Rethink celebrates Monday night’s Grand Prix victory in Cannes. Image courtesy of Sean McDonald
Strategy is on the ground in Cannes, bringing you the latest news, wins and conference highlights all week long. Catch all the coverage here.
Canada got off to a strong start in Cannes, bringing home 18 Lions on the festival’s opening day, including its first Grand Prix.
The top prize went to Heinz Ketchup’s “Look Familiar?” from Rethink in the Print & Publishing category. Built around the simple observation that the standard fry carton resembles the Heinz logo, the campaign turned an everyday visual cue into a powerful reminder that not all ketchup is the same. (With help from media partners Carat, Toronto/Chicago and PR efforts from Zeno Group, Toronto/Chicago.)
President Jessica Apellaniz, CCO at Wieden+Kennedy Mexico, said the jury concentrated on four main criteria when evaluating the winners: the idea had to be simple (but not too simple), memorable, brave and enduring. “Look Familiar” ticked all boxes.
Rethink also added two Gold Lions to its haul on the first day. In Audio & Radio, IKEA’s “Sleep Talk Reviews” transformed real sleep recordings from overnight showroom stays into authentic mattress testimonials. In Outdoor, Heinz’s “Coincidence?” earned Gold for continuing the brand’s effort to reinforce its connection to fries through distinctive brand assets.
Image courtesy of Adidas
TBWA\Canada struck gold with Adidas’s “Supernova Adaptive” in Health & Wellness. Developed with and for athletes with Down syndrome and members of the adaptive community, the running shoe was designed to address the specific needs of adaptive runners.
Meanwhile, Toronto’s Klick Health continued its dominance in the health sector, earning Healthcare Agency of the Year honours while also leading the Healthcare Network of the Year rankings ahead of Ogilvy Health and Real Chemistry.
With 18 Lions already on the board and several heavily shortlisted campaigns still in contention, Canada is off to a promising start on the Croisette.
Aaron Starkman, CCO and partner at Rethink (and president of the Outdoor jury), said one of the recurring themes among the strongest entries was work that felt uniquely tied to the brand behind it.
“The best work is the stuff you see and think, ‘Only that brand could pull that off,'” he said.
Starkman also said he hoped the awards would encourage young creatives to bring forward their biggest ideas rather than filtering them before they reach clients. “It’s important to get our young creatives to fall in love with advertising.”
He also reserved special praise his fellow judges: “There wasn’t an asshole in the group.” Enough said.
When it came to the other Grand Prix winners of the day, the line-up was especially strong:
Audio & Radio
“Coqui Alarm” for Hyundai from BBDO Puerto Rico
Creative B2B
“The Faroe Islands Space Program” for SKF from Nord, Stolkholm
Creative Brand
“Abinbev: Creativity at Scale” for Abinbev from Anheuser-Busch Inbev
Health & Wellness
“The Periodic Table” for The Ordinary from Smuggler, London and Uncommon Creative Studio, London
Outdoor
“Field Barcode” for Mercado Livre from Gut, Sao Paulo
Pharma
“Relax Your Tight End” for Novartis from Fallon, Minneapolis
Lions Health and United Nations Foundation Grand Prix for Good
“Vehicle of Hope” for Caritas from Differ, Stockholm and Colony, Stockholm
With several strong categories coming up on Day 2, here’s hoping the strong showing continues.
