Cannes Lions was, as always, a treasure trove packed with fresh thinking, tantalising ideas, unexpected solutions and astonishing results. In the basement of the festival palace, every shortlisted entry, in every category, is displayed on screens and computers. Countless examples of, mostly, exciting creativity. It can easily get overwhelming. It certainly helps to take it in more manageable portions at the award ceremonies, which are always hugely interesting and fun.
I recently watched a webinar with two editors from the trend-watcher Contagious (part of Cannes Lions), Chloe Markowicz and Katarina Stirton Dodd, who talked about some of this year’s Grand Prix winners.
I’ve picked out a few of their examples here, and several of them show what’s possible when technology and creativity work together.
But first, a wonderful example of how irony and creativity can reinforce each other.
The outdoor brand Columbia Sportswear hadn’t made much noise for years, according to Katrina Stirton Dodd. But since they started working with Adam & Eve/TBWA in London, quite a bit has happened. In January this year, they launched a campaign called “Expedition Impossible” that undeniably put the brand back on the map.
It was framed as a challenge to everyone who claims the earth is flat (yes, this was a campaign for the US market).
The starting shot was a full-page ad in the New York Times, where the company’s CEO, Tim Boyle, wrote an open letter challenging anyone who believes the earth is flat to prove the theory by setting out on an expedition and photographing the spot where the earth ends. Whoever could first produce such a picture was promised a giant reward: ownership of the entire billion-dollar company, Columbia Sportswear.
A video was posted on Columbia’s own digital channels, chiefly YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Reddit. It generated 10 million organic views.
The media picked up on the campaign, generating 250 unique news articles and features in press and on TV.
The viral spread earned it a reach of 80 million people.
On top of that, it won the Grand Prix in Cannes Lions in the categories of Experience and Activation, a Titanium Lion, Gold in Direct and PR, plus five further Lions.
LONG-TERM THINKING, AI AND CREATIVITY FOR FUTURE SAFETY
As mentioned, there were several examples of creative use of technology and AI among the very most prestigious Lions. One was the Australian insurance company Suncorp, which was awarded the Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix. The company had seen how climate change has driven up the risks (and costs) of various kinds of damage that can affect its home and property insurance customers — from fire to flooding.
In 2022, 97 per cent of their insurance payouts went towards rebuilding damaged properties.
So they wanted to do the opposite, and focus more on being proactive and building long-term resilience, instead of just dealing with reactive measures like rebuilding and repairs once the damage was already done.
To start with, they enlisted researchers and architects to design and build a prototype house, using special materials and technical solutions to withstand and survive Australia’s three biggest threats as much as possible: bushfires, cyclones and floods. It was then tested scientifically.
They then took the idea into the real world by rebuilding five existing houses on the same street, in one of Australia’s most disaster-hit towns. They installed cyclone netting, ember guards and other upgrades to make the houses more resilient.
The company then developed, together with Leo Australia, the idea that became the basis for the Suncorp Haven campaign. On their own digital data platform, they gathered vast amounts of information — including their own claims history, as well as weather data and property registers.
Customers could then enter their address and get a personalised risk report for their home.
The houses themselves talk to their owners (with AI-generated voices matched to the age and style of each house) and explain the risks they face from factors like bushfires, cyclones or flooding, giving concrete advice on what can be done to make the building more resilient.
The chair of the Dan Wieden Titanium Grand Prix jury, Chaka Sobhani, explained the award by saying that “it’s a business strategy built around resilience, rather than just restoration, which changes the rules of the game in the insurance industry.”
Katrina Stirton Dodd’s summary of the whole webinar undeniably fits Suncorp especially well. She said: “Creativity isn’t about a random bolt from the blue. It’s a muscle you use and develop. Once you’ve done the groundwork properly, you’re ready to make the very most of it when the moment comes.”
TECHNOLOGY, AI AND CREATIVITY TO RESCUE VICTIMS OF MISFORTUNE
Another very interesting example of creative technological development that both strengthens a brand and contributes to its customers’ own growth and safety comes from Peru’s largest bank, BCP, 137 years old.
Many of their customers are small shopkeepers and street vendors with limited resources. They often lack access to traditional banking systems and card systems. The bank turned their mobile phones into payment terminals free of charge, giving these merchants access to real-time digital payments through the app. That gave these small businesses room to grow and built strong loyalty to the bank.
That background fed into further development, aimed at solving a major problem — a solution that was awarded, among other things, the Grand Prix in the Creative Data category at Cannes Lions, plus six further Lions, three of them gold.
In Peru, around 4,000 people are robbed of their mobile phones every day. It’s usually the banking apps that are of most interest to thieves, who can crack the screen lock and get into the apps to empty the accounts.
And what are you supposed to do when your phone gets stolen? Well, you’re supposed to call the bank immediately and freeze your accounts. But that’s not exactly easy when the phone itself has just been stolen!
BCP solved that problem by first mapping out where in various cities the risk of robbery was highest. They then rolled out an update to 17,500 in-store payment terminals in those areas. Within a few minutes’ walk, a robbery victim could then go in, key in their ID number and a four-digit code to the bank on the shop’s card reader. The result: all their accounts were frozen within seconds.
The concept was named SOS POS.
To launch this new feature, the bank, together with its agency Circus Grey in Lima, ran a campaign that, among other things, enlisted Peru’s most popular soap opera — writing in a scene where a main character gets robbed of their phone. Viewers then learned, in a follow-up ad, how to protect themselves. The information also spread virally across many platforms, and within the first few months alone it had protected $7.8 million from being stolen from bank accounts. The number of reported thefts has also dropped by 48 per cent per month since the method was introduced.
TECHNOLOGY AND CREATIVITY THAT TAP INTO THE AUDIENCE’S SCREEN ADDICTION
South America’s largest e-commerce platform is called Mercado Libre (or Mercado Livre in Brazil). Besides pure e-commerce, they also run their own widely used payment system, Mercado Pago. The company wanted to dominate the biggest football matches. But ad breaks are expensive, and most people would rather look at their phones than at the ads.
Together with their agency, GUT São Paulo, they came up with a brilliant solution (it wasn’t the first time the two had picked up Lions together). They realised that the grass on football pitches can be mowed in different patterns. Some pitches are practically works of art, but almost all of them have some kind of visible pattern — even if it’s just stripes or squares.
So they decided to put the whole pitch to work for the advertising, by turning the pattern on the grass into barcodes that could be scanned directly with a phone — either from the stands or in front of the TV or computer. By scanning all or part of the pitch, the audience/viewers got discount vouchers worth 25 per cent off various products.
The concept premiered at Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo (now called Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu), where Corinthians played Boca Juniors. The match drew a multi-million audience via TV, digital channels and streaming services, and nobody minded when the crowd pulled out their phones during the match. Because they did.
Mercado Libre saw a seven per cent rise in digital visits, resulting in 53,000 discount vouchers being redeemed and direct sales reaching $1.78 million. Within the match’s 90 minutes.
TECHNOLOGY, AI AND CREATIVITY THAT DELIVER RESULTS BUT RAISE QUESTIONS
The football World Cup in the US has just wrapped up. There’s a lot that could be said about that, but I won’t get into it here. What I will note, though, is the burning passion supporters have for their teams. For many, the club feels more important than the national team. Wins and losses in matches can affect their mood for days.
So imagine the disappointment for fans of the storied Polish club Wisla Kraków when the team dropped out of the top division (Ekstraklasa) in 2022, after 26 years in the top flight. That kind of relegation is always a disaster, both on the pitch and financially — not least because sponsors pull out and attendance figures plummet.
So it became crucial to keep supporters from abandoning the team at matches. The agency, VML Warszawa, chose to play on the not-entirely-uncommon superstition that ‘if I go to the match, we win, but if I stay home, we lose.’
That idea gave birth to the campaign “Lucky Fan Index” — built on a creative and genuinely interesting use of data and AI. But at the same time, a rather unsettling illustration of just how much data was available.
The idea was to use data to “prove” to fans how much they mattered to the club, and that their presence in the stands actually influenced the team’s luck and performance.
What made this possible was that the club held historical, individual-level data on tens of thousands of supporters — their exact movement patterns and attendance at matches over several years. They knew exactly who had scanned their season ticket at the turnstile at specific wins or losses. From that data, they could also calculate each person’s “luck index.” The more winning matches (or matches with spectacular saves, goals, penalties or other especially notable moments) someone had attended, the higher their luck index. And the more losses, goals conceded or penalties, and so on, someone had attended, the lower their luck index.
Apparently, not many people minded this kind of surveillance, because the campaign turned into a huge success. Wisla Kraków had the highest attendance figures in the entire league — despite playing in the second division.
Supporters with the highest luck index were rewarded with extra-good seats in the box. Those with a lower index instead got discount offers from the club shop.
Whether it was down to the 12th man or not, no one can really say — but in May this year, Wisla Kraków did in fact manage to make it back up to the top division
