After pausing due to the pandemic last year, The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has returned in 2021. This time around, the competition may be stiffer, as jury members will be selecting winners from two seasons’ worth of work. They will, however, have the option to award Grand Prix for each year, if they so choose. Once again, as part of our annual coverage, Ad Age asked industry leaders to share their picks for campaigns they believe will—or should—take home the Big Lions.

Pete Favat, creative chairman, Deutsch LA
Laura Jordan-Bambach, president and chief creative officer UK at Grey
Natalie Lam, chief creative officer, Publicis Groupe  APAC + MEA
Nadja Lossgott, joint  executive creative director, AMV BBDO
Mina Mikhael, creative director, Johannes Leonardo
Hira Mohibullah, executive creative director, BBDO Pakistan
PJ Pereira, co-founder and creative chairman, Pereira O’Dell
Lucy-Anne Ronayne, group creative director at Anomaly London
Danny Robinson, chief creative officer, Martin Agency
Kate Stanners, global chief creative officer and chairwoman, Saatchi & Saatchi

Burberry: Festive Campaign

U.K. fashion brand Burberry dazzled viewers with its holiday ad that brought a modern twist to the iconic dance sequence from the Hollywood classic “Singin’ in the Rain.” Directed by Megaforce, it featured a diverse group of talents who danced through the streets of London as they fought off icy shards that plummeted  from the sky—an uplifting metaphor that illustrated people’s resilience through the challenges of 2020.

Lucy-Anne Ronayne: This is the first thing I think about when I think about work from the past year. It’s just so, so, so, so beautiful. I love it so much I hate it. I want to be in there ... avoiding imminent ice-based death with these people and then to buy all of their clothes after.

Natalie Lam: Up there [in] craft, and brought a delightful bit of joy after a heavy year of pandemic advertising.

Burger King: “Moldy Whopper”
INGO, David, Publicis

To prove that its iconic burger, the Whopper, was going preservative-free, Burger King let it sit out for a whole month, allowing nature to take its course—which it did, in green, hairy glory. The campaign has already cleaned up at several award shows but failed to nab the coveted Lion when the festival was canceled, but our panel of vets predict it will finally get crowned this year.  

PJ Pereira:  Burger King has a tradition of boldness, but in most cases it was a strategy to insert itself in big conversations. Not here. This stunning idea stops us in our tracks and makes it impossible to avoid knowing Whoppers are now preservative-free.

Mina Mikhael: The first rule in food advertising is to make the food look appealing enough to eat. Yet, Burger King and INGO went the exact opposite way with their beautifully moldy portraits and created a stir for all the right reasons. It’s one thing to talk about how fresh your food is—it’s not as if people are stopping for a hamburger to embrace clean eating. But the strategy to embrace how Burger King removed all artificial preservatives by showing the food rot over time was a stroke of genius. In one powerful image, the audience understands that food you plan to eat in the moment shouldn’t need to last beyond your meal, and makes me wonder how many judges in Cannes will have an appetite to award Photography Lions for this striking take in Brand & Communication Design.

Beats by Dre: “You Love Me”
Translation

Translation’s powerful, unapologetic ad for Beats by Dre challenged viewers to question their love for Black culture. Does it come hand-in-hand with love and support of Black individuals, or is it mere appropriation? Coupled with its defiant message is its singular artistry at the hands of top creatives, including director Melina Matsoukas of Prettybird, writer Lena Waithe, musician Solange Knowles and a voiceover from rapper Tobe Nwigwe.

Danny Robinson: During any other time and under any other circumstance this sharply written film would deserve a lot of attention. That it was released during a year when social unrest led the news cycles for months punctuated its relevance profoundly. It treated viewers with visuals rarely depicted in mass advertising. I found it particularly brave that the client was willing to call out a large portion of its own consumers with such an in-your-face provocation. Bold move. The way director Melina Matsoukas mixed brutal, harsh narration with triumphant visuals of Black achievement to perfectly mirror the realities of racism was a master class in craft. The film is a proclamation—a brand unapologetically sharing their platform to uplift an entire culture, leaving goosebumps that rise with every rewatch. “You Love Me” didn’t break into culture, it tore through it, and should earn the Grand Prix to help us commemorate a year we can never forget.

