAND PRIX
See below:
https://www.advertimes.com/20220628/article388203/
The most expensive TV commercial slot in the world is said to be Super Bowl advertising in the United States. There, it is common for advertisers to feature famous celebrities and air commercials with enormous production budgets; among them, the one that stood out in particular was a commercial by major crypto exchange Coinbase.
For about one minute, the creative simply showed a QR code bouncing around the screen and changing colors. Precisely because it was so simple, it stood out; many people scanned the QR code and accessed Coinbase’s website.
This execution became a topic of conversation, gained extensive media coverage, and ultimately appears to have contributed to an increase in new registrations.
At a time when advertisers typically bought the slot and ran lavish creative, this idea—making it a topic through a reversal of expectations—left me with the impression that they got the better of everyone.
***
With that, I will conclude “A PR Agency Planner’s ‘My Best of Cannes 2022,’ Selected from Cannes-Winning Work.” Cannes is truly inspiring.
I hope this will be of some help to your learning and provide you with new insights, even in a small way.
Please look forward to future blog posts, as well as posts by other members! (And of course, if you have missed any past articles, please be sure to check them out!!)
