It has begun! The Cannes Lions has officially kicked off in the south of France, and Team Adweek will be cranking out content gauche and droite. Be sure to keep an eye on our site for updates throughout the week.
How will turnout be this year? That's a question a lot of people will be wondering as we head to the Palais and the beaches for Day 1. Fwiw, the crowd at Adweek's kickoff soiree, which you can see above, was four times larger than last year, but that might say less about Cannes attendance than it does about word getting around that Adweek has an open bar on Sunday night. In all seriousness, though, big thanks to everyone who turned out for great conversations and, of course, incredible views.
Preview podcast: Need a compact overview of the themes, front-running campaigns and key presentations at this year's Cannes Lions? Check out our Cannes preview episode of Adweek's weekly podcast, Yeah, That's Probably an Ad, and keep an eye/ear out for bonus Cannes episodes throughout the week!
Campaigns to watch:
Today we'll learn the first set of winners at Cannes, so now seems like a good time to run down some of the campaigns that you can likely expect to win big throughout the week—and share some of the behind-the-scenes stories of how they came about.
Nike, "Dream Crazy" from Wieden + Kennedy Portland
The clear favorite going into this year's Cannes, this campaign sparked global attention by putting polarizing quarterback Colin Kaepernick front and center with the launch of Nike's 30th anniversary celebration for the tagline "Just Do It." While the ads featuring Kaepernick are very specifically American, Nike's willingness to poke a point of cultural tension and endure the wrath of Donald Trump—seeing sales climb 31% along the way—has made the campaign a hit with creatives (and definitely creative juries) around the world
Essity, "Viva La Vulva" from AMV BBDO
Essity, parent company of feminine care brands like Libresse and Bodyform, rattled its category with #BloodNormal, a campaign to end stigmas around women's periods and winner of last year's Glass Grand Prix at Cannes. The follow-up, Viva La Vulva, is a stunning piece of film craft that celebrates the vulva in a wonderful array of ways. It's already been a big winner on the awards circuit, and we expect that streak to continue at Cannes. Check out our interview with the brand and agency to learn much more about this spot.
The New York Times, "The Truth Is Worth It" from Droga5
As President Trump has continued escalating his denouncements of the U.S. news media, Droga5 has found new and compelling ways to celebrate one of Trump’s most frequent targets: The New York Times. This campaign tells the stories behind the newspaper’s major investigations with a level of granularity reminiscent of All the President’s Men.
Burger King, "The Whopper Detour" from FCB New York
Calling the business results “insane,” Burger King global CMO (and two-time Adweek Brand Genius honoree) Fernando Machado recently wrote in Adweek that Whopper Detour generated an ROI of 37 to 1. By offering fans a 1-cent Whopper—if they drove to a McDonald’s location to unlock the mobile app coupon—Burger King vaulted to No. 1 on the app charts and set a new bar for trolling your competitor.
The New York Public Library, "Insta Novels" from Mother New York
With a much smaller budget than most of the work you'll see winning this week, the Insta Novels campaign is a scrappy underdog that we still think will be a jury favorite. Already shortlisted for a coveted Titanium Lion, the project brought full works of literature to the famously brief and breezy format of Instagram Stories. Check out our interview with the library and Mother New York CCO Corinna Falusi to learn how this charming campaign came together.
There are many more campaigns we expect to do well this week, and you can check out more of them at our roundup of 20 Campaigns That Will Win at Cannes.
"What if we reimagined creativity to reinvent advertising?" That's the question P&G Chief Brand Officer Marc Pritchard poses in Adweek today. Timed for the launch of Cannes, he has issued a challenge to marketers to take a step back and be truly open minded about the kinds of partnerships—tech, agency or otherwise—that might change everything about advertising and potentially save the industry from itself.
You'll want to milk the new issue of Brandweek for insights: Speaking of the future of brands, you won't want to miss the new issue of our Brandweek magazine launched just in time for Cannes. We've got oat milk leader Oatly on the cover and a few gallons of great insights throughout. Check out Executive Editor Stephanie Paterik's note that covers the key themes of this issue of Brandweek.
With that, we're off to the Palais for the first round of winner announcements and big-name presentations. Be sure to follow all of Adweek's coverage of the Cannes Lions, and keep an eye on Adweek's Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn updates from the festival.
—David Griner
Creative and Innovation Editor, Adweek
[email protected]
