It’s the Grand Prix that should have been: Kids Help Phone’s “Defining Help.”
“If Cannes didn’t have the criteria that a charity cannot go for a Grand Prix, we might have had a different Grand Prix,” observed Media Lions president Sindhuja Rai, who serves as chief client officer at WPP Media APMEA.
“It was a really powerful piece of work and, I think, to us it kind of exemplifies how we can really leverage what is available to us today to drive good in society. It also had a huge amount of impact and is something that all brands and marketers can learn from.”
But, alas, it was not to be. According to organizers, “Entries for non-profit organisations and charities aren’t eligible for the Grand Prix in their Awards, but will be considered for the Grand Prix for Good or the Lions Health and United Nations Grand Prix for Good.”
Despite that, the work from McCann Canada, Toronto – with media support from Epitaph Group – still landed two Gold Lions and one Silver in the Media category.
Image courtesy of Kids Help Phone
“Defining Help” reframed Kids Help Phone from a crisis hotline to a broader mental-health support service by replacing the word “help” with real emotions expressed by youth. Built from more than 1,000 terms drawn from anonymized conversations, the campaign increased donations by 87% year over year while boosting trust and consideration among potential supporters.
“It was something that stood out to us in the way they just used data,” Rai said on the panel. “They used it to not just drive targeting, but overall a deep understanding of what is going on with the consumer. And then also use it to drive their messaging strategy. It was phenomenal, and it was one of the big favourites in the room.”
During a follow-up, strategy had a chance to dig deeper.
“It showed very deep consumer insight,” Rai said. “The fact is that kids need help. A lot of times parents don’t know about it, or they don’t acknowledge it. And what this piece of work did very brilliantly was to not just figure out what are the themes overall, which are emerging in certain locations, but then also to drive messaging around it, to generate awareness around it.
“That’s the power of data and how data can be used to do good, which we could very clearly see. It touched everybody, every time. We talked about that case. We all just felt so moved by it. Because you could see it’s to help people. They anonymized data to ensure that there is privacy there for the people who are calling the helpline. But then they used something which was coming to them in a very, very meaningful way to help their consumers.”
Heinz Ketchup also landed a Gold Lion for Rethink’s “Heinz Dipper” in the Direct category on Wednesday evening to go along with a Silver received earlier in the day. Carat supported the campaign’s media efforts, while Zeno Group handled PR.
“Heinz Dipper” reimagined the traditional french-fry carton by adding a built-in ketchup pocket, making it easier for consumers to dip fries on the go without spills. The packaging innovation transformed a common consumer frustration into a branded product experience, rolling out across 11 countries and reinforcing Heinz’s long-standing association with fries and ketchup.
The win represented Rethink’s third Gold Lion, to go along with its Grand Prix and other awards.
Landing Grand Prix awards today were:
Creative Data
“SOS POS” for BCP, from Circus Grey, Lima
Direct
“Uva Uva Bonnon” for Uva App, from De La Cruz Ogilvy, San Francisco
Media
“Build Your Own Superbowl Commercial” for Uber Eats, from Special, Los Angeles
PR
“The Kit Kat Heist” for Kit Kat, from Burson, London/VML, London
Social & Creator
“Could Have Been a Heineken” for Heineken, from Lepub, Milan/Sao Paulo
