The top 5 Cannes Lions-winning campaigns you need to know about right now

On Friday, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity—the virtual edition—came to a close. Ultimately, the juries awarded more than 40 Grand Prix to honor work from the past two years. Here, a rundown of winners that made the most noise and that we found most compelling. A programming note from the Creativity editors:We’ll resume our weekly live show in a few weeks and will be broadcasting on a modified summer schedule. Stay tuned to our social channels for more details on our return. In the meantime, take a look at our picks for the week—and check out all of our past Top 5 lists here. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. 5. Sinyi: “In Love We Trust” Agency: DentsuMcGarryBowen This was one of the Entertainment Grand Prix winners at the Cannes Lions, and though it clocks in at seven-and-a-half minutes long, it’s well worth the watch. The short film centers on a woman who works in Taiwan’s Household Registration Office tracking marriages, divorces and deaths. Outside of work, she has a loving boyfriend she’s not quite sure of committing to, but her job and personal life soon collide and ultimately, show her the way. The ad unexpectedly comes from a Taiwanese property developer, Sinyi, and its ultimate goal was to shift young consumers’ attitudes toward marriage, which will make them more inclined toward purchasing property. Entertainment Jury President Jae Goodman, CEO of Observatory, said the jury appreciated how the campaign “took the long view.” 4) Starbucks: “I Am” Agency: VMLY&R Brazil A few Grand Prix winners this year honored the LGBTQ community. One, from Latin American e-commerce platform Mercado Libre, recreated the São Paulo Pride Parade as a music video on Instagram, earning the top prize in Entertainment for Music. Mastercard and McCann also earned it in Brand Experience and Activation for its "True Name" card that allowed transgender customers to put their name of choice on the credit card. This Starbucks campaign was of a similar vein. The effort from VMLY&R Brazil made one São Paulo Starbucks a notary office that allowed transgender people to legally change their names for free. The idea addressed the discrimination transgender individuals experience when they don’t have their names on official documents and helped them to bypass the expensive and grueling process of dealing with notary offices in Brazil, which historically have been hostile or intimidating to the transgender community. It earned the Glass Lion for Change Grand Prix. 3) Dove: “Courage Is Beautiful” Agency: Ogilvy Toronto, Ogilvy London Going into the festival, there was speculation as to how much the pandemic would be reflected in the winners. A handful of the Grand Prix honorees were created in response to the COVID crisis, including Mercado Libre above and the Film winner, Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us.” Dove’s “Courage Is Beautiful,” from Ogilvy London and Ogilvy Toronto, was another, taking double Grand Prix in Industry Craft and Print and Publishing. The campaign put the bruised and marred faces of frontline healthcare workers front and center in a film and in outdoor ads strategically placed near hospitals so they could see them during their commutes. What stands out about Dove is that it shows how a solid, excellent brand platform, “Real Beauty,” can be evolved and articulated in fresh ways—in this case, to honor those doing the difficult work of trying to save lives during the pandemic. 2) Burger King: “Stevenage Challenge” Agency: David Madrid, David Miami While “Moldy Whopper” had a winning streak across the industry’s other shows and was predicted to be one of this year’s big Lion winners, this campaign from David Madrid and David Miami proved to be the most compelling to Cannes juries. Burger King became the sponsor of the low-ranking soccer team, Stevenage F.C, which is part of League Two, the fourth and lowest division of the English Football League. With that sponsorship came BK-branded jerseys for the team, as well as a way for the fast-feeder to appear in the “FIFA 2020” video game. That led to the “Stevenage Challenge,” in which Burger King asked gamers to play on Stevenage for a change to win free food. The campaign earned three Grand Prix, in Brand Experience and Activation, Direct and Social/Influencer. 1) Libresse/Bodyform: “#WombPainStories” Agency: AMV BBDO The most celebrated campaign at the festival went to “#WombPainStories” for Essity-owned Libresse/Bodyform and created out of AMV BBDO. The campaign brought to light women’s authentic feelings of of pain, pleasure and more around their wombs, and ran across film, digital and experiential. Not only did it open viewers' eyes to how women feel, it ultimately sought to help women articulate their experiences better so that doctors could diagnose conditions such as endometriosis more efficiently. The campaign earned the festival’s most prestigious award, the Titanium Grand Prix, both the Film and Film Craft Grand Prix as well as the Grand Prix for Good in Health. One of the notable aspects of this win is that it represents a continuing successful relationship between agency and client. They previously earned the Glass Lion Grand Prix in 2018 for the “Blood Normal” campaign that attempted to de-stigmatize menstruation and the “Viva La Vulva” campaign earned Titanium in 2019. That's it for the Top 5. See all the Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners here, and make sure to check out more of the best in brand creativity every day at Adage.com/Creativity. And make sure to tune in after the July 4 holiday for the return of Creativity Top 5 Live.High-quality journalism isn’t free. Subscribe to Ad Age now for award-winning news and insight.

The top 5 Cannes Lions-winning campaigns you need to know about right now

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