Pereira: We all talk about the art and science of advertising, but through all the decks, research and over-rationalization of our ideas, in the end there’s very little of the visceral response good art creates. Thankfully, there’s “You Love Me” to remind us how it can and should be done.

Mikhael: While the past year opened the floodgates on important questions regarding race, diversity and injustice, nothing delivered quite the blow like "You Love Me," which simultaneously uplifts Black culture and powerfully propositions the viewer “You love Black culture, but do you love me?”

Pete Favat: Incredible and powerful insight. Executed perfectly.

Dove: “Courage Is Beautiful”
Ogilvy Toronto and Ogilvy U.K.

Dove campaigns are known for digging beneath the skin. But in the middle of a pandemic, the brand highlighted what the surface reveals in a campaign featuring the faces of health care workers, battered and marked up by wearing masks as they toiled away on the COVID frontlines. The effort from Ogilvy was a celebration of their courage in caring for patient after patient, all while under-equipped and in danger for their own lives. It also included donations of desperately needed funding and PPE.

Lam: If there’s one piece of work that represents the genre of pandemic work, this is it. It was timely, beautiful and genuinely touching at the time. It’s also timeless, a year later it still carries its weight, and will continue to do so in many more years to come.

Kraft Heinz: “Ketchup Puzzle”
Rethink

Jigsaw puzzles were a huge trend during the pandemic, and Heinz Ketchup managed to jump on the bandwagon in a way that was uniquely true to its product. With agency Rethink, the brand created an all-red puzzle—which paid homage not just to the color of its famous condiment, but also, its slowness.

Favat: Insane and timely idea. Best ad during the pandemic I’ve seen. And I love puzzles. 

Libresse: “#WombPainStories”
AMV BBDO

Libresse captured attention once again with the third episode in its string of taboo-breaking messages to market its feminine products. Following the celebrated “Blood Normal” and “Viva La Vulva” campaigns, AMV BBDO, Chelsea Pictures director Nisha Ganatra and a team of animators created the mixed-media, visually spectacular film that as Ganatra described it, imagined “the uterus as its own little universe,” depicting women’s range of experiences centered within that one organ. The campaign also included a social media “listening project” that invited women to share their womb-related stories on topics ranging from period pain to endometriosis. 

Laura Jordan-Bambach: I usually wouldn’t give my predictions in the more filmic and content categories. Everyone that knows me knows that I’m a sucker for the collision of creativity and technology—that’s innovation and the more unexpectedly-shaped work. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE “Womb Stories.” It’s always hard to make that “difficult third album” and make it just as good or even better than the original, but this for me is just perfect. Perfectly crafted (that font!), perfectly nuanced (that sneeze!) and an amazing example of knowing which rules to break, and going for it.

Hira Mohibullah: Pain: One size does not fit all. What this campaign does really well is that it unlocks a multiverse of narratives and yet leaves space for many, many more.

Kate Stanners: An extraordinary piece of filmmaking that breaks down all the taboos. It handles the most sensitive of situations with authenticity, humor, attitude and raw emotion.

Mastercard: “True Name”
McCann

This campaign and product idea from Mastercard and McCann debuted during Pride 2019 and centered on allowing transgender individuals to put the name of their choice on their credit cards. Spots promoting the card, including one directed by Hungry Man’s Bryan Buckley,  highlighted the emotional freedom and relief that it offers to its customers. The effort started in just a few financial institutions but has expanded globally, with the card available at Citi, BMO and Republic Bank.

Favat: Bravest idea I’ve seen in years. This proves such a major commitment by Mastercard. Not only to make this statement, but to actually do the crazy amount of work to make it happen. No small feat. Incredible job.

Michelob Ultra: “Michelob Ultra Courtside”
FCB New York

The pandemic put live events on hold, but that didn’t stop Michelob Ultra from bringing NBA fans together with their teams. This tech-fueled experience powered by Microsoft Teams enabled fans to experience NBA games as if they were in the stadium, sitting in the audience and cheering their teams on. And if you watched the games on television, you’d see those very fans surrounding the players in the form of virtual avatars. It was a huge step up from the cardboard fans we saw at baseball games.

