BBDO’s “Missing Matoaka” struck Gold again on Thursday—as well as Silver and Bronze—in the Brand Experience & Activation Lions.
After dominating at the One Show in May, it seemed likely to do well in Cannes. And while it has not yet picked up any Grand Prix honours, Thursday’s triple victory brings its total to eight—with another Gold and two Bronze in Radio & Audio, a Silver in Digital Craft, and another Silver in Entertainment.
Though Friday is the last day of the Festival, “Missing Matoaka’s” powerful message about the abuse and mistreatment of Indigenous women, underpinned by an innovative creative idea, should make it a favourite in the Glass Lions, which are awarded for work tackling gender inequality or prejudice.
Joining BBDO on the Brand Experience & Activation winners list was FCB and Adidas for “Runner 321,” which won Grand Prix in Direct on Wednesday. The Grand Prix was given to Apple and EA Sports for “FIFA 23 x Ted Lasso.”
Mobile Lions
Dentsu won Canada’s only Mobile Lion on Thursday, a Silver for Skip the Dishes’ “Inflation Cookbook,” a digital tool that tracks real-time food pricing data to help consumers frustrated by food inflation.
The Grand Prix was given to Gut Buenos Aires and PedidosYa for “World-Cup Delivery.” After winning the World Cup late last year, all of Argentina was in a celebratory mood, so delivery app PedidosYa sent all of its users a notification that allowed them to literally track the trophy as it travelled from Qatar to Argentina.
The judges loved that the core of the campaign was an app notification, “something that I think globally we unanimously hate,” said Shannon Washington, US chief creative officer, connected communications, R/GA. It also took bravery to try something without any media investment and not even feature any of the star players, like Lionel Messi. “But what you do see is the ability to use mobile technology—a native feature at that—to tap into the heart and soul of a nation.”
Creative Business Transformation Lions
Canada was shut out of both the Creative Business Transformation Lions and Innovation Lions. The Grand Prix in Creative Business Transformation was given to McCann New York and Microsoft for “Adlam—An Alphabet to Preserve a Culture,” which already won a Grand Prix this week for Design.
Innovation Lions
Angry Butterfly had been shortlisted in Innovation for “Bill it to Bezos,” but that jury ultimately selected just six pieces to take home Lions, with “Bill it to Bezos” not among them. The Innovation Grand Prix was given to Wunderman Thompson Lima, with Augmental San Francisco, for “Mouthpad.”
