Cannes Lions 2022: Day 1 Round-up

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022 - FleishmanHillard Round-up

Welcome to your daily debrief from Cannes Lions 2022

Each day we’ll be sharing a round-up of the best content from the Cannes Lions festival

Things you need to know from Day 1 of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022

Ellie Tuck FleishmanHillard UK

Ellie Tuck, Creative Director & Partner at FleishmanHillard UK

It’s back! One of the world’s biggest celebrations of creativity. And we kicked off with a big one: Health & Wellness and Pharma. With the backdrop of the events of the pandemic, Pharma was a category with all eyes on it. Check out all the Grand Prix winners below.

Here are the big winners for Health & Wellness, Pharma, Health For Good, Print & Publishing, Outdoor and Radio & Audio, plus a few of our favourites.

I Will Always Be Me,  Dell Technologies & Intel, VMLY&R NEW YORK (Grand Prix, Pharma)

Motor neurone disease (MND) is a terminal illness. But before it takes your life, it takes your voice. Voice banking can help those with MND create a digital copy of their voice, so they can continue sounding like themselves even after losing the ability to speak. But only 12% use the tech because they find the process difficult and impersonal. This campaign created a story that people with MND could read to their loved ones to share their experiences with the illness. As they read, the system seamlessly banked their voice with all the syllables needed to create an accurate copy.

More than 72% of those recently diagnosed are now using I Will Always Be Me to bank their voice.

Lil Sugar – Master of Disguise, Hip Hop Public Health, IPG Health company Area 23 (Lions Health Grand Prix for Good)

Sugar is hidden in packaged foods thanks to no less than 150 different names that ‘disguise’ it, contributing to the obesity epidemic, and worsening the nutritional knowledge gap in black communities. Featuring hip-hop legend Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC as the voice of ‘Lil Sugar’, the campaign exposes all the disguises of sugar using rap storytelling and gamification. The accompanying AI game uses Pokemon Go-style gameplay, in which kids point a phone camera at any packaged food to reveal the sugar characters hidden inside. Kids collect and compete with friends to earn points. Lil Sugar reached an estimated three million students across 5,000 schools in New York, and the judges praised it for raising the bar on nutritional literacy.

The Killer Pack,  MAXX FLASH, VLMY&R MUMBAI (Grand Prix, Health and Wellness)

In India, mosquito-related, life-threatening diseases like dengue and malaria had hit an all-time high. Indians often use repellent coils to fight mosquitos at home, but the real issue was outside, with garbage collection points acting as breeding grounds. VLMY&R created The Killer Pack for Maxx Flash, a repellent brand. It’s 100% biodegradable, innovative packaging contains a probiotic which kills larvae when disposed of in garbage dumps and stagnant water, breaking the vicious cycle. The pack was endorsed by the WHO, CDC and EPA as a safe and credible method of larvae elimination.

Tough Turban, Harley Davidson, ZULU ALPHA KILO (Gold, Health & Wellness)

For Sikh men, the turban is a deeply important part of their identity. But many Sikhs who rode motorcycles found themselves choosing between their beliefs and their safety as they had been unable to wear both a helmet and a turban. To show that Harley Davidson enables people of all cultures to embrace their passion, the brand worked with Zulu Alpha Kilo to create a fabric that can be wrapped just like a traditional turban but doubles as a protective helmet. Through conversations with Sikh riders, a historical truth was discovered: Sikh warriors used to use chain mail in their turbans during battles – and this inspired the final 3D printed version used in the turban. The campaign achieved over 230bn impressions and significantly increased perception of Harley Davidson.

See My Skin, Vaseline, Edelman (Silver, Health and Wellness)

See My Skin was created to improve skin-care outcomes for people of colour and combat bias in dermatology. Vaseline worked with healthcare platform Hued and diagnostic clinical decision support system VisualDx to establish an online database for people of colour to search for any skin concerns and be met with images that reflect themselves and their skin tone. The See My Skin database also encourages users to upload their own images to expand the representation of skin colour.

Outside of healthcare, the big winners from Cannes Lions Day One

The Unfiltered History Tour, Vice World News, Dentsu Creative (Grand Prix, Radio & Audio)

The campaign took viewers into the history of disputed artefacts in the British Museum via augmented reality and immersive audio. Users scanned the artefacts, such as the Rosetta Stone and Parthenon marbles, unlocking an AR that took them back to the time when they were acquired. Viewers could then listen to podcasts from experts in the countries from which they were taken. The judges said it won because it was a big idea that you could summarize in a tweet, a platform idea that was bold, and an immaculate and immersive execution.

Liquid Billboard, adidas Swimwear, HAVAS Middle East (Grand Prix, Outdoor)

Adidas wants more women to embrace the water, regardless of their shape, ability, or religion, and to benefit from the mental and physical benefits that come with it. The sports brand first invited women to swim back in June when it brought out ‘Beyond the Surface’ – a film that featured a poem from sports inclusivity activist, Asma Albadawi. To get more women to test the waters, HAVAS Dubai worked with the brand to erect a liquid billboard. The 5-meter-high swimming pool held 11,500 gallons of water and ladies who visited Dubai’s popular beach were invited to take a leap of faith and dive ‘beyond the surface’.

The Election Edition, Lebanon’s An-Nahar Newspaper, BBDO Dubai (Grand Prix, Print & Publishing)

With Lebanon on the brink of collapse and suffering from high inflation that threw 75% of its population beneath the poverty line, many people hoped that upcoming elections could bring real change. But public officials tried to obstruct the elections by claiming that shortages of paper and ink needed to print ballots would mean they would be cancelled.

To help prevent this obstruction and push for democracy, An-Nahar sent a powerful message by not going to press with its daily edition on February 2, 2022. Instead, it donated the paper and ink to the ballot office. The non-existent edition went viral and sparked a movement to ensure the elections took place. After the campaign, the Lebanese government stopped using the shortage of paper and ink as an excuse not to print ballots.

Honourable mentions

Bayer for finding a use for that tiny pocket in your jeans (to store your aspirin, of course)

Swedish Food Federation channelling cannibalism chic with Eat A Swede.

Stay tuned for another Cannes Lions round-up tomorrow!

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