In a candid moment following one of the press conferences in Cannes on Thursday, one of the judges, who is originally from India but now works in the U.K., wanted to share his thoughts after learning that The Message was from Canada.
“Canadian victory was a big thing last night, and again today,” he said, referring to the Grand Prix and five Golds handed out in Wednesday’s shows, and alluding to the three more Golds that would be handed to Canadian creatives later that night.
“Canada and the ideas coming out of it is really making me intrigued to do a secondment in that country to see what is happening,” he said. “I’m taking every Canadian case study, going back to my office in London, and saying ‘Guys, let’s find out how they did it.”
Creative Effectiveness Lions
While a number of agencies have been building Canada’s reputation for world-class creativity, it’s safe to say that anyone’s list of the top creative shops in Canada at the moment would include Rethink. The agency added another Gold Lion to its trophy case on Thursday to prove it.
Admittedly, this one was for “Draw Ketchup,” which won two Golds here last year. But the Creative Effectiveness Lions are for work that not only does well in Cannes, but also drives real business.
“Draw Ketchup” for Kraft Heinz was so effective, it was the runner-up in the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix, said jury president Devika Bulchandani, global CEO, Ogilvy.
The winner was Ogilvy Mumbai and Mondelez for “Shah Rukh Khan: My Ad.”
“It was an active debate for a number of hours. We re-read every case word for word,” said Tyler Turnbull, the Canadian who has been global CEO of FCB Worldwide since last February. “I think what was interesting to us about Heinz is, yes, they’re the market leader in terms of market penetration, but they still had room to increase share. And I think the share increases that were driven by that campaign were incredible.”
Creative Strategy Lions
The Creative Effectiveness Lions are part of Cannes’ Strategy Track, which celebrates work for its commercial effectiveness, strategic planning and creative application of solutions to unlock growth and measure impact.
The Creative Effectiveness Lions are reserved for work with “measurable impact of creative work.” Winners must demonstrate how strategy “rooted in creativity” met business objectives, drove positive customer outcomes, and sustainable business impact.
The Creative Strategy Lions, which only launched in 2019, are about “the idea behind the idea,” how strategy can redefine a brand, and reinvent a business. Winners must demonstrate “exceptional interpretation of the business / brand challenge,” with breakthrough thinking and problem-solving that led to a compelling creative strategy.
There were 30 Canadian submissions in this year’s competition, but only one won a trophy, with Cossette and SickKids Foundation earning Silver for “House of Legends,” the final instalment in the long-running—and highly effective—campaign to raise $1.5 billion to rebuild Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
As one of the architects of the strategy while at Cossette, judge and Broken Heart Love Affair CSO Jay Chaney recused himself from the process when “House of Legends” was discussed. But he was there for the Grand Prix discussion, which resulted in the top honour going to Publicis Conseil Paris and Renault for “Renault Plug-in”
“There were a few cases that really rose to the top, but Renault took the Grand Prix because we felt they found a long-term solution that truly solved the core issue,” he said. “Also, it’s Renault, a small player in electric vehicles,” he said. “Why didn’t Telsa solve for this challenge? Renault stole the market leadership in our minds with a bold move.”
