Predicting what will and won’t win at Cannes has become one of the industry’s annual games. It was begun by Leo Burnett more than thirty years ago. Now many agencies have joined in.
Here are BETC’s predictions.
Diesel – Francesca. Predicted by BETC writer, Donya Bouzarjomehri
We’ve all become hypersensitive to the greenwashing of brands jumping on the LGBTQ+ conversation and “taking part” by changing their logos & putting out a social post during pride month to showcase support.
But it’s been a while that people want more than just that. And more is what they got with Diesel’s Francesca.
Beautifully crafted, the 2-minute short film touches upon a culturally insightful topic, as we follow the journey of a transgender woman. Immediately, the viewer becomes emotionally involved while also wondering, “What will be the outcome of this story?”
And that’s where the clever Diesel-esqe twist comes in. Francesca is on this journey thanks to her faith and desire to become a nun. Completely unexpected and extremely provocative given the current cultural conversations and rejection of many religious parties of the transgender community. It’s bold, it’s real and we love it.
The story of Francesca allowed the brand to take an important and meaningful stance regarding the acceptance of transgendered people’s journeys – removing all judgements and wrapping it under their brand platform as a representation of Successful Living.
A huge contender to win in our eyes.
RSF – Uncensored Library. Predicted by BETC senior strategic partner, Martin Lagache
It’s one of those ideas that highlight all the good, the purposeful and the useful creativity can bring to the world. Hacking such a popular, open but most importantly, uncensored, medium to bring a concrete solution to young people struggling to access information because of censorship in their country, is absolutely brilliant.
We’ve seen a lot of cool work related to stunts or activations in virtual worlds, including Minecraft and Fortnite, which are impressive and sometimes spectacular. But in my opinion, they are only so in the way they manage to conquer new communications territories and reach audiences they couldn’t otherwise.
In the case of the Uncensored Library, we’re talking about using Minecraft as a way to bypass censorship on information. Actively tackling some authoritarian governments’ oppression regarding the right to information. Giving a space for freedom and knowledge to young people in those countries. It’s taking the exercise to a whole other level.
And the fact that this initiative from RSF lives on and keeps being updated with the opening of new Library Halls dedicated to (new) countries actively censoring journalists shows how long-term and relevant this project will be.
L’Auberge des migrants – Amazon. Predicted by BETC head of strategy, Philippe Martin-Davies
Amazon Prime is wonderful. Amazon Prime is ugly.
I think most people reading here would agree it’s a great service of facility, that has zero moral compass.
Personally, a social consequences shudder comes over me when I one-click buy a toothbrush.
That’s what is smart here.
It’s an idea that embraces both our inherent laziness and our desire to do good.
Making a few clicks, a chance to improve someone’s life.
It proves that tech can do good.
It’s actually surprising that Prime hadn’t thought of a similar idea earlier.
Just through scale of impact, Prime for Red Cross would probably be a Titanium.
This idea also proves that NGOs can rethink their participation models.
To make giving easier, to make giving part of our everyday.
But beyond the worthiness of this idea, I like it because they hacked the Bezos dollar printer in a classic David versus Goliath.
Beats by Dre – You love me. Predicted by BETC strategy director, Alexandre Ben Soussan
The more brands take on a political issue, the more it feels like it is political correctness, not change, that is winning.
When You Love Me was launched, we had reached a point where those displays of support no longer just felt empty but obscene.
Too wide had grown the gap between the importance of the issue, the courage and commitment of protesters and activists and the frivolity of most brands’ responses.
That’s what I, a white man, admire so much about You Love Me. It cuts right through the black squares #BlackOutTuesday and punches you in the gut so hard you can’t avoid a serious and difficult introspection.
This is a piece of work that confronts you with your own shortcomings and contradictions in a way I usually associate with literature, not brand content.
It does not negotiate. It does not explain. It does not ask. It’s not us, it’s you and we don’t need you; we love each other deeply.
That’s brutal. That’s fair. That’s necessary.
For this reason,
For the beautiful love letter, it sends to the community it speaks for,
For the level of cultural depth, it gave the brand that ran it,
It deserves our praises, respect, and many, many, many awards.
Dove – Courage is Beautiful. Predicted by BETC strategist, Sarah Quintero Mateus
As we seem to see some light at the end of the pandemic tunnel, COVID-related campaigns may feel as the inevitably obvious subjects for this year’s Cannes, but much less obvious at the time was the way brands could communicate during the crisis while actually contributing and not just piling up onto the endless stream of modified logos and home-made video montages of our new indoors lives.
Aired at the apex of the pandemic, Dove’s Courage is Beautiful celebrated the strength and determination of health-care workers around the world, by doing what the brand does best: eye-stopping images of real-life bodies, and faces that tell inconvenient stories and push to action. At a time where the world was paralysed in face of the unknown and action felt like the last possible resource, a brand creating a platform to acknowledge those who bear the weight of action cannot go unnoticed.
