Cannes Festival of Creativity - our favourites
19th August, 2021
By Simon Moore

“When constraints are put around great creative people, they find a way of smashing them.”
Richard Brim, Film Jury President, Chief Creative Officer | ADAM&EVEDDB
Some of our key take-outs from Cannes Lions:
The omni-presence of brand purpose and brand activism across all award categories:
Key topics of diversity and inclusivity (e.g. Starbucks, Mastercard)
Real action often leading to policy change or supporting people to overcome challenges of law (e.g. Telenor Pakistan, Enfant Bleu)
The rise of augmented connectivity, and how gaming delivers new experiences to enable meaningful connections:
Gaming stronger than ever: used beyond children, at the service of a bigger idea (e.g. Tinder Night, Enfant Bleu)
At the heart of all winners, a strong and powerful insight:
Getting under the skin of what people experience and their emotional journey (e.g. Sick Beats)
A simple, pragmatic and human approach to creativity (e.g. Shutter Ads)
We used 4 lenses, key to our own work, to pick our favourites:

The big winner this year...
Wombstories by Libresse - winning 4 Grand Prix Awards

What we particularly loved about it:
The resonance and power of their insight, the authenticity of their campaign, the artistic way of bringing it to life and the impact of their purpose.


What we particularly loved about it:
Their deep understanding of the challenges that transgender people face when changing their name and their active role in helping them, as well as the consistency of their purpose mission.


What we particularly loved about it:
The clever way of leveraging gaming to reach their target in a safe environment
and their impact of governmental action, despite being the gold winner of the Entertainment category!


What we particularly loved about it:
The winner of the Pharma Lions demonstrated their deep understanding of people emotional needs despite operating in a very functional category, and the power that insights have on transforming products. We love the way they leveraged technology to surprise and delight the customer experience.


What we particularly loved about it:
How gaming can amplify the experience at the service of a bigger idea, to build meaningful connections in a virtual world.


What we particularly loved about it:
The engagement on the long term to serve the interests of farmers, the planet and the brand. The end to end understanding of the whole producer and manufacturer chain.


What we particularly loved about it:
How simplicity and pragmatism can unlock creativity and challenge existing ways of advertising. How advertising found a renewed relevance and purpose to support local communities and protect future business.
Related stories
My three big lessons about brand purpose from Most Contagious 2019
The Most Contagious event looks at the most important campaigns and trends in marketing, technology and consumer culture from the past year. Here are the three big things relating to brand purpose that I took out of Most Contagious 2019...
6 minute read —
5 lessons from Sustainable Brands Paris 2019
The Sustainable Brands Paris conference taught us that challenging existing business models can not only step change your impact, but also identify new opportunities for growth. Here are the top takeaways from the conference.