Pereira: It’s not necessarily the tech that impressed me here, but the fact they managed to combine innovations in technology, media and experience into a single idea. A project that could have died so many times and somehow survived—and through the most challenging of times—is a beacon of optimism for all the ambitious creators out there.

Robinson: This was a highly visible response to a situation heaved upon us all by COVID-19. In a sea of “we’re here for you” messages, this idea managed to convey support—minus the melancholy. It represents a great use of tech, on a large scale for practical use. Bonus points for it being an idea that hundreds of thousands of people were able to see in real time.

Nike: “You Can’t Stop Us”
Wieden+Kennedy Portland

Nike and Wieden+Kennedy conceived this breathtaking film that underscored the common thread between athletes around the world—or rather, between everyone who had endured through the trials of 2020. The film expertly spliced together otherwise unrelated found scenes of different athletes to make it appear as if they were moving as one, to highlight the idea “You Can’t Stop Us.”

Lam: Craft. Obsession. Don’t need to say anything more.

State Farm: “Kenny Mayne Predictions”
ESPN CreativeWorks

The Michael Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” was prime pandemic viewing, and State Farm was one of just four sponsors. To celebrate His Airness and the Bulls, ESPN’s in-house agency CreativeWorks turned “SportsCenter” anchor Kenny Mayne into Nostradamus. With deepfake-like tech and new audio, the team created what appeared to be a SportsCenter segment from the late '90s showing a much-younger Mayne predicting that the Bulls' greatness would lead to the very documentary viewers were watching. The spot hit the zeitgeist at just the right time and the visual effects were believable enough to fool veteran fans.

Mikhael: “The Last Dance" put everyone in front of their TVs last summer to watch … a sports documentary. And after a couple hours of everyone embracing the archival nature of the film, a perfectly presented “SportsCenter” clip stole the entire show.  When Kenny Mayne’s deep fake first appeared, nobody knew it was fake. Don’t let hindsight fool you or anyone convince you they knew. From leading into commercial break as if part of the program, to the pitch-perfect delivery of the voice and flawless VFX work, the execution had everyone fooled, and more importantly, talking about the ad long past the episode that night. I can’t imagine ever topping the bar set by this ad. This is a shoo-in for a Film Lion.

Reddit: "Superb Owl"
R/GA

Reddit and R/GA “hacked” the Super Bowl with the regional ad that aired for no more than a five-second blip. It started out as a typical sheet metal ad of a car zooming through desert terrain, but glitched out and was stopped by the Reddit logo and a screen of text that was begging to be screen-capped. Those who watched were treated to a triumphant message from the platform: “Wow, this actually worked.”

Mohibullah: We all love a piece of work that challenges the rule book, but this one recklessly chucks it out the window. There’s a sense of utter disregard for what one’s good advertising sense tells them here, and that’s why it should win. It’s a clear message to the next crop of advertisers: Do what you may, just don’t follow the rules.  

Nadja Lossgott: I wish I had done this. It’s the true anti-Super Bowl ad. So smart, so ridiculously simple and therefore 100% the underdog winning social conversation in the community and outside of it.

The Royal Australian Mint: "Donation Dollar"
Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne

During the pandemic, charities suffered as more people moved from physical currency to digital. So, Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne teamed with the Royal Australian Mint to encourage individuals to continue to donate—by creating a new form of currency. The coin, marked with the words “Donation Dollar,” is legal tender that also effectively reminds people that there are charities that can still benefit from their generosity. If every Australian gave just one of the coins a month to charity, they could benefit by an additional $3 billion Aussie dollars over a decade.

Stanners: We can all have ideas but making them happen is when the magic happens. "Donation Dollar" takes an emotion and makes it tangible by putting it in our hands. Its impact is extraordinary.  

Xbox: "The Rough Guide to Xbox"
McCann London

In 2019 McCann London highlighted the power of Microsoft Xbox to take gamers to splendid destinations, promoting its titles as if they were breathtaking tourist spots in a push that went on to earn a Bronze Lion. In 2020, the agency continued in that vein in an Xbox-themed "Rough Guide" showing consumers how they could still journey to new worlds through its videogames, despite being stuck at home in lockdown. 

Lossgott: Marvelous stuff. Reimagining gaming as a tourism experience and extending an invitation for everyone to visit.