AB InBev’s Tienda Cerca and LinkedIn project win Creative eCommerce Grand Prix at Cannes Lions

Small business was the big winner at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Thursday, when two different initiatives—one that helped street vendors and one that assisted corner stores—won the top Creative eCommerce award. AB InBev’s "Tienda Cerca," a delivery service for local shops in Latin America, won a Grand Prix in the category, as did "Raising Profiles," a partnership from LinkedIn and UK newspaper The Big Issue that helps street vendors connect and sell papers digitally. When neighborhood shops in Latin America suffered during COVID-19 for lack of an online presence, Anheuser-Busch InBev stepped in with Tienda Cerca. The free online food and drink delivery platform, developed by AB InBev’s in-house studio Draftline, hosts some 400,000 corner stores in Latin America. Similarly, "Raising Profiles," which was created by FCB Inferno, U.K., also came about because of the toll the pandemic was taking on vendors of publication Big Issue. The magazine is sold by homeless and vulnerably housed people, giving them the opportunity to make legitimate incomes, but they suffered loss in foot traffic and were unable to physically sell to customers home under lockdowns. LinkedIn announced the initiative earlier this year. “The last year-and-a-half was a time of disruption with many businesses trying to cope with the challenge of lockdown and no physical presence,” Tiffany Rolfe, global chief creative officer at R/GA and head of the jury for the eCommerce category, recently wrote on LinkedIn noting that e-commerce played a huge role in how businesses could succeed. “E-commerce is no longer just the .com where sales happen, it’s a key part of the whole customer journey.”

AB InBev’s Tienda Cerca and LinkedIn project win Creative eCommerce Grand Prix at Cannes Lions

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