'Data Tienda' wins Creative Data Grand Prix for solving an old problem with a modern solution

The Grand Prix in the Creative Data Lions category was awarded to “Data Tienda,” from DDB Mexico for WeCapital. The campaign was lauded as an exemplar of harnessing the power of data to create a modern solution for an old problem. Cannes Lions 2022 Read all of Ad Age’s festival coverage here Check out our live blog here A large majority of women living in Mexico have no credit history, according to data cited in the campaign’s case study, thus “Data Tienda” created a way for these women to build bank-recognized financial data from pen-and-paper bookkeeping. WeCapital’s program allowed users to input the information for local businesses where they’d been participating in pay-later shopping for their lifetimes, then sending simple forms to those shopkeepers to fill out. That database then populated the previously unreachable data into a credit score, allowing women in Mexico to take out loans. Why it won Alan Kelly, jury president and chief creative officer of Rothco Ireland, said he loves “what if ideas”—ideas that simply asked if it was possible to take something old, like written loan records, and turn it into “the solution to a very real and new problem.” Another key was the effort's ability to find success and scale for continued use. Rather than rely on a large team of data collectors, it employed WhatsApp bots to deliver its form to the nearly 50,000 shopkeepers that had participated as of the time of the case study. And it worked—over 10,300 new credit records were generated, allowing participants to move forward in modern banking. Controversy or clear winner? While “Data Tienda” was a sure choice, Kelly pointed to other strong entries on the list that were representative of common themes in this year’s Creative Data list. He identified a major topic of interest across not just Creative Data, but all categories—leveling up representation and diversity in campaigns. For this he pointed to gold winner “The Black Elevation Map” from agency Performance Art Toronto and brand Black and Abroad, which created a topographical map of interest points for Black travelers planning a trip across the U.S. Another trend in Creative Data was a focus on safety. Kelly shouted out bronze winner “Anti-Hijack Alerts” via VMLY&R Johannesburg for Vodacom. The campaign teamed with driving directions app Waze to collect data on recent hijackings and the times that they happened to redirect drivers away from potentially dangerous areas in Johannesburg. Finally, Kelly happily announced the “slow reemergence of fun” in Creative Data. AKQA São Paulo and Garena’s silver winner “The Real Airdrop” served as the perfect example—a campaign where “when you hold your phone up to a plane, basically you get prizes dropped from that plane,” he said. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

'Data Tienda' wins Creative Data Grand Prix for solving an old problem with a modern solution

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