Cannes Direct, Media & Innovation 2022: Highlights
It used to be that there was just the Cannes Direct Lions. But the Cannes Festival, sensing a lucrative opportunity has been expanding the number of categories year after year.
Aspiring ad agencies have played along, often enter each piece of work in several categories (at $800 a pop) to maximise their chances of getting the work in front of an amenable jury.
That’s why for the sake of simplicity, we’re combining the Cannes Direct, Media and Innovation categories. There is a great deal of cross-over amongst the winners. And as you’d expect – the cream has risen to the top. The best work was awarded in all three categories. So let’s take a look at what captured the zeitgeist this year.
Table of Contents
H&M did everything right
The best media / direct initiatives sit easily and neatly inside the brand’s skin. This is a wonderful idea that gets attention in the right way. And, it emphasises how professional and neat you will look in an H&M suit.
This is a great flex for the brand. See the case study below.
Play Video about H&M Budding Best Portfolio School Show Them What You're Made Of
Yellowstone National Park inheritance pass
I love this. It’s a beautiful thought through donation campaign. Instead of asking directly for donations to help maintain Yellowstone, the agency came up with the idea of ‘selling’ an inheritance pass, which is a ticket to the park that will become valid in 150 years time.
It’s a beautiful expression of the brand. And a heart-warming fund raising campaign.
Play Video about yellowstone inheritance pass cannes direct lions 2022
Only 14 people saw this. Brilliant.
Spotify had the best idea in the 2022 Cannes Direct Lions
It only won Silver. But it was the purest direct idea on the table. Because it was the directly targeted at just 14 people. The 14 people in charge of the largest marketing budgets in the USA. This is inspiring in its ambition and scale.
Play Video about spotify song for every cmo cannes advertising 2022
Coinbase owned the SuperBowl
Not a ‘direct’ idea, but it had a giveaway so fair enough.
It’s hard to call a campaign ‘direct’ when it is centred on an ad running in the most expensive time slot available anywhere in the world. But this idea was never going to win in ‘Film’, because it’s just too lo-fi. But I’d argue this piece of work was far more daring, more creative and more effective than anything you would see in the Film Category. They had the courage to do something so brilliantly stripped back and raw.
It deserved to be awarded somewhere. And this category is where it found it’s home.
Play Video about coinbase less talk more bitcoin cannes direct lions
KFC had some great ideas this year
But this wasn’t one of them.
Honestly, it’s interesting. It’s the kind of idea juries like. But it’s pointless. I doubt it did anything positive for the brand. This is one of those campaigns we see in Cannes every year. A beautiful case study. A cool website. But shallow and ill-conceived.
Play Video about kfc chickenstock cannes direct lions 2022
Premium ketchup. Rich with humor.
I love this little idea. It’s a very different sampling mechanism. Instead of trying to get it in front of premium customers, Curtice Brothers supplied it to the worst reviewed restaurants online. And waited to see if it improved the reviews.
Sure, it only had a small effect. But the way the brand promoted the modest results was with such warm humor and self-deprecation.
Play Video about curtice brothers ketchup to the rescue worst restaurants
Testing Android on an iPhone
How do you expose dedicated iPhone users to the Android operating system? This campaign in the Cannes Direct Lions category found a way.
Play Video about samsung itest cannes direct lions 2022
McEnroe vs McEnroe
This is an innovation campaign created by Michelob Ultra beer, giving John McEnroe an opportunity to play against his younger self.
Play Video about michelob mcenroe cannes innovation lions 2022
Maxx Ultra Mosquito Coils
This innovation of this idea is the design of packaging that kills mosquitoes when it is thrown out as well. Sweet idea.
Play Video about maxx flash the killer pack cannes direct lions 2022
Cadbury #PerkDisclaimers
A YouTube idea that pokes fun at trigger warnings and unneccessary disclaimers.
Play Video about cadbury perk disclaimers cannes lions 2022
Volkswagen AdBreak Championships
Inspiring people to play a volkswagen video game during adbreaks via a QR code on the screen.
Play Video about volkswagen golf ad break takeover cannes direct lions 2022
Ikea Trapped in the 90s
Leaving one of the best to last. An incredibly ambitious reality show, forcing millenials to live with 90’s technology. A time before Ikea became readily available. Brilliant.
Play Video about ikea trapped in the 90s cannes direct lions
These have been many of the more interesting pieces in the Cannes Direct Lions, as well as Media and Innovation. This is a rather short list because we’re avoiding duplicating too much.
Much more of this type of work (The types of campaigns that need Case Studies) will be in our Cannes Brand Experience and Activation Lions article that will be live very soon. Brand Experience and Activation has quickly become one of the most prestigious categories, and the quality of work there is truly brilliant.
Take a look sometime.
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