Adding to the powerful, yet simple execution, the campaign clearly draws its strength from the brand’s long-standing premise of “real beauty”. By strongly connecting this message to the brand’s DNA, the campaign proves us, to my utmost joy, the relevance and versatility of Dove’s 20-years-old platform. Win, win.
Bodyform – Womb Stories. Predicted bvy BETC strategic planner, Juliette Ragagnon
Womb Stories shows beautifully and boldly what has been voluntarily unseen and hidden by society for such a long time: the cold, hard, raw, but somehow beautiful and joyful truth of what being a woman actually feels like.
The result is both realistic and powerful enough to deliver an extremely relatable feeling of pain and relief. While watching it for the first time, I had the exact same reaction as a guy watching a video of another guy getting kicked in the balls. As a woman, this was a first.
The campaign’s power lies in breaking the ultimate taboos surrounding woman intimacy – miscarriages, menopause, long disdained illnesses like endometriosis. Subjects that had long been considered too private even to be mentioned. Overlooked even by doctors.
Subjects that were only secrets that were hushed between women, and that as girls and then women, we learned about whenever we had to face them (surprise!).
It’s high time these subjects are acknowledged by a wider audience and seen as worthy of being shown and discussed, so thank you, Bodyform, for making an effort to break the stigma and showing the woes and the magic of wombs on such a big scale. It helps to ease the shame, the guilt and the pain, and it makes it okay to start a conversation about these subjects. People who suffer from the issues shown were obviously grateful about it, just check the YouTube comments. This campaign has deeply touched people far beyond the ad world. What’s more, it will bring knowledge and therefore more empathy to those who don’t know (don’t care?) or won’t ever experience these issues. Welcome back to our womb world, men.
City of Chicago – Boards of Change. Predicted by BETc strategic planner, Manon Leroy Oclin
Boards of Change is one of those brilliant initiatives that brings with deep purpose and creativity our dear Lions to the next level.
By turning plywood boards that barricaded storefronts during the Black Lives Matter protests into voting booths, filled with messages of unity and justice, this initiative must be applauded in several respects. By creating artistic objects that are now on display at the DuSable Museum of African American History, it has given these ephemeral symbols of protest a historical and cultural reality that will remain for the decades to come. But it has also given these boards a new role for the future, by transforming them into powerful innovative tools that create a voice for the Black Community and a real change for tomorrow.
Doing this, and thus providing a brand new direction to rethink civic engagement, the City of Chicago reminds us that breakthrough ideas are the ones that truly impact people’s life, our society and history. Titanium Lions were created to celebrate game-changing creativity, and no doubt Boards of Change greatly deserves to have its name added on the winning list.
Burger King – Moldy Whopper. Predicted by BETC strategic planner, Kylian Duguey
Whopper is the new Lemon. 60 years after Volkswagen iconic ads imagined by Bernbach, Burger King shows a flawed product breaking an ad major principle – magnify the product to make it desirable.
This rotten Whopper instantly reminds us of these timelapse videos of a burger remaining intact after thirty days under a glass bell or this 53yo-American-crewneck who forgot a burger in his pocket shirt for 20 years. (Who damn well forgot a Big Mac in his pocket shirt??) Leveraging this pop-culture reference for such a boring topic, as preservatives are, was a bold and decisive break, with a category thinking that a claim on a pack will be way enough.
Reactions from the adland were extremely polarised, and some consider the campaign too clever and too risky. “This is digusting and nobody will buy it.” We disagree and think this was a smart move from a brand constantly reinventing the way we do advertising. And the result is on our side. The brand saw an 14% increase in sales after the campaign.
Travis Scott Fortnite Concert. Predicted by BETC strategist, Bilel Mahjoub
In April 2020, Travis Scott gave a live performance on Fortnite, gathering almost 48 million people in-game. We’ve all heard about this campaign as THE entertainment innovation, but precisely what about it is innovative?
The innovation is not the way that the event generated engagement with a brand or an artist through gaming, nor really a pure technical innovation. The true innovation lies in having brought people together when no one could move outside their house. This event shook up our understanding of presence.
The difference in experience between physically going to a concert and watching a live-streamed one lies in the possibility of saying, “I was there”, instead of “I watched it”, and it is precisely this experience of presence that unites a community around a shared memory. What’s remarkable about this event is that participants did not only watch the concert, they were at the concert. They went there with their friends while staying home, shared a unique moment together while behind their screens, and now share a common memory with dozens of millions of people.
Today 48 million people can say they were there for the 2020 Travis Scott concert, while the concerts were banned. That alone deserves a big win.
