LIONS Creativity Report 2023.pdf

Table of Contents
Welcome to the LIONS Creativity Report Rankings
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4 69
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75
76
77
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79
80
81
Trends and themes from the winning work Creative Company of the Year
5
Back to Brand Network of the Year
17
Go for Growth Media Network of the Year
29
Community-first Creativity Independent Network of the Year
42
Reset with AI Agency of the Year
54
Seize the Future Independent Agency of the Year
Health Network of the Year
Healthcare Agency of the Year
Palme d’Or
Creative Brand of the Year
Agency of the Year by Track
Independent Agency of the Year by Track
Regional Network of the Year

Welcome to the
LIONS Creativity Report
SIMON
COOK
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | LIONS
Creativity has the power to make brands grow.
For 70 years, LIONS has championed creative
excellence and effectiveness and shown how
companies all over the world are growing through
creativity.

At the Festival this year, the most highly rated
sessions had one thing in common: they provided
a blueprint for how to introduce the conditions for
creative success. And this report, bringing together
winning work, insights from jurors and winners, and
rankings, aims to provide you with everything you
need to do the same. The trends and themes we
have identified will propel you into the year ahead
and help you achieve creativity that drives progress
and growth.
The global spread of creativity celebrated at Cannes
Lions this year proves that creativity can come from
anywhere. In the Titanium Lions, a celebration of
game-changing creativity, the four awarded winners
came from China, the US, Australia and Poland. It
was a similar pattern in Glass: The Lion For Change.
This year’s winning work was from, among other
markets, Pakistan, Uruguay, Brazil and Kenya.
First-time winners this year included Nigeria and
Armenia. We congratulate those markets, and all
those who won or who were shortlisted this year.
And to all those who gave up their time to judge this
year’s Lions, we thank you for all you contributed.
Transformative talent
Finally, look out for The Talent Report, LIONS’
annual people rankings and interviews with the
people behind the winning work. Expect to see a lot
from GUT. This five-year-old start-up set its sights
on winning Agency of the Year when it launched.
GUT Buenos Aires took Agency of the Year and
Independent Agency of the Year, while GUT was
awarded Independent Network of the Year.
Following this impressive haul of wins, it has gone on
to report that its profits have doubled. Such is the
power of Lion-winning creativity.
3
LIONS Creativity Report | 2023

Trends and themes
from the winning
work
1
2
3
4
5
Back to Brand
Go for Growth
Community-first Creativity
Reset with AI
Seize the Future
4

Better brand building
Brands are still learning how to connect with audiences on newer digital
platforms. In the Cannes Lions session ‘The 3rd Age of Effectiveness’, Dr Grace
Kite, Economist and Founder, magic numbers, presented new evidence that
challenges the 60:40 split between long-term brand building and short-term
activations. She suggested that, for some lesser-known brands, a more optimal
split is 65:35, with greater emphasis on the long term. She then provided a
collection of channels to help brands navigate their way around short- and
long-term activations (see right).
Kite wrote on WARC: “The evidence shows that if you consistently air good-
quality advertising and invest in your brand, you build up associations that
mean people buy it just because it’s easy to think of, or out of habit. Some will
buy it without checking the price, others might check prices but still decide the
product is worth paying more for.”
Creativity plays a leading role in building up such associations.This section will
take you through different creative strategies, including exploring your brand’s
heritage, staying laser-focused on product benefits and taking a ‘blue ocean’
approach to help you bring your focus back to brand and what it can achieve
for both your audience and your business.
Optimal short- vs long-term split if your campaign is award-worthy
Optimal short- vs long-term split if your campaign is normal
• Paid search
• Paid Facebook
• Paid Instagram
• Direct response
TV
• Radio
• Brand TV and
sponsorship on TV
• YouTube and online video
• Broadcaster video on
demand
• Press (paper and digital)
• Out of home (posters)
SHORT
LONG
60%
LONG
SHORT
60%
40%
40%
LONG
SHORT
65%
65%
35%
35%
6

Tell stories about your brand’s heritage to bring
loyal customers closer and educate new ones.
For creative work that will stand out, play with
the richest areas of heritage through a modern
lens.
Lion winners show how to
integrate brand building into
tactical work. Draw inspiration
from their experiences using
these actionable insights for your
brands.
Look to your product for creative inspiration:
2023 Creative Brand of the Year, Apple shows
how to do product-focused work that can be
both effective and emotive. This approach
can push short-term sales and build long-term
brand equity.
A ‘blue ocean’ strategy involves identifying
places where you can market to people away
from your competitive set. It’s an approach that
can help with marketing to people who don’t
want to be marketed to. Consider what it could
look like for your brand.
Takeaways from
winning work
1
2
3
Explore brand heritage
Stay laser-focused on
your product
Take a ‘blue ocean’ approach
PROUDLY SECOND BEST | IKEA
DAVID, MADRID
GOLD FILM LIONS
RELAX, IT’S IPHONE - R.I.P. LEON | APPLE
EVS ON SCREEN | GENERAL MOTORS, NETFLIX
APPLE, CUPERTINO
THE COMMUNITY, MIAMI
GRAND PRIX FILM LIONS
SILVER FILM LIONS
7

2022
2023
70%
49%
42%
2022
2023
2022
2023
Find and share stories that reinforce your brand’s heritage to help it stand out. Focus
on what makes your brand unique to hit short-term business targets and long-term
brand-building goals.
Explore
brand
heritagee
1
The amount of work with the word “heritage” in the synopsis rose year on year,
reaching an all-time high in 2023 across entries, shortlists and awards
ENTRIES
AWARDS
SHORTLISTS
8

Give heritage a
modern twist:
‘A British Original’
Takeaway:
A BRITISH ORIGINAL
UK airline British Airways reinvigorated its brand positioning, boosted
trust and generated a 50% rise in site traffic and revenue.
Exploring why people travel, from escaping the winter blues to
celebrating the remission of a disease, 500 print, digital and
outdoor activations adapted constantly depending on location, time
and weather.
Roanna Williams, Chief Creative Officer at Net#Work BBDO and
2023 Outdoor Lions Juror, said: “It goes deeper, not wider. Each line
is so beautifully crafted and it speaks directly to the consumer at the
right time. It’s exquisite on every level.”
Determine what makes your brand unique.
Focus on the emotional reasons consumers have to buy your brand
and turn that into a bold statement.
A BRITISH ORIGINAL | BRITISH AIRWAYS
UNCOMMON CREATIVE STUDIO, LONDON
GRAND PRIX OUTDOOR LIONS
9

Heinz discovered that some Turkish street food
restaurants were refilling empty Heinz bottles with
lesser-quality ketchup. In response, the condiment giant
developed an Instagram filter and a new colour-matching
bottle so customers could spot the genuine product. The
work earned $2.6m in media.
IKEA used gentle humour and humility to depict the
realities of family life and the retailer’s place within it: in
other words, a baby will always prefer to fall asleep on a
parent rather than in a cot. The work was awarded in the
Film, Print & Publishing and Outdoor Lions.
Stella Artois crunched geo- and temporal data to
determine the likelihood that historic paintings featured
the brand. It encouraged beer and art fans to interact
with the app when they visited the Bellas Artes Museum
in Buenos Aires.
These three 2023 Lion winners show fun ways to celebrate the unique role
your brand plays in people’s lives.
IS THAT HEINZ? | HEINZ
THE ARTOIS PROBABILITY | AB INBEV / STELLA ARTOIS
PROUDLY SECOND BEST | IKEA
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON, ISTANBUL
GUT, BUENOS AIRES
DAVID, MADRID
BRONZE CREATIVE B2B LIONS
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE DATA LIONS
GOLD FILM LIONS
Bring a light touch to
heritage work
Heinz
‘Is That Heinz?’
IKEA
‘Proudly Second Best’
AB InBev / Stella Artois
‘The Artois Probability’
LIONS Creativity Report | 2023 10
10

29
“How do you create relevance?” asked Devika Bulchandani, 2023 Jury President of the
Creative Effectiveness Lions and Ogilvy’s Global CEO. “It’s through the products you
create, but you need people to know the products you’ve created.”
Resist the temptation to opt for short-term sales-oriented work. Strip back to brand DNA
basics by showcasing your product, and use it to tell vibrant stories.
This section showcases Lion-winning work from Apple, which received its highest ever
number of Lion wins in 2023. This work centres on the product to drive sales uplift and
build long-term brand health.
Stay laser-
focused on your
product
2
2023
2022
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013 1
2
3
5
11
25
16
18
14
2020/2021
Apple Lion wins, 2013–2023
11

Accessibility meets
product demo:
‘The Greatest’
Takeaway:
An upbeat music video, ‘The Greatest’, shows a variety of people –
athletes, doctors, parents and musicians – using Apple’s accessible
features.A fresh and authentic representation of disability, it was
praised by Danielle Hinde, Owner/Executive Producer, Doomsday
Entertainment, and Jury President, Entertainment Lions for Music, for
integrating accessibility features in an “organic and seamless” manner.
She added: “It sold a product in a celebratory, beautiful way.”
It generated more than 17m YouTube views in the first week of
release and has been described as “a milestone in disability
representation”.
Be authentic about accessibility.
Understand the real-life issues that create challenges for a
product’s users and show how your design overcomes them. Bring
real people into the story to build an emotional connection.
THE GREATEST
THE GREATEST | APPLE
APPLE, CUPERTINO
GRAND PRIX ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR MUSIC
12

This film translated the feeling of AirPod Pro’s noise
cancellation feature into a surreal visual. It shows how
to use craft to interpret a key selling point.
Humour highlights Apple’s approach to user privacy.
This work showed iPhone users how, with a simple
tap, iPhone helps them take control of their personal
data.
To showcase iPhone 14 Pro’s camera, Apple
collaborated with director Vishal Bhardwaj and some
of Bollywood’s finest on a 30-minute film. This film
helped to add more than 400,000 new subscribers
to the Apple India YouTube channel.
This ad shows a pet-sitter’s gratitude for iPhone’s
‘unsend’ feature. “We need light relief,” said Film Lions
Jury President Bruno Bertelli, Global CEO of Le Pub,
Global CCO of Publicis Worldwide and Chief Creative
Officer of Publicis Groupe Italy. “This was product-centric
and went back to the basics.”
Four pieces of Apple’s 2023 Lion-winning work show
how to demonstrate product features in an efficient,
engaging and entertaining way.
ICONOCLAST, LOS ANGELES APPLE, CUPERTINO
TBWAMEDIA ARTS LAB, LOS ANGELES TBWAMEDIA ARTS LAB, LOS ANGELES
SILVER FILM CRAFT LIONS GRAND PRIX FILM LIONS
BRONZE FILM LIONS BRONZE ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR MUSIC
Apple:
show, don’t tell
‘Quiet The Noise’
‘Privacy On iPhone Data Auction’ ‘Fursat. Shot on iPhone 14 Pro’
‘Relax. It’s iPhone – R.I.P. Leon’
13

Taking a ‘blue ocean’ approach and appearing in unexpected environments away
from your competitive set can help to safeguard brand health. In the ‘Inside The
Jury Room’ session on the Health & Wellness Lions, Juror Luc Wise, Founder of
The Good Company, said: “Our industry has been trying to get to grips with
blending entertainment and advertising for decades. We have to get people to
want to watch an ad, not force it upon them.” The best work, he added, seamlessly
blends enjoyment and experience.
To surprise and delight your audience, use unusual spaces and occasions to find
new and exciting ways to engage.
Take a
‘blue ocean’
approach
3
14

Grab attention in
unexpected places:
Partners Life’s
‘The Last Performance’
Takeaway:
Only a quarter – 26% – of the population in New Zealand has life insurance.
So Partners Life’s ‘The Last Performance’ took an unconventional approach to
engaging New Zealanders: partnering with popular crime series The Brokenwood
Mysteries.
The health and life insurance company integrated with the show’s plots and
showed ads after each episode had ended.This prompted a 135% increase in
visitors to its website and a 75% increase in leads.
Mel Routhier, Chief Creative Officer at VMLY&R Chicago and Health &Wellness
Lions Jury President 2023, said: “It’s pure product play with something that’s
super hard to sell: no one wants to talk about life insurance, let alone spend
money on it.They zigged where the rest of the category zagged.”
Find opportunities to connect within traditional formats.
Consider attention-grabbing ways your brand could take advantage
of popular TV shows to drive reach.
THE LAST PERFORMANCE
THE LAST PERFORMANCE | PARTNERS LIFE
SPECIAL, AUCKLAND
GRAND PRIX HEALTH AND WELLNESS LIONS
15

A regenerative farm eggs brand fitted its chickens with
wearable fitness devices to show how much its chickens
move across fresh pasture. It printed their step counts
directly onto the eggs, leading to a 40% increase in
orders. By turning its product into a media channel,
Honest Eggs brought transparency to the industry,
justifying its premium brand status.
Beer brand Corona collaborated across the supply chain
with industry authorities and local farmers to set a new
lime standard. As well as increasing the income of local
farmers and helping to overcome a national lime
shortage, the extra limes became an in-store media
channel for Corona, supporting branded stickers to
reinforce the beer’s lime ritual.
Car giant General Motors used Netflix’s reach to drive
consideration of electric vehicles (EVs). This unpaid media
partnership launched at the 2023 Super Bowl and was
fronted by actor Will Ferrell. By parachuting Ferrell and
EVs into familiar Netflix titles including Squid Game and
Bridgerton, GM aimed to make EVs more familiar.
These three 2023 Lion winners show how to think about touchpoints in a
more lateral, creative way.
HONEST EGGS | FITCHIX
EVS ON SCREEN | GENERAL MOTORS, NETFILIX
CORONA EXTRA LIME | CORONA
VMLY&R, MELBOURNE
THE COMMUNITY, MIAMI
DRAFTLINE, SHANGHAI
GOLD OUTDOOR LIONS
SILVER FILM LIONS
TITANIUM LIONS
Identify new touch-
points for your brand
Honest Eggs
‘Fitchix’
Corona
‘Corona Extra Lime’
General Motors / Netflix
‘EVs on Screen’
16

Invest in
organic growth
“Leaders enlarge their industries,” said Marcel Marcondes, Global Chief Marketing
Officer ofAB InBev, at Cannes Lions. “That means moving from growing at
acquisitions to becoming great at organic growth.And whenever a company
decides to grow organically, it means growing through the brands.The brands
inevitably become the most important assets for a company that wants to grow.”
Yet many marketers struggle with implementing a culture of creative effectiveness
and/or securing investment in creativity from CFOs. Nearly three quarters of
CMOs admitted they had failed to deliver against profitable growth objectives,
according to data shared by PWC at Cannes Lions.
The Creative Impact track co-curated by LIONS and WARC at this year’s
Festival offered practical help to brands seeking to embed a culture of creative
effectiveness.And lessons from winning work outlined in this section showcase
brands including Mondelēz and Renault that, like AB InBev, are growing both their
businesses and their categories. Use their tried and trusted creative approaches as
inspiration for your brands.
“When clients come to us with a problem, it’s
not just a creative problem. It’s a business
problem. How can we look at that problem
with the widest definition of creativity?”
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER | PUBLICIS GROUPE SEA
JURY PRESIDENT, CREATIVE STRATEGY LIONS 2023
AMRITA RANDHAWA
18

Take the time to identify what your brand
stands for. This doesn’t necessarily have to
relate to brand purpose or corporate social
responsibility. Chocolate brand Cadbury has
enjoyed considerable growth since it identified
generosity as its brand platform in 2018.
More than half of the shortlisted or winning
entries for this year’s Creative Effectiveness
Lions used participation. Technological
advances make it easier than ever to work with
your audience, so consider what this would look
like for your brand.
1
2
3
Invest in a strong brand
platform
Invite the audience in
SHAH RUKH KHAN-MY-AD | MONDELĒZ
OGILVY, MUMBAI
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LIONS
THE FOAMY HAIRCUT | BRAHMA
FLIPVERTISING | SAMSUNG
AFRICA CREATIVE DDB, SÃO PAULO
CHEP NETWORK, SYDNEY
GOLD CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LIONS
GRAND PRIX SOCIAL AND INFLUENCER LIONS
Reframe barriers as
opportunities
Consider how to look at barriers as creative
opportunities. This might include pivoting,
taking a risk or engaging new audiences that
you hadn’t previously considered. Take, for
example, Brahma’s ‘Foamy Haircut’ that built
fame for the beer brand thanks to a creative
constraint.
These three strategies from 2023
Lion-winning work will help guide
you towards growth.
Takeaways
19

#1
Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad
2018–2023,
based on points
in the Food sub-
sector (FMCG) in
Cannes Lions
A strong brand platform can consistently drive robust business results because it’s clear
what the brand stands for. Consider the platform
for Snickers. Since launching in 2010, it has become a classic example of creative
effectiveness. It has also reached the top of the WARC/LIONS Creative Effectiveness
Ladder, achieving ‘enduring icon’ status.
Another chocolate brand, Cadbury, had a successful year at Cannes Lions, and like
Snickers, it boasted a strong brand platform. Since 2018, Cadbury’s brand platform has
been generosity. It took the Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness Lions for its
‘Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad’ initiative for Cadbury Celebrations this year, having won
Titanium in 2022.
This section explores Cadbury’s success and highlights other 2023 winning work that
demonstrates the long-term value of a strong brand platform.
Invest in a
strong brand
platform
1
‘You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’
20

Consistency is key:
Mondelēz’s ‘Shah Rukh
Khan-My-Ad’
Takeaway:
SHAH RUKH KHAN-MY-AD
Mondelēz-owned Cadbury Celebrations recognised that small
businesses in India would not have the budget to hire Bollywood
superstar Shah Rukh Khan for an ad. So, in post-pandemic India, it
gifted them his star power by making him the face of Cadbury
Celebrations during Diwali 2021.
Using AI, machine learning and geo-targeting, Cadbury Celebrations
created hyper-personalised ads for more than 130,000 stores.
This generated a 35% growth in business for the boxed chocolate
brand.
Maintain brand platform principles across geographies.
Stay consistent to a brand positioning to help household name
brands deliver long-term growth.
SHAH RUKH KHAN-MY-AD | MONDELĒZ
OGILVY, MUMBAI
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LIONS
21

“It showed us how to
build the category”
Explain where Cadbury
Celebrations were in the market
prior to this work.
How did you select him?
Explain the AI behind the work. How
did you make it accessible for those
small business owners who may not
have been that knowledgeable about
tech?
SN: It’s been the most popular brand for decades
and a huge chunk of our sales comes at Diwali.
During the pandemic, our chocolates weren’t an
essential product, yet because of our generosity
platform, people came out and supported us and
small sellers, and that was a beautiful gesture that
worked in our favour. Our generosity was reflected in
a 30% uplift in the market.
This campaign generated a tremendous amount
of goodwill in hearts and minds. It showed us, as a
leading brand, how you should build the category.
Every festival, we do something that helps our sellers.
It’s a tradition because sellers are such an important
part of our ecosystem. The 200,000 ad campaigns
made for those small businesses with Shah Rukh
Khan will be the only ad campaign they’ll ever create.
SN: We started with the idea of bringing in the
biggest brand ambassador and it had to be someone
from sport or cinema. We felt movies were bigger and
more universal for India. It had to be a mega-star with
pan-Indian appeal.
GB: He is the one person who has the universal
ability to cut through.
SN: As a custodian of creativity, I’ve always said that
technology is the tool you play with, not the idea. We
had to make sure that the tech part was so simple
that all people had to do was submit basic info to
generate their ad. Ogilvy’s Ganapathy Balagopalan, Deputy Chief Strategy
Officer, and Sukesh Nayak, Chief Creative Officer, explain how
generosity and the right mega-star helped Celebrations grow
sales by 30% in India.
GLOBAL CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER | OGILVY, MUMBAI
SUKESH NAYAK
DEPUTY CHIEF STRATEGY OFFICER | OGILVY, MUMBAI
GANAPATHY BALAGOPALAN
How
it got made
22

Creativity is about problem solving and overcoming obstacles. “You need marketers who
look at barriers and understand how to creatively convey brand values in the face of what
other people think. This is where creativity excels,” said Lina Polimeni, Chief Corporate
Brand Officer, Eli Lilly, in a ‘CMOs in the Spotlight’ session from Cannes Lions 2023.
Dealing with barriers in a creative manner can be transformative for business, category,
culture and community. The following pages show how a range of food and drink brands
have behaved authentically to navigate barriers including advertising bans and category-
leading brands with bigger media budgets.
Reframe
barriers as
creative
opportunities
2
23

Find quirky avenues:
Brahma’s
‘The Foamy Haircut’
Takeaway:
Faced with a ban on alcohol sponsorships on football jerseys in
Brazilian tournaments, beer producer Brahma had to show up in a
new and attention-grabbing way. It jumped on cultural conversations
around footballers’ hairstyles, inviting players to style their hair so it
looked like the foam on a Brahma beer. It generated 415m impressions
and 37.6m spontaneous media impressions. Brahma became
inextricably connected to football, and sales of the beer increased by
39%.
Creative Effectiveness Lions Juror Liane Siebenhaar, CSO,Accenture
Song Germany, said: “It was consistent to the brand but also got into
pop culture, creating a lot of impact for the brand when it was being
restricted during a challenging time.”
Take advantage of loopholes.
When faced with a barrier, reframe it as a beautiful constraint to
help steer you towards other ways to drive conversation and sales.
THE FOAMY HAIRCUT
THE FOAMY HAIRCUT | BRAHMA
AFRICA CREATIVE DDB, SÃO PAULO
GOLD CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LIONS
24

When beer sales were banned from football stadiums in
Qatar, sponsor Budweiser promised to send the country
that won the World Cup all of the beer it couldn’t sell.
Kicking off with one witty tweet – ‘Well, this is awkward’
– #BringHomeTheBud generated 225bn impressions
and $400m in earned media. It also made up more than
70% of all sponsor mentions.
M&M’s duped the US into thinking it had cancelled the
‘spokescandies’, replacing them with actor Maya Rudolph.
It sabotaged its Super Bowl spot with a deliberately weird
commercial fronted by Rudolph…before reintroducing
the beloved characters. It earned 25.2bn impressions –
over four times the Super Bowl average.
Wendy’s overtook Burger King to become the second
most popular fast food chain in the US following its
investment in Wendy as an authentic frontwoman on
social platforms. Wendy is likeable and funny, and her
‘fresh’ voice underpins the chain’s commitment to using
fresh meat. This is a key message for the challenger chain
that’s consistently outspent by the competition.
These 2023 Lion winners show how the right tone is key
to overcoming barriers.
BRING HOME THE BUD | BUDWEISER
STILL FRESH. NEVER FROZEN | WENDY’S
M&M’S - SPOKESCANDIES ON PAUSE | M&M’S
WIEDEN+KENNEDY, NEW YORK
VMLY&R, KANSAS CITY
BBDO, NEW YORK
TITANIUM LIONS
BRONZE CREATIVE STRATEGY LIONS
GOLD CREATIVE STRATEGY LIONS
An authentic voice
can lead to growth
Budweiser
‘Bring Home The Bud’
M&M’s
‘Spokescandies on Pause’
Wendy’s
‘Still Fresh. Never Frozen’
25

More than half – 53% – of shortlisted or winning Creative Effectiveness Lions
entries used consumer-generated content or participation as a creative strategy.
That’s a significant increase from 40% in 2022.
Add a participatory mechanic into creative work to appeal to audiences in
attention-grabbing and unique ways.
Invite the
audience in
3 2023 shortlist vs 2022 shortlist (selected objectives)
Advocacy
2023 2022
Partnerships
Corporate responsibility
Brand activism
Informative, educational
Celebrity
Stunt
Consumer-generated content,
participation
53%
40%
Source: WARC
42%
20%
32%
40%
32%
33%
26%
21%
40%
20%
21%
20%
21%
20%
26

Use audience-owned
infrastructure:
Renault’s ‘Plug-Inn’
Takeaway:
A lack of electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities, particularly in rural France, is
slowing down the country’s uptake of EVs. Plug-Inn, nicknamed by Renault ‘the
Airbnb for plugs’, is a peer-to-peer app connecting EV drivers with other people’s
home chargers, to minimise the risk of running out of power while on the road.
This business model created what Renault describes as “the fastest-growing
recharging network for all brands…and soon for all countries”, positioning itself at
the centre of the switch from diesel- or petrol-powered vehicles to electric.
Creative Strategy Lions Jury President,Amrita Randhawa, Chief Executive Officer,
Publicis Groupe SEA, said: “This was category re-definition, a new revenue model
for the brand, and it created a real cash value exchange for its consumers. It
showed true category leadership in terms of being open to other brands and
advancing electric vehicles.”
Consider the issues your customers have using your product.
Find innovative ways to fix problems. Your solutions may be used
for your competitors’ products too, but you’ll be seen as an
innovative brand and category leader.
RENAULT – PLUG-INN
RENAULT PLUG-INN | RENAULT
PUBLICIS CONSEIL, PARIS
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE STRATEGY LIONS
27

Chicken chain Popeyes sold out of its 10-week
sandwich supply in eight days. How? It engaged Black
Twitter, a highly influential, hyper-creative group of
Twitter users that it had specifically targeted as its
audience, following a year of strategic planning.
Restaurant-goers became brand advocates for
Heinz through this direct approach. By involving its
fanbase, Heinz received 279 leads that it converted
to real business wins. Restaurants listened to their
customers and switched to Heinz.
New Zealand telco Skinny honoured its pledge
to keep prices low by encouraging its audience to
contribute the voiceover to its radio ads.
Skinny acquisitions went up 34% year on year.
By asking consumers to search for the right words to
win a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip4 phone, this initiative
challenged traditional targeting approaches.
Galaxy Z Flip4 sales rose by 32% week on week
following the campaign launch.
These 2023 Lion-winning brands show how
involving the audience can generate results.
GSD&M, AUSTIN CHEP NETWORK, SYDNEY
MISCHIEF @ NO FIXED ADDRESS, NEW YORK COLENSO BBDO AUCKLAND
SILVER CREATIVE STRATEGY LIONS GRAND PRIX SOCIAL AND INFLUENCER LIONS
BRONZE CREATIVE B2B LIONS GRAND PRIX RADIO & AUDIO LIONS
Ask the
audience
Popeyes ‘Chicken Wars’
Heinz ‘Tip for Heinz’ Skinny ‘Phone It In’
Samsung ‘Flipvertising’
28

Talk with, not at,
your audience
Reframing audiences as communities enables brands to develop deeper, more
conversational relationships with consumers.As Kenny Gold, Head of Social,
Content and Influencer at Deloitte Digital, said at Cannes Lions:
“Marketers should be listening to audiences, understanding what’s important
to them and ensuring that content is being built from that momentum from
the middle out.”
Use the tips and techniques in this section to build robust relationships with
your audience. Discover how to become part of gaming fandoms in a natural
and non-obtrusive way. Improve brand experiences for everyone by
committing to inclusivity. And use co-creation to build loyalty among
ad-avoidant Gen Zers.This is particularly important given that nearly half –
48% – of Gen Z consumers actively want to engage with brands on platforms
such as TikTok to influence product innovation, according to Euromonitor.As
Gen Z accounts for one quarter of the global population, brands must find
relevant ways to talk with them, not at them.
48%
of Gen Z consumers want to engage with brands to influence product innovation
Source: Euromonitor International Voice of the Consumer Survey. Lifestyles Survey 2022
30

Meet the diverse needs of specific gaming
communities and consider how you can add
value beyond pushing a brand message.
Use the Entertainment Lions for Gaming Grand
Prix winner ‘Clash of Clans’ as a reference point.
Lion winners offer three ways to
build and sustain trusting
relationships with communities.
Work with creators to drive trust. Find people
with an organic attachment to your brand and
don’t let vanity metrics cloud your judgement.
Learn from the ‘Michelob Guy’: the most
influential figures might not have the highest
follower count, but quality of engagement can
trump quantity.
Shortlisted work that referenced inclusion rose
by 33% in 2023 vs 2022. Consider how your
work can make it easy for partners to drive
inclusion.
Takeaways
1
2
3
Turn gaming communities
into brand advocates
Look beyond obvious
sources of influence
Support inclusive work with
commitment
KAMI | DOWN SYNDROME INTERNATIONAL
INEQUALITY YOU CAN’T IGNORE | THE CHRYSALIS INITIATIVE
FORSMAN & BODENFORS, SINGAPORE
EVERSANA INTOUCH, NEW YORK
SILVER PR LIONS
GOLD PHARMA LIONS
CLASH FROM THE PAST | CLASH OF CLANS
WIEDEN+KENNEDY, PORTLAND
GRAND PRIX ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR GAMING
31

Listen to players, invite them to participate and collaborate with them. Successful work
in the inaugural Entertainment Lions for Gaming showed how to truly enhance play or
the experience around it.
As 2023 Jury President Francine Li, Global Head of Marketing at Riot Games, says:
“Gaming companies don’t exclusively own games; they are co-owned by the
community. Players are so passionate. When you’re able to tap that passion in a positive
way, they’ll be your biggest advocate.”
Entertainment Lions for Gaming 2023: mentions of community/communities
of shortlists
in the Entertainment
Lions for Gaming were
community-related
of Awards
in the Entertainment
Lions for Gaming were
community-related
Cannes Lions 2023, entries with “community” or “communities” in their synopsis
Turn gaming
communities
into brand
advocates 71% 77%
1
32

Build a branded
universe:
‘Clash from the Past’
Takeaway:
CLASH FROM THE PAST
Clash of Clans celebrated its 10th anniversary by inviting fans into an alternate
reality where the mobile game had existed since 1982.The nostalgic campaign featured a
20-minute documentary detailing the game’s fake origin story, alongside a rabbit hole of
faux brand deals and exclusive content that anchored the game in the past.
Brand sentiment skyrocketed, with the campaign video trending at number 1 on YouTube.
A cereal created in partnership with General Mills sold out, and limited-edition trading
cards resold for $2000 on eBay.
Francine Li, Global Head of Marketing at Riot Games and Jury President of the
Entertainment Lions for Gaming 2023, said: “Players don’t just love games, they love the
universe around them.This brave idea turned the typical game anniversary celebration on
its head with depth and authenticity. It resonated with the player community and drove
profound brand love.”
Invest in worldbuilding.
Give players opportunities to enjoy the game beyond gameplay
and look for different touchpoints to tell your story.
CLASH FROM THE PAST | CLASH OF CLANS
WIEDEN+KENNEDY, PORTLAND
GRAND PRIX ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR GAMING
33

Burger King challenged gamers to change their
nicknames to Whopper ingredients and work together
to build the burger on the Call of Duty scoreboard. More
than 40,000 winning squads claimed Whopper coupons,
with some players recreating the challenge within other
games. Burger King’s online sales grew by 28%.
McDonald’s used the gaming community’s fondness for
‘screen grabbing’ to claim fast food lookalikes across the
gaming multiverse. By rewarding gamers with real
versions of their digital finds, it increased brand
engagement by 140% and McDelivery sales by 35%.
Partnering with Xbox, Oreo embossed its cookies to
resemble game controller buttons and invited players to
identify ‘cheat codes’. By scanning different cookie
combinations, players unlocked more than 827,000
in-game features, and Oreo achieved 8.6% growth across
Europe.
These three Lion winners show how to maximise cross-collaboration
opportunities with the player community by engaging audiences with
in-game challenges.
MISSION: WHOPPER | BURGER KING
OREO CHEAT COOKIES | MONDELĒZ EUROPE
UNBRANDED MENU | MCDONALD’S
DAVID, SÃO PAULO
SAATCHI & SAATCHI, DÜSSELDORF
LEO BURNETT, MANILA
SILVER SOCIAL & INFLUENCER LIONS
GOLD DIRECT LIONS
SILVER ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR GAMING
Play with the players
Burger King
‘Mission: Whopper’
McDonald’s
‘Unbranded Menu’
Mondelēz Europe
‘Oreo Cheat Cookies’
34

“The creator economy comes from a bedroom that others can see themselves in.
That’s why it’s so successful,” said Ashley Rudder, Chief Creator Officer at creator
commerce company Whalar, at Cannes Lions.
This section shows how the sphere of influence is evolving in response to a demand for
greater authenticity and transparency, with brands turning to everyday people or
widespread co-creation to access specific communities.
Look beyond
obvious sources
of influence
2
Source: WARC
The creator economy is valued at
The creator economy has grown by
in the past two years (as of May 2023)
$102 billion
$165 million
35

Everyday
ambassadors:
‘Michelob Guy’
Takeaway:
When a Tiger Woods fan attracted attention for holding a can of Michelob ULTRA
instead of a smartphone, the beer producer moved fast.
‘Michelob Guy’ was given his own commercial, signed to a merchandise deal and sent
on a press tour – turning him into the official spokesperson for the brand’s ‘It’s only
worth it if you enjoy it’ message.
‘Michelob Guy’ helped Michelob ULTRA gain 250m PR impressions and 30,000
organic social mentions, as well as its highest-grossing merch of 2022.
Follow the fans.
Listen out for organic conversations around your brand and act
quickly to champion a supporter.
MICHELOB GUY
MICHELOB GUY | AB INBEV – MICHELOB ULTRA
MICHELOB ULTRA, NEW YORK
SILVER SOCIAL & INFLUENCER LIONS
36

Organ donation centre Junge Helden recruited
tattoo artists as influencers, offering ink enthusiasts
free matching tattoos to opt in for organ donation.
Launched at tattoo conventions, it inspired more than
3000 donors and lifted the centre’s social
media following by 100%.
When retired AFL footballer and motor neurone disease
spokesman Neale Daniher lost his voice to the disease,
FightMND used TikTok’s duet feature to invite Australians
to dictate his speech on his behalf. The video became
TikTok’s number 1 user-generated content that month,
raising a record-breaking $19.8m for FightMND.
Kami, the first verified virtual influencer with Down
syndrome, was created and is controlled by 100 women
from the community she represents. Kami demonstrates a
more inclusive model for running influencers, used as an
example of best practice in Meta’s ‘Ethics of Virtual
Influencers’ guidelines.
Benefit card Flash invited Brazilian football fans to
customise their national team jersey with its name and
post a picture in exchange for a 50% refund. More than
3273 consumers became Flash sponsors, boosting brand
mentions by 2300%.
At the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2023,
Mobbie Nazir, Global Chief Strategy Officer at We
Are Social, described a movement “towards more
anonymous and collective influence”. These four
Lion winners show this shift towards widespread
co-creation in action.
#OPTINK | JUNGE HELDEN E.V. CASHBACK FOR YOUR JERSEY’S BACK | FLASH
I’M NEALE DANIHER | FIGHTMND KAMI | DOWN SYNDROME INTERNATIONAL
FORSMAN & BODENFORS, SINGAPORE
CLEMENGER BBDO, SYDNEY
MCCANN, PARIS GOLD SOCIAL & INFLUENCER LIONS FCB BRASIL, SÃO PAULO GOLD SOCIAL & INFLUENCER LIONS
SILVER SOCIAL & INFLUENCER LIONS SILVER PR LIONS
Power to the
people
#OPTINK
I’m Neale Daniher Kami
Cashback For Your Jersey’s Back
37

To demonstrate true allyship, complement inclusive work with long-term
commitment. Go even further by pushing partners and other organisations to
create work that is representative of the real world.
As Andy Kraut, Senior Brand Partnerships Executive at Grindr, advised during the
Cannes Lions 2023 session ‘Strange Bedfellows: How Officials and Grindr Made
Monkeypox Education “Viral”’: “Ask yourself a serious question: why do I want to
reach the gay community? Is it because they have more money in this vertical?
Is it because we have real sympathy for their plea? Figure out what that means to
the company and why, and then see if that’s being reflected in how you practise
internally.”
Support
inclusive
work with
commitment
3
Cannes Lions 2023 vs 2022, entries with “inclusion” in their synopsis
Mentions of inclusion: All Cannes Lions entries 2023 vs 2022
ENTRIES
SHORTLISTS
AWARDS
72%
50%
17%
38

Extend assistive
technologies:
‘MouthPad^’
Takeaway:
Hardware startup Augmental’s smart teeth retainer translates tongue movements
into clicks, offering individuals with limited mobility a new way to control
electronics with accuracy.
In one week, the hands-free interface received more than 1000 preorders,
prompting a 6000% rise in Augmental’s website traffic.
“This is not just for people with a disability,” said Grace Francis, Global Chief
Creative and Design Officer at WongDoody and Innovation Lions Jury President
2023. “It also has applications for surgeons who have their hands full and can use
‘MouthPad^’ to control a screen. We think about it as holistic, assistive tech for the
disabled, but it has applications for all of us.”
Solve a problem for a specific community, then consider how it
can benefit other groups.
MOUTHPAD^
MOUTHPAD^ | AUGMENTAL
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON, LIMA
GRAND PRIX INNOVATION LIONS
39

This used augmented reality, storytelling and
localised media placement to urge healthcare providers
to recognise racial inequalities in breast cancer care.
Despite initially facing dismissal, it inspired 27 US
hospitals to add unconscious bias training to their
curricula.
Sponsoring Chris Nikic, its first athlete with Down
syndrome, adidas called on every major marathon
to hold the number 321 bib to encourage visibility. It
prompted 252 races, including all six of the world’s largest
marathons, to reserve a space for neurodivergent
athletes.
To expose rainbow washing, the superficial use of
LGBTQ+ symbols, consulting firm Capaxia launched an
open-source tool that measures companies’ true
commitment to the community. The app offers real-time
data on more than 3000 brands and has been
downloaded by more than 50,000 people in Mexico.
These three Lion winners support specific communities and hold other
organisations accountable too.
INEQUALITY YOU CAN’T IGNORE | THE CHRYSALIS INITIATIVE
RAINBOW WASHING DETECTOR | CAPAXIA
RUNNER 321 | ADIDAS
EVERSANA INTOUCH, NEW YORK
DDB MEXICO, MEXICO CITY
FCB TORONTO
GOLD PHARMA LIONS
BRONZE MOBILE LIONS
GRAND PRIX DIRECT LIONS
Exercise allyship
The Chrysalis Initiative
‘Inequality you can’t ignore’
adidas
‘Runner 321’
Capaxia
‘Rainbow Washing Detector’
40

“An idea that resonates
with people will take on
a life of its own”
What was the brief?
How did everything come together?
A lot of the major races aren’t associated
with adidas. Were you confident that you
were going to be able to get them on board?
What’s next for this piece?
What did you learn from this piece?
AM: We were already working with Chris Nikic and
the Canadian Down Syndrome Society. From there,
we introduced Chris to adidas, which resulted in him
becoming the first person with Down syndrome to
be sponsored by the brand. Chris was already geared
up to run the Boston Marathon, so adidas asked us
to create some social content around that endeavour.
We decided there was a bigger opportunity there –
something that was PR-driven and impactful.
SR: It started with 321. We knew we wanted to
make this number something the community could
aspire to. From there, we created the film to get the
community excited. Once that happened, people
started approaching these races and saying, “I want
to wear 321, I want to represent my community.”
We designed a toolkit to make it super easy for race
directors to respond.
AM: There was a bit of an ‘uh oh’ moment when we
remembered that other major races have sponsors that
are direct competitors. But at its core, ‘Runner 321’ is about
inclusivity, and inclusivity is what’s right for the world. That
reassured us because at the end of the day, if you said no to
Runner 321, you weren’t saying no to adidas, you were saying
no to inclusion. We just didn’t see people doing that.
SR: Chris told us that growing up, he didn’t see anyone
like him in mainstream sports, and that was a barrier. Our
goal is that this community will never not see themselves
represented in a race. Making it super easy for the races
to participate was definitely a challenge, but getting the
community to participate was not a challenge at all. They were
so inspired. The power of representation was amazing to see.
AM: An idea that resonates with people will
take on a life of its own. We did the heavy lifting
upfront, but it’s the people that got involved
and championed it that made it live.
FCB Toronto’s Andrew MacPhee, Executive Creative
Director, and Sara Radovanovich, Associate Creative
Director and Senior Copywriter, talk about how
‘Runner 321’ became a bigger idea when people
started to champion it.
‘Runner 321’:
How
it got made
RUNNER 321 | ADIDAS
FCB, TORONTO GRAND PRIX DIRECT LIONS
41

AI:
“Raw clay with rich
potential”
A record number of Cannes Lions entries used AI in 2023: 7.3% of all 2023
entries mentioned AI in their synopses compared with 3.7% in 2022.
“We’re all at the beginning of this AI journey. No one has all the answers.AI is
just raw clay. It takes people with curiosity, creativity and compassion to
harness AI’s rich potential,” said Google’s Creative Lab Vice-President, Robert
Wong at Cannes Lions.
The winning work of 2023 demonstrated how AI can pack an emotional
punch, make co-creation easier and raise the standard of craft for
pharmaceutical brands.This section showcases how, with the right human
steer,AI is already helping power up creativity for a range of brands.
3.7%
7.3%
2023
2022
Cannes Lions entries
using AI nearly
doubled year on year
Source: LIONS Awards Data, 2022–2023
43

Co-creation is easier than ever with AI. Invite
your audience to use AI to participate in
building your brand with you. Follow the
example of HungerStation and work with
your audience.
Apply these actionable insights to
the brands you work on so AI can
supercharge your creative
thinking.
Consider how AI can help you with emotionally
challenging or complex briefs. This year’s
winners that used AI included new ways to
show the effects of climate change and the
plight of asylum seekers.
AI has helped revolutionise craft in creative
work for pharmaceutical companies.
Pharma brands should consider how AI can
help them raise their game.
Takeaways
1
2
3
Use AI to co-create
Pack an emotional punch
Power craft in pharma
CLIMATE REALISM | WWF GERMANY
SCROLLING THERAPY | EUROFARMA
LEO BURNETT, FRANKFURT
DENTSU CREATIVE, BUENOS AIRES
BRONZE DIGITAL CRAFT LIONS
GRAND PRIX PHARMA LIONS
THE SUBCONSCIOUS ORDER I HUNGERSTATION
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON, RIYADH
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE COMMERCE LIONS
44

The late Jeremy Bullmore, described by Campaign as “adland’s greatest philosopher”,
once said: “Products are made and owned by companies. Brands, on the other hand, are
made and owned by people...by the public...by consumers.” AI, through making
co-creation so much easier, enables people to deepen that dynamic, reinforcing their
relationships with brands.
Tiffany Rolfe is R/GA’s Global Chief Creative Officer, and at Cannes Lions, she said:
“A brand is an iterative work in progress, something that needs building by many.
It’s not a finished work of art that needs guarding… Designing and building brands is
becoming a lot more open-ended. Your brands will need to express themselves in less
deterministic ways.”
Use AI to power memorable brand experiences and co-create assets as a way to reset
the relationship with your audience.
Use AI to
co-create
1
45

Help your audience:
HungerStation’s ‘The
Subconscious Order’
Takeaway:
THE SUBCONSCIOUS ORDER
Saudi food delivery app HungerStation created an AI tool that scanned users’ eye
movements while they were scrolling.This helped users understand what they really
wanted to eat by giving them a window into their subconscious mind.
Using the insight that too much choice can be overwhelming, this playful experience led
to HungerStation recruiting 78,000 new customers in two weeks.
Creative Commerce Lions Jury President Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, Chief Creative Officer,
FCB, said: “We go on autopilot when we order food from apps.This created a new
consumer experience that allowed people to discover new foods. It was scalable and
adaptable to any market because the pain point is global. It connected with consumers in
that moment of decision and gave people a way to diversify the places from where they
order food. It was a beautiful human experience that didn’t take itself too seriously, and it
was really fun.”
Use AI to supercharge brand experiences.
Bring it in to help with making decisions in a casual, fun way.
THE SUBCONSCIOUS ORDER I HUNGERSTATION
WUNDERMAN THOMPSON, RIYADH
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE COMMERCE LIONS
46

Support the next
generation:
Nike’s ‘Never Done
Evolving Feat. Serena’
Takeaway:
NEVER DONE EVOLVING FEAT. SERENA
Nike studied two decades of Serena Williams’s gameplay and built a data set from it.
Machine learning converted the data into multiple avatars, each representing Williams at a
different stage of her tennis career.To add hype, a virtual match was held: first grand-slam
Serena took on final grand-slam Serena.The avatars are now being used to help young
athletes reach their full potential.
Digital Craft Lions Juror, Noah Khan, Regional Head of Digital & Innovation in Africa and
the Middle East for TBWA & DAN, said: “Nike took a great idea and looked at all the other
places it could impact.”
Consider how AI’s data processing capabilities can be used for
innovative research to reinvent a brand. AI can help build data
sets and avatars that serve a genuine and useful purpose.
NEVER DONE EVOLVING FEAT. SERENA | NIKE
AKQA, SÃO PAULO
GRAND PRIX DIGITAL CRAFT LIONS
47

Winning work demonstrated how AI could help solve problems and provoke a reaction
around highly emotive issues, such as climate change and accessibility.
“We control the tools, the tools don’t control us,” reminded Aurelia Noel, Global Head of
Innovation and Digital Transformation, dentsu X, at Cannes Lions.
With the right human intention and direction, AI can lead us to some interesting new
places. See its potential for progress from the winning work and consider what this might
look like for your brand.
Pack an
emotional
punch
2
48

Refresh your message
with AI:
‘Climate Realism’
Takeaway:
To make the science of climate change more emotionally engaging, WWF Germany
used hard data and generative AI to transform famous works of art featuring natural
scenes.
From Monet’s water lilies to Gauguin’s landscapes, the paintings were altered to reflect
rising temperatures.
By using AI to wreck recognisable paintings, WWF Germany imagines the losses we
could face in the future, bringing new life to a familiar message.
Use craft to bring emotion to AI-generated data.
AI engines can interpret data in exciting new ways. Combine that
with a powerful creative treatment and it will grab attention.
CLIMATE REALISM
CLIMATE REALISM | WWF GERMANY
LEO BURNETT, FRANKFURT
BRONZE DIGITAL CRAFT LIONS
49

Michelob ULTRA worked with a blind sports fan to
develop multisensorial technology that allowed him
to fully experience and commentate an NBA playoffs
game. Through data and AI, the fan felt every moment
of the match and shared his views with millions of sports
enthusiasts. It reframed the beer’s positioning to ‘it’s only
worth it if we ALL enjoy it’.
Samsung’s AI app ‘Unfear’ personalised acceptable levels
of noise for the 70 million people on the autism
spectrum. Providing a compromise between
extremes – being overwhelmed by noise and
noise-cancelling headphones – the app puts the user in
control.
Journalists and photographers aren’t allowed inside
Australia’s offshore detention centres. So, social justice
law firm Maurice Blackburn converted 300 hours of
interviews into hyper-realistic photographs using AI.
By building visual evidence, the firm generated huge
publicity for an ignored injustice and highlighted the
plight of asylum seekers.
AI-powered solutions tackle serious issues including the isolation of asylum
seekers and the sensory overload experienced by people with autism.
DREAMCASTER | MICHELOB ULTRA
EXHIBIT A-I | MAURICE BLACKBURN SOCIAL JUSTICE
SAMSUNG UNFEAR | SAMSUNG SPAIN
FCB, NEW YORK
HOWATSON+COMPANY, SYDNEY
CHEIL WORLDWIDE, MADRID
GRAND PRIX ENTERTAINMENT LIONS FOR SPORT
SILVER SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS LIONS
SILVER BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION LIONS
Use AI for a fresh take
Michelob ULTRA
‘DreamCaster’
Samsung Spain
‘Unfear’
Maurice Blackburn Social Justice
‘Exhibit A-i’
50

Four pieces of winning work, including the Grand Prix winner, used AI in this year’s
Pharma Lions.
JOSHUA PRINCE
CEO | OMNICOM HEALTH GROUP
JURY PRESIDENT | PHARMA LIONS
2023
“This is the first year that AI has been available for agencies and they are in
the ‘playing’ phase. In the space of healthcare, unlike many other
categories, there’s pain and suffering – AI has a role to play in visualising that,
but a lot of the power is predicated on the human element and input.”
Pharma Lions Winners 2023 that cited AI in their synopsis
LIFESAVING RADIO
MIND’S EYE
SCROLLING THERAPY
THE OUTSIDE IN EXPERIMENT: NAILS
KLICK HEALTH, TORONTO
AREA 23, AN IPG HEALTH NETWORK COMPANY, NEW YORK
Power craft
in pharma
3
51

Rethink routines:
‘Scrolling Therapy’
Takeaway:
Latin American company Eurofarma developed Scrolling Therapy, an AI-powered
mobile app that used facial recognition to help people living with Parkinson’s
disease do daily facial exercises more comfortably to maintain control over their
facial expressions.
Every day, when they scrolled their social media feeds, their scrolling time also
became their facial exercises.This was because the most important facial therapy
exercises – smiling, eyebrow raising and frowning – became commands for the
newsfeed. By moving their faces, patients could scroll up and down, like posts and
play video content.
It launched in 10 countries and was made available for free to 8.5 million patients.
Use AI to solve the problem behind the problem.
Here, patients’ reluctance to commit to the facial exercises
generated a more accessible alternative.
SCROLLING THERAPY
SCROLLING THERAPY | EUROFARMA
GRAND PRIX PHARMA LIONS
52

Biotech company Horizon Therapeutics added patient
testimonials into generative AI software. This spawned
thousands of images that embodied their experience.
These pictures were converted into films using a different
AI system, then set to music, creating eye-catching
content that vividly depicted the pain caused by gout.
This free, open-source app enables people living with
motor neurone disease to express themselves. An
AI-powered art tool responds to touchscreen and head-
or eye-tracking, enabling patients to generate images to
show how they’re feeling.
Surgeons were invited to visit LifesavingRadio.com where
‘AI Angus’ can generate a personalised, performance-
enhancing audio experience, based on the music
clinically shown to improve surgical accuracy and
efficiency in the operating room. Nearly 30,000 AI radio
hours were streamed.
AI helps patients express their pain and frustration as well as supporting
surgeons.
THE OUTSIDE IN EXPERIMENT: WASPS | HORIZON THERAPEUTICS
LIFESAVING RADIO | NEXTMED HEALTH
MIND’S EYE | MND ASSOCIATION, DEEPAI, AMYLYX PHARMACEUTICALS
AREA 23, NEW YORK
KLICK HEALTH, TORONTO
AREA 23, NEW YORK
SILVER PHARMA LIONS
BRONZE PHARMA LIONS
SILVER PHARMA LIONS
Health boosted by
pharma brands using AI
Horizon Therapeutics
‘The Outside In Experiment’
MND Association, DeepAI,
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals
‘Mind’s Eye’
NextMed Health
‘Lifesaving Radio’
53

“We have to join hearts and hands across the world
in every sector, in every country, if we want to see
our world turn around. Our deadline is 2030 to
achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We
are not on track. Progress has been protracted,
especially in light of the pandemic and Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine.”
Turn the world
around
“It’s time for all hands on deck. We have to move with urgency and act now if
we want to turn the world around.”
This call to arms was given at Cannes Lions by Sueann Tannis,
Senior Communications Director at the United Nations Foundation.
Brands have permission to be in this space.And it may even be a business
risk not to be in this space.According to Edelman, consumers are up to seven
times more likely to buy brands that commit to taking actions like improving
access to healthcare, addressing climate change and ending racism.
This section showcases brands that are already making progress. Use it to
guide your business or transformation strategy with creativity and pragmatism.
SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR | UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION
JURY PRESIDENT | LIONS HEALTH GRAND PRIX FOR GOOD
SUEANN TANNIS
55

Invest in scalable ideas that are bigger than
your brand. Consider where your brand can be
most useful, like Raid’s ‘Certified Care’
programme. This helped 10,000 women in
Rwanda qualify as community healthcare
workers.
Apply these actionable insights to
the brands you work on to push
progress and profit.
Apply creativity to solve the problems of your
partners across your supply chain and you’ll
future-proof your own brand, too. For instance,
Corona grew limes in China to drive sales of its
beer and strengthen its supply chain.
What would a version of this look like for your
brand?
Certain brands are making a stand for a safer,
healthier and more inclusive internet. Media
Lions Grand Prix winner Dove is a constant
critic of toxic social media behaviour. How could
your brand get involved?
Takeaways
1
2
3
Leave a legacy
Solve your supplier’s problem
Fix the internet
#TURNYOURBACK | DOVE
DRAFTLINE, SHANGHAI
OGILVY, LONDON
TITANIUM LION
GRAND PRIX MEDIA LIONS
CERTIFIED CARE I RAID
ENERGY BBDO, CHICAGO
GOLD BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION LIONS
56

Marketers are wasting their energy on “average” work that’s “polluting” the world. This is
what Sir John Hegarty, Co-Founder and Creative Director at The Garage Soho and The
Business of Creativity, said at Cannes Lions.
The time is now to think beyond the next reporting quarter. Instead, consider how your
brand can leave a powerful legacy. How can the brands you work on contribute to a
safer, healthier, more sustainable world?
Leave a
legacy
1
57

THE FIRST DIGITAL NATION | THE GOVERNMENT OF TUVALU
THE MONKEYS, PART OF ACCENTURE SONG, SYDNEY
GRAND PRIX TITANIUM LIONS
Prioritise pragmatism:
‘The First
Digital Nation’
Takeaway:
THE FIRST DIGITAL NATION
The South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is likely to become uninhabitable by 2050 due to the
devastating effects of climate change: rising sea levels will submerge the entire country.
So, the Government of Tuvalu created a digital copy of its island home to preserve its
sovereignty when it no longer has actual land.At COP27, it launched a film starring Tuvaluan
Minister Simon Kofe (pictured, right). Kofe was filmed speaking on the island, with the camera
panning out during his speech until only a tiny piece of land remained.
Tuvalu will become the world’s first digital nation, ensuring its ability to govern in the face of a
worst-case scenario.This digital transformation process will allow Tuvalu to retain its identity and
continue to function after its physical land is gone.
David Droga, CEO ofAccenture Song and Titanium Lions Jury President 2023, said: “This is not
an awareness campaign.This is a change to the fundamental recognition of what it means to
be a nation…This is about laws, precedents and policies.The idea will be contagious for other
nations facing the same peril.”
Bring in experts and work with them for the long haul.
‘The First Digital Nation’ is an ongoing collaboration with
sustainability experts and government ministers, as well as the
Tuvaluan people.
58

Insecticide brand Raid created a sustainable solution to
Rwanda’s malaria problem while helping to break poverty
cycles. ‘Certified Care’ by Energy BBDO, Chicago, has
trained 10,000 of Rwanda’s de facto caregivers as official
community healthcare workers, enabling them to earn
money and build a career.
The ‘Working With Cancer’ pledge gives people living
with cancer dignity and financial security. The 390 pledge
signers, representing more than 13 million employees,
include Fortune 100 companies that have committed to
ending the stigma of working with cancer.
Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei launched a
‘well-being index’, measured by gross domestic wellbeing
(GDW). Some 23 companies, including Nestlé, Fujitsu,
Kirin and Deloitte, started making internal changes for
employees and investors or launched public wellbeing
initiatives, and Japan’s government created a wellbeing
committee.
Lion-winning brands invested in ideas that improved people’s futures
through health-related initiatives.
CERTIFIED CARE | RAID
WELL-BEING INDEX (GDW) | NIKKEI INC.
WORKING WITH CANCER | MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER
ENERGY BBDO, CHICAGO
DENTSU INC., TOKYO
LA FOUNDATION PUBLICIS, CHICAGO
GOLD BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION LIONS
GOLD CREATIVE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION LIONS
HEALTH GRAND PRIX FOR GOOD LIONS
Progress through
health and wellbeing
Raid
‘Certified Care’
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center
‘Working With Cancer’
Nikkei Inc.
‘Well-being Index (GDW)’
59

Highlight the problem:
‘Anne de Gaulle’
Takeaway:
ANNE DE GAULLE
To raise awareness of the exclusionary nature of travel, particularly for the 12 million
people with disabilities in France, Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris was temporarily
renamed Paris-Anne de Gaulle.The name came from Charles de Gaulle’s daughter, who
was born with Down syndrome and whose eponymous foundation champions
accessibility.
Launched to coincide with International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the revamped
airport highlighted specific issues people with disabilities face when they travel and
attracted the attention of France’s Ministry ofTransport.
Having earned €1m in media and achieved a reach of 50 million people, the airport
operator, Groupe ADP, kickstarted an accessibility programme, which will be ready by the
Olympic Games in Paris in summer 2024.
Make an unmissable statement.
Getting noticed with a big PR push means that audiences will
understand the need for change. Then you can focus on the details.
ANNE DE GAULLE | FONDATION ANNE DE GAULLE
HAVAS, PARIS
GRAND PRIX FOR GOOD LIONS
60

Make it personal:
‘Where To Settle’
Takeaway:
WHERE TO SETTLE
Financial services brand Mastercard reinforced its commitment to financial inclusion by
helping Ukrainian refugees find homes and jobs in Poland.
Mastercard collaborated with the Morizon-Gratka Group, part of a Polish news
organisation providing job and home rental offers. It presented the cost of living in cities
of different sizes in Poland and invited users to share their family size and employment
preferences to help suggest the right location for them based on their needs.
The platform also features people from Polish cities inviting refugees to their towns and
showing them the highlights and hotspots.
One fifth of Ukrainian refugees settling in Poland used the digital tool.
Personalise the user experience.
‘Where To Settle’ gave families different living options within
Poland and flagged the positive contribution they would make. This
humanised and welcomed the Ukrainian families, treating them
with respect and dignity.
WHERE TO SETTLE | MASTERCARD
MCCANN POLAND, WARSAW
GRAND PRIX SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS LIONS
61

“We saw many examples of brands looking at their full supply chains, including their
customers, and asking how they can drive impact not just for themselves but everyone
across it.”
So said Justin Peyton, Global Head of Emerging Channels at Wunderman Thompson and
Creative Business Transformation Lions Jury President.
This approach has huge benefits for all stakeholders: the more brands can work
collaboratively with their supply chain partners, the more they can guarantee a quality
product for customers.
The winning work featured on the following pages shows how a beer brand in China and a
snack brand in India successfully took this approach.
Solve your
supplier’s
problem
2
62

Take one idea and
execute it elegantly:
‘Corona Extra Lime’
Takeaway:
CORONA EXTRA LIME
AB InBev-owned beer brand Corona collaborated with industry authorities and local
farmers to set a new lime standard.
This was because Covid-19 had led to a shortage of high-quality limes that Corona had
been importing from Tahiti for the brand’s ritual of serving with lime.This shortage
threatened to limit Corona’s growth in China, the world’s largest beer-drinking market.
Corona turned this challenge into an opportunity by producing its own limes.As well as
increasing the income of local farmers, the extra limes helped lift sales of the beer by 29%
in 2022 vs 2020.
Justin Peyton, Global Head of Emerging Channels at Wunderman Thompson and
Creative Business Transformation Lions Jury President 2023, said: “This is not just solving
a problem at its core. It’s one thought carried all the way through. It was such an elegant
execution.”
Revive rituals around your brand to drive interest and new
consumption patterns, protecting future revenues.
DRAFTLINE, SHANGHAI
TITANIUM LION
63

Protect livelihoods:
‘Lay’s Smart Farm’
Takeaway:
LAY’S SMART FARM
Lay’s works with 27,000 farmers across India to obtain potatoes for its snack brands.Yet due to
climate-change-related weather conditions, Indian farmers now can’t predict how the weather
will affect their crops.
Lay’s partnered with smart farming app Cropin and four satellite agencies to create Smart Farm.
This system uses remote sensing and satellite imagery to create an early warning system for
farmers that they can access on their smartphones.
Lay’s used four years of farming data, mapping it over real-time conditions so that AI could
generate early diagnoses of conditions such as blight, so farmers could act quickly.
This prevented farmers from losing one fifth of their crop, improved profitability through
yield increases of up to 25% and reduced the crop pandemic risk by 80.3%.This led to the
protection of farmers’ financial stability by increasing their income by $55 per acre.
Nnenna Onyewuchi is Executive Director, Strategy and Innovation, at Yellow Brick Road and
was also a 2023 Innovation Lions Juror. She said: “Lay’s is already taking this model into other
markets. Other large enterprises need to see that this is a big investment that pays off not just
for stakeholders but also for the business.”
Make the UX accessible for your supply chain.
While the behind-the-scenes tech powering ‘Lay’s Smart Farm’ is
sophisticated, the interface for farmers is familiar and accessible.
LAY’S SMART FARM | LAY’S
LEO BURNETT, MUMBAI
SILVER CREATIVE DATA LIONS
64

Fix the
internet
3
“The people and companies that fund the internet can fundamentally change it,” said Bill
Ready, CEO of Pinterest, at Cannes Lions.
Ready urged the industry to make a commitment to sharing data that could help us to “fix
the internet”. He launched the Inspired Internet Pledge, a call for the ad industry and tech
companies to collaborate on making the internet a healthier and kinder place for young
people.
This mission to make the internet a more representative and safer place for everyone was
also a recurrent theme in the winning work.
65

Model good behaviour:
Dove’s ‘#TurnYourBack’
Takeaway:
Dove, the Unilever-owned beauty brand, took a stand against TikTok filter Bold
Glamour.The filter uses generative AI to airbrush a user’s face so dramatically
that it distorted their natural beauty.As the creator of the No Digital Distortion
movement and Dove Self-Esteem Project, Dove invited people to #TurnYourBack
on the filter.
Within 72 hours of Bold Glamour going viral, Dove used a network of 68
influencer partners and endorsements, including actor Gabrielle Union who
turned her back on the red carpet at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party.
‘#TurnYourBack’ generated more than 1bn impressions from 174 pieces of earned
coverage. It cemented Dove’s real beauty mission and lifted brand consideration
and purchase intent in the UK and US.
Isabel Massey, Diageo’s Global Media and Marketing VP and Media Lions Juror,
said: “It’s focused on making social media the type of medium that we want it to
be: a powerful connector and a place where our brands can make a difference.”
Speak up and take action.
Point out what’s unacceptable. Many early Bold Glamour users may
have treated it as playful and fun. Dove’s commitment to ‘Real
Beauty’ gives the brand permission to show the filter’s toxic side.
#TURNYOURBACK
#TURNYOURBACK | DOVE
OGILVY, LONDON
GRAND PRIX MEDIA LIONS
66

Team Heroine, a women’s sports marketing agency,
launched a tool that corrected search results that failed
to include the achievements of women in sport.
It has been supported by more than 50 global brands
and the United Nations.
Havaianas reinforced its allyship with the LGBTQ+
community in Brazil by launching The Pride Research.
This was a response to the Brazilian government
removing questions about sexual orientation and gender
identity from the 2022 census. The footwear brand
worked with researchers to produce a 78-page online
report recognising 15.5 million Brazilians as LGBTQ+ –
over five times more than ‘official’ data (2.9 million).
Independent press and reliable news sources are both
blocked in Russia, so news about the war in Ukraine
is manipulated. Ukrainian Witness, the chronicle of
the Ukrainian resistance to Russian aggression, used
Wikipedia to bring Russians more unbiased news.
It worked with editors around the world to show the
realities of warfare, and use within Russia hit 13.3 million
in 2022 vs 3.9 million in 2021.
Lion-winning work shows how to correct misinformation.
CORRECT THE INTERNET | TEAM HEROINE
WIKITRUTH | UKRAINIAN WITNESS
THE PRIDE RESEARCH | HAVAIANAS
DDB NEW ZEALAND, AUCKLAND
PUBLICIS GROUPE BENELUX,
AMSTERDAM
MEDIA.MONKS, SÃO PAULO
BRONZE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS LIONS
Righting wrongs
Team Heroine
‘Correct The Internet’
Havaianas
‘The Pride Research’
Ukrainian Witness
‘WikiTruth’
67

RANKINGS
2023
68

“The brilliance of our 70,000+ people, the variety of our
disciplines, and the intelligence of our platforms all play
a critical role in our overarching commitment: to deliver
creative excellence today while innovating for tomorrow.
We celebrate the individuality housed within Omnicom
because we know it’s bonded by a shared passion and
promise for results – as proven by these coveted Lions.”
JOHN WREN
CHAIRMAN & CEO | OMNICOM
OMNICOM
WPP
INTERPUBLIC
GROUP
PUBLICIS
GROUPE
DENTSU
GROUP
HAVAS
GROUP
HAKUHODO
DY
HOLDINGS
STAGWELL
INC.
PLUS
COMPANY
S4
CAPITAL
2(1)
3(3)
4(4)
5(6)
6(5)
7(9)
8(7)
9(-)
10(10)
Omnicom:
Creative Company of the Year
NEWSPAPERS INSIDE THE NEWSPAPER I ANNAHAR NEWSPAPER
GRAND PRIX PRINT & PUBLISHING LIONS
IMPACT BBDO, DUBAI
Omnicom was named Creative Company of the Year.
Much of its winning work could demonstrate business
impact. For instance, ‘Newspapers Inside the Newspaper’, a
special edition of AnNahar Newspaper to promote press
freedom, sold out on the day of publication and took the
Print & Publishing Grand Prix.
WPP took the second spot. Its wins included the Grand Prix
for the Creative Effectiveness Lions, ‘Shah Rukh Khan-My-
Ad’ by Ogilvy Mumbai for Mondelez.
And Wunderman Thompson Riyadh was behind Saudi
Arabia’s first Grand Prix win, ‘The Subconscious Order’ for
food delivery platform HungerStation. This took the top
prize in the Creative Commerce Lions.
Interpublic Group came in third place. It was behind
‘ADLaM – An Alphabet to Preserve a Culture’, winner of two
Grands Prix, in the Design Lions and the Creative Business
Transformation Lions. This project saw Microsoft and
McCann, New York, work with the nomadic Fulani
community to digitise its spoken language.
1(2)
69

DDB
WORLDWIDE
OGILVY
BBDO
WORLDWIDE
McCANN
WORLDGROUP
FCB
PUBLICIS
WORLDWIDE
VMLY&R
GUT
AKQA
GROUP
DENTSU
1(3)
2(1)
3(4)
4(8)
5(2)
6(6)
7(5)
8(-)
9(9)
10(10)
DDB Worldwide:
Network of the Year
MCDRIP I MCDONALD’S
SILVER DESIGN LIONS
NORD DDB, HELSINKI
DDB Worldwide scooped a Film Lions Grand Prix for
‘The Last Photo’ for ITV x CALM through adam&eveDDB
London. Other notable wins included a new take on
influencer marketing that recruited friends of celebrities.
Poker Beer’s ‘Influencers’ Friends’ took four Lions.
Ogilvy took second place. It took the Media Lions Grand
Prix for Dove’s ‘#TurnYourBack’, a stand against TikTok filter
Bold Glamour. It also won the Creative Effectiveness Lions
Grand Prix with ‘Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad’ for Mondelēz-
owned Cadbury Celebrations.
This AI-powered initiative gifted small businesses in India a
Bollywood superstar to front their ad campaign and also
unlocked 35% business growth for the brand.
BBDO Worldwide took the third spot. Its Grands Prix
included the Radio & Audio Lions, with Skinny’s ‘Phone It In’.
This low-budget push helped the telco achieve a 34% rise
in acquisitions year on year.
“True pioneers that prioritise creativity and turn it into
the most powerful force in business will lead the way in
making a difference in the world. The future belongs to
the brave and DDB Worldwide’s ambition is to continue
to bring big, brave ideas to our clients to grow their
businesses.”
MARTY O’HALLORAN
GLOBAL CEO | DDB WORLDWIDE
70

MINDSHARE
PHD
WORLDWIDE
WAVEMAKER
ZENITH
OMD
WORLDWIDE
MEDIAPLUS
CARAT
ESSENCEMEDIACOM
STARCOM
INITIATIVE
1(10)
2(5)
3(7)
4(10)
5(1)
6(-)
7(6) 7(2)
9(3)
10(-)
Mindshare:
Media Network of the Year
FITCHIX I HONEST EGGS CO.
GOLD OUTDOOR LIONS
VMLY&R, MELBOURNE
Mindshare was crowned Media Network of the Year. It took
the Media Lions Grand Prix with Dove’s ‘#TurnYourBack’, a
social media movement that urged people to reject a
TikTok filter that distorted their appearance. In the US,
‘#StandUpToJewishHate’ used a simple image to depict
complex data around antisemitism, while in Australia,
‘Fitchix’ used Honest Eggs as an unconventional media
channel.
In second place came PHD Worldwide, the media network
behind the Grand Prix-winning ‘Phone It In’ for telco Skinny.
Other winners included The British Heart Foundation’s
‘Heart Stopping’, which interrupted radio ads to highlight
research around cardiac arrests. This took Silver in the
Media Lions.
Wavemaker took the third spot. Its wins included Musti
Group’s ‘Be Aware of the Dogs’, where an animated dog
demonstrated the dangers of fireworks through digital
billboard sites in Finland. Also Colgate’s ‘Line for Change’,
which refitted London buses to offer dental support to
homeless people. Both pieces took a Bronze Media Lion.
“We believe in driving good growth, which is all about
business impact. Winning for the second time in four
years speaks to our creative and strategic focus, as
well as our collaborative approach with other agency
partners.”
ADAM GERHART
GLOBAL CEO | MINDSHARE
71

GUT
WIEDEN+KENNEDY
RETHINK
SPECIAL
SERVICEPLAN
AGENTURGRUPPE
EDELMAN
MOTHER
FRED
&
FARID
JUNG
VON
MATT
1(2)
2(6)
3(3)
4(7)
5(1)
6(5)
7(9)
8(8)
9(4)
GUT:
Independent Network of the Year
FILES OF FREEDOM I MERCADO LIBRE
GOLD RADIO & AUDIO LIONS
GUT, SÃO PAULO
GUT was crowned Independent Network of the Year.
It won 35 Lions, including three Grands Prix. These included
the PR Lions Grand Prix ‘Self Love Bouquet’, a Valentine’s
Day bundle targeting single people for food delivery
platform DoorDash. And two pieces of GUT’s work for
eCommerce platform Mercado Libre, ‘Files of Freedom’ and
‘The Best-Seller Constitution’, were recognised with a Gold
in the Radio & Audio Lions and a Silver in the Direct Lions,
respectively.
Wieden+Kennedy came second. It won the Grand Prix for
the inaugural Entertainment Lions for Gaming with mobile
game Clash of Clans’ ‘Clash from the Past’.
Wieden+Kennedy’s work for Nike was also widely awarded,
including ‘Nike FC Presents the Footballverse’, which took
Gold in the Entertainment Lions, and ‘Home’, winner of two
Golds in the PR Lions.
Rethink took the third spot, thanks to many Lion wins for
Heinz Ketchup. ‘Draw Ketchup’ won Gold in the Creative
Effectiveness Lions, and ‘Heinz Ketchup Fraud’ took Gold in
the Outdoor Lions.
“This was the goal from day one. We always wanted to
build one of the most diverse, creative and influential
agencies in the world. Now it’s time to use our renewed
energy, confidence and optimism to keep pushing the
limits of communications.”
ANSELMO RAMOS
CREATIVE CHAIRMAN AND CO-FOUNDER | GUT
72

GUT
Buenos
Aires,
Argentina
PUBLICIS
CONSEIL
Paris,
France
ADAM&EVEDDB
London,
United
Kingdom
McCANN
New
York,
USA
FCB
TORONTO
Toronto,
Canda
RETHINK
Toronto,
Canada
McCANN
POLAND
Warsaw,
Polamd
WIEDEN+KENNEDY
Portland,
USA
DENTSU
INC.
Tokyo,
Japan
AFRICA
CREATIVE
DDB
São
Paulo,
Brazil
1(-)
2(-)
3(-)
4(-)
5(-)
6(8)
7(-)
8(-)
9(-)
10(9)
GUT, Buenos Aires:
Agency of the Year
EAT LIKE A CHAMP I PEDIDOSYA
SILVER BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION LIONS
GUT, BUENOS AIRES
Five-year-old independent agency GUT, Buenos Aires, won
two Special Awards: Agency of The Year and Independent
Agency of The Year.
It created ‘World Cup Delivery’ for food delivery app
PedidosYa, which took nine trophies, including the Mobile
Lions Grand Prix. Another piece of winning work for the
platform, ‘Eat Like a Champ’, integrated canteens from local
neighbourhood football clubs into the app. It took Silver in
the Brand Experience & Activation Lions.
In second place came Publicis Conseil, Paris. Its most
awarded piece of work, ‘Renault-Plug-inn’, addressed a lack
of EV charging port availability in France. The app took the
Creative Strategy Lions Grand Prix, as well as three other
Lions.
adam&eveDDB London came third. Among its wins was the
humorous ‘Baby Scan’. This saw Marmite engage expectant
parents to find out if they were having a ‘lover’ or a ‘hater’
of the yeast extract spread. It took two Gold Lions in Direct
and two Bronze Lions in Film.
“An agency is nothing more than a group of people with
common goals and shared ambition who actually enjoy
spending a lot of time together. We couldn’t have done it
without all our gutsy people and our brave clients.”
ANSELMO RAMOS
73

GUT
Buenos
Aires,
Argentina
RETHINK
Toronto,
Canada
WIEDEN+KENNEDY
Portland,
USA
SPECIAL
Auckland,
New
Zealand
GUT
São
Paulo,
Brazil
UNCOMMON
CREATIVE
STUDIO
London,
United
Kingdom
PGLANG
Los
Angeles,
USA
MISCHIEF
@
NO
FIXED
ADDRESS
New
York,
USA
SERVICEPLAN
Munich,
Germany
KLICK
HEALTH
Toronto,
Canada
1(-)
2(4)
3(3)
4(-)
5(6)
6(-)
7(-)
8(-)
9(2)
10(-)
GUT, Buenos Aires:
Independent Agency of the Year
THE CEO I NOBLEX/PARAMOUNT+
GOLD ENTERTAINMENT LIONS
GUT, BUENOS AIRES
Among the wins of GUT, Buenos Aires, was ‘The Artois
Probability’, the Creative Data Lions Grand Prix winner for
beer producer Stella Artois. It also won a Gold in the
Entertainment Lions for ‘The CEO’, a partnership between
challenger electronics brand Noblex and streaming service
Paramount+.
Rethink, Toronto, came in second place. Recognised work
included its efforts to expose counterfeit ketchup with
‘Heinz Ketchup Fraud’, as well as ‘Ability Signs’ for
Decathlon, which took Gold in the Media Lions.
Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, the agency behind ‘Clash from
the Past’, the Entertainment Lions for Gaming Grand Prix,
took the third spot.
“We hope we can inspire all the independent shops out
there to dream big. Set the ambition high, know what
you stand for and work with the best talent you can.”
ANSELMO RAMOS
74

FCB
HEALTH
KLICK
HEALTH
PUBLICIS
HEALTH
VMLY&R
HEALTH
1(1)
2(-)
3(-)
4(-)
FCB Health:
Health Network of the Year
PICTURE THE DAYS AHEAD (PATIENT BOOKLET) I LENALIDOMIDE
BRONZE PHARMA LIONS
FCB HEALTH EUROPE, LONDON
FCB Health won Health Network of the Year, with many of
its wins coming from AREA 23, an IPG Health Network
Company. Other winning work included ‘Picture the Days
Ahead (Patient Booklet)’ for chemotherapy drug
Lenalidomide, a brochure which gave hope to newly
diagnosed myeloma patients.
Klick Health came in second place. It won Bronze in the
Health & Wellness Lions for ‘The Bridge’, an emotive film for
PAWS NY that positioned pets as an antidote to loneliness.
Publicis Health took the third spot. Winning work included
‘If this Speaks to You’ for UK mental health charity Mind.
This employed music artists to relate to the NGO’s target
audiences and took Bronze in the Health & Wellness Lions.
“When you focus on doing what’s right, all the rest will
follow. This bedrock drives our obsession with ensuring a
meaningful, rewarding and equitable experience for our
people. And it gives us the power to tackle challenges
and inequities in our communities.”
DANA MAIMAN
CEO | IPG HEALTH
75

AREA
23,
AN
IPG
HEALTH
NETWORK
COMPANY
New
York,
USA
EVERSANA
INTOUCH
New
York,
USA
KLICK
HEALTH
Toronto,
Canada
21GRAMS
New
York,
USA
SAATCHI
&
SAATCHI
HEALTH
New
York,
USA
LANGLAND
London,
United
Kingdom
FCB
HEALTH
EUROPE
London,
United
Kingdom
FCB
HEALTH
New
York,
USA
VMLY&R
HEALTH
Madrid,
Spain
PEIX
HEALTHCARE
COMMUNICATION
Berlin,
Germany
TANK
WORLDWIDE
Montreal,
Canada
1(1)
2(-) 2(-)
3(3)
4(-)
5(-)
6(-)
7(-) 7(-)
8(-) 8(-)
AREA 23, an IPG Health Network Company:
Healthcare Agency of the Year
THE OUTSIDE IN EXPERIMENT I HORIZON THERAPEUTICS
SILVER PHARMA LIONS
A strategic use of AI helped AREA 23, an IPG Health
Network Company, win Healthcare Agency of the Year.
AI-powered art tool ‘Mind’s Eye’ helped motor neurone
disease patients express their feelings, taking Silver in the
Pharma Lions. ‘The Outside In Experiment’ translated
patient quotes into vivid AI-generated films that conveyed
the effects of uncontrolled gout. It also took Silver in the
Pharma Lions.
EVERSANA INTOUCH came in second place.
‘Inequality You Can’t Ignore’ urged healthcare workers to
recognise unconscious bias in breast cancer care. It took
Gold in the Pharma Lions.
Klick Health came in joint second place. Notable winners
included ‘The Bridge’ and ‘LifeSaving Radio’.
“AREA 23’s mission is to make pharma marketing as
creative as any marketing. This mission is shared by the
whole agency, not just the creative department. Even
the skeptics over the years have since seen the impact of
creativity on our clients’ business and our own, and they
are all in.”
TIM HAWKEY
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER | AREA 23, AN IPG HEALTH COMPANY
76

SOMESUCH
USA
SMUGGLER
United
Kingdom
BISCUIT
FILMWORKS
USA
SPOON.
Japan
REBOLUCION
Mexico
CAIN
&
ABEL
United
Kingdom
ICONOCLAST
USA
MJZ
USA
SOUTH
PACIFIC
PICTURES
New
Zealand
SMUGGLER
USA
1(-)
2(-)
3(-)
4(-)
5(-)
6(-)
7(-)
8(-)
9(-)
10(1)
Somesuch, USA:
Palme d’Or
#PERIODSOMNIA I BODYFORM/LIBRESSE
GOLD FILM LIONS
AMV BBDO, LONDON
Unconventional production techniques, thoughtful casting
and impeccable execution helped Somesuch, USA, secure
this year’s Palme d’Or.
‘#periodsomnia’, for Bodyform/Libresse, documented the
discomfort of nights during periods and took Gold in the
Film Lions. Somesuch, USA, was also recognised for Apple’s
work, including Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix
winner ‘The Greatest’.
Smuggler, United Kingdom, was the company behind the
second Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix,
Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Beautiful Life’. This music video was
described by Jury President Danielle Hinde, Owner /
Executive Producer, Doomsday Entertainment, as “a visceral
gut punch that...reminded us of life’s fragility”.
Biscuit Filmworks, USA, came third. It won Gold in the Film
Lions for a series of quirky films for Uber Eats: ‘Cowboy’,
‘Nails’ and ‘Parrot’.
“We worked in community. We tried to find the emotion
in everything we made, to elicit a feeling in the viewer, to
distill and look for the essence, the truth – the truth of a
concept, the truth of an image.”
TIM NASH
FOUNDING PARTNER | SOMESUCH
77

“Apple has always believed that creative people with
passion can change the world for the better. I’m lucky
enough to be surrounded by such people every day, and
am in awe of the ideas they dream up in our quest to
make Apple the most creatively inspiring company
in the world.”
TOR MYRHEN
VICE-PRESIDENT OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS | APPLE
APPLE
DOVE
HEINEKEN
HEINZ
MASTERCARD
PEDIDOSYA
NIKE
MCDONALD’S
MICHELOB
ULTRA
MICROSOFT
1(3)
2(6)
3(4)
4(-)
5(-)
6(-)
7(-)
8(-)
9(7)
10(-)
Apple:
Creative Brand of the Year
FIFA 23 X TED LASSO I EA SPORTS & APPLE
GRAND PRIX BRAND EXPERIENCE & ACTIVATION
APPLE, CUPERTINO
Entertaining product demos, a powerful e-sports
partnership and a humorous 30-second film helped Apple
win Creative Brand of the Year.
The brand scooped three Grands Prix, its highest ever
number within a single year. These included Brand
Experience & Activation Lions winner ‘Fifa 23 x Ted Lasso’,
which brought characters from the Apple TV show Ted
Lasso onto the virtual pitch.
Dove came in second place, taking the Media Lions Grand
Prix with ‘#TurnYourBack’. Other work included ‘The Cost of
Beauty’, a film that used real footage to document the
effects of social media on a young girl’s mental health. This
took Gold in the Social & Influencer Lions and the Health &
Wellness Lions.
Heineken came in third place. Its wins included ‘The Closer’,
which took seven Lions, including Gold in the Brand
Experience & Activation Lions. This Bluetooth-powered
bottle opener shuts down users’ laptops, encouraging them
to wind down from the working day with a Heineken.
78

AGENCY CITY LOCATION
1 ADAM&EVEDDB London UNITED KINGDOM
2 COLENSO BBDO Auckland NEW ZEALAND
3 GUT Buenos Aires ARGENTINA
1 DENTSU INC. Tokyo JAPAN
2 McCANN New York USA
3 PGLANG Los Angeles USA
2 FCB TORONTO Toronto CANADA
3 ALMAPBBDO São Paulo BRAZIL
1 WIEDEN+KENNEDY Portland USA
2 FCB NEW YORK New York USA
3 VMLY&R São Paulo BRAZIL
CLASSIC
CRAFT
ENGAGEMENT
ENTERTAINMENT
Agency
year by Track
of the
2 McCANN New York USA
3 PUBLICIS CONSEIL Paris FRANCE
1 McCANN POLAND Warsaw POLAND
2 CHEIL WORLDWIDE Seoul SOUTH KOREA
3 IMPACT BBDO Dubai UAE
1 OGILVY Mumbai INDIA
2 PUBLICIS CONSEIL Paris FRANCE
3 AFRICA CREATIVE DDB São Paulo BRAZIL
EXPERIENCE
GOOD
STRATEGY
79

Independent
year
Agency of the by Track
1 RETHINK Toronto CANADA
3
UNCOMMON CREATIVE
STUDIO
London UNITED KINGDOM
3
MISCHIEF @ NO FIXED
ADDRESS
New York USA
1 PGLANG Los Angeles USA
2 SERVICEPLAN Munich GERMANY
3 KLICK HEALTH Toronto CANADA
2 EDELMAN New York USA
3 EDELMAN London UNITED KINGDOM
1 SPECIAL Auckland NEW ZEALAND
3 L&C New York USA
1 HOWATSON+COMPANY Sydney AUSTRALIA
2= BBD PERFECT STORM London UNITED KINGDOM
2=
ROBERT/BOISEN &
LIKE-MINDED
Copenhagen DENMARK
2= SOKO São Paulo BRAZIL
1 WIEDEN+KENNEDY Portland USA
3 I AM OTHER Beverly Hills USA
CLASSIC
EXPERIENCE
GOOD
ENGAGEMENT
STