Outdoor advertising company JCDecaux’s heartwarming “Meet Marina Prieto” campaign, which displayed the power of out-of-home ads by turning an otherwise unremarkable 100-year-old grandma into a social media sensation, was honored as the Creative B2B Grand Prix winner at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Wednesday.

Faced with declining investments in OOH, JCDecaux and David Madrid sought to demonstrate outdoor media’s power to reignite advertisers’ interest. The solution became Marina Prieto, a 100-year-old grandma who was socially engaged, yet lacked any real following.

JCDecaux and David Madrid began placing OOH ads in subway stations throughout Madrid featuring Prieto’s social media posts. With only 28 followers at the start of the campaign, Prieto quickly became an internet celebrity, boasting more than 10,000 followers to date.

In addition to the Grand Prix for Creative B2B, the work was quickly added to a list of 20 campaigns shortlisted for the Titanium Lions.

Gold winners

The gold winners in the category were Coca-Cola and VML’s “Thanks for Coke Creating,” which previously won gold in the Industry Craft and Print & Publishing categories, and “Pub Museums” for Heineken by LePub Milan and Publicis, Dublin.