“The only people who care about advertising are the people who work in advertising” claimed George Parker, multi-award winning ad man. But the Super Bowl has proven just the opposite. We like ads, and we all love to see a good commercial, especially when it makes us laugh, makes us question our values, or sometimes even brings tears to our eyes. Every single year, the best ads from the previous year are put on display at The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This week, the best of the best were recognized and luckily, we all got the chance to see it.
Out of many possibilities we have picked a few of the recently recognized communication campaigns, especially the ones which changed our perspectives, exposed social problems, gave us some valuable lessons, or even moved us to the very bottom of our hearts.
#OptOutside – Venables Bell & Partners, US
On America’s most loved day, Black Friday, when masses of Christmas shoppers run to the stores, major retailer REI refused to open their store and offered America a much better, unexpected alternative.
The Swedish Number – Cohn & Wolfe, Sweden
To promote Sweden in more ways than just through the famous IKEA stores and the Northern Lights, and to celebrate 250 years since Sweden became the first country to abolish censorship, The Swedish Tourist Association set up an official telephone number for the country, allowing anyone in the world to call it and have a conversation with a random Swedish person.
Van Gogh BnB – Leo Burnett, Chicago
AirBnB, in cooperation with the Art Institute of Chicago, recreated one of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings – called “The Bedroom” – and in Van Gogh’s name invited people to spend a night or two in Chicago.
Náš Grunt: Shop where bees don’t go – McCann, Prague
Ever tried hamburger honey, ketchup honey, salad dressing honey, cereal honey, or instant soup honey? Sugar has become one of our biggest enemies, and because the sugar in processed foods is often hidden, Czech grocery retailer Naš Grunt targeted the 840,000 Czech people with diabetes and as a first step towards a solution, convinced bees to produce special varieties of honey by extracting the sugar in mass-produced foods.
Manboobs – DAVID, Buenos Aires
Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram have rules against showing female nipples, which presents a challenge for breast cancer PSAs attempting to show women how to examine their breasts for cancer. But David Buenos Aires came up with a solution: use man boobs.
The Second Scoreboard – JWT, Costa Rica
In Costa Rica, domestic violence complaints can increase by as much as 690% every time an important soccer match is played. To raise awareness of the issue, the Costa Rican Ministry of Women’s Affairs teamed up with our Costa Rica team and during every soccer game, a second scoreboard, added right next to the usual match score, tracks the number of domestic violence incidents reported to the police in real time.
Strong is Beautiful – Grey, New York
Dads aren’t very good at helping their daughters with their hair. Consequently, NFL fathers such as DeAngelo Williams and Benjamin Watson show their softer side and by helping with hairstyling spend quality time with their girls and help them grow stronger.
Brewtroleum – Colenso BBDO, Auckland
What would you do if you knew that you could save the world by drinking beer?
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