Unilever named 2024 Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year

Unilever has been named the 2024 winner of the Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year award, given annually to a company with a creative pedigree and a history of winning Lions at the festival. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here This is Unilever’s second time winning the prize—it was also honored in 2010. The company has won hundreds of Lions over the years for campaigns on behalf of brands such as Dove, Hellmann’s, Magnum, Vaseline, Marmite and Pot Noodle—as well as the “Dirt Is Good” campaign (for the detergent brand known in different countries as Persil, Skip and OMO). Also: Meet the 2024 Cannes Lions jury presidents Dove has been Unilever’s most consistent honoree at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Its “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign a decade ago was one of the biggest winners ever, earning 16 Lions, including the coveted Dan Wieden Titanium Lion Grand Prix. (It also won a Gold Creative Effectiveness Lion the following year.) Dove’s success has continued almost every year—most recently with the #TurnYourBack campaign, which won a Grand Prix last year. Esi Eggleston Bracey, chief growth and marketing officer at Unilever, told Ad Age it is a “huge privilege” to accept the Creative Marketer of the Year award. “Beyond it being a huge honor to be awarded a Lion, it’s also a strong indicator that our approach to creative excellence is world-class,” she said. “It helps to fuel the creative cycle; it motivates our creative talent and agency partners, it builds a stronger creative culture, and empowers our team to take more creative risks.” Bracey added that creativity in general is “the fuel for building brands that are iconic, desirable and unmissable in their superiority.” This will become even more critical as technology evolves the business, she said. “As Bill Bernbach once said, ‘It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage,’” Bracey said. “As we look ahead, everything and nothing is changing. The basics of marketing—understanding people, deep insights, creating differentiated brands propositions and coming up with a creative idea—that won’t change. What has changed is our lives, driven by technology, AI and the rise of individuality, coupled with the wellness revolution. “All this shapes what people expect from brands and how brands interact with people, creating endless opportunities for creativity, commerce and impact. However, over time, as technology is further democratized, it may become harder for brands to differentiate. Creativity will be the real advantage, and it’s why we are so proud to be recognized as Creative Marketer of the Year.” Simon Cook, CEO of the Lions, told Ad Age that Unilever’s work represents the kind of “brave, creative and innovative” marketing that the award recognizes. “Unilever is pushing the boundaries consistently and continuously across a wide range of brands from different markets, in collaboration with a breadth of agency partners, demonstrating a clear understanding and commitment to the power of creativity as a driver for progress and growth,” Cook said. Read more: How Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ changed marketing Introduced in 1992, the Creative Marketer of the Year award has honored companies including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Apple, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Google, Heineken, Ikea, Mars, McDonald’s, Samsung and Microsoft. Ad Age Creativity Bookmark our section covering the best in brand creativity every day Read more here

Unilever named 2024 Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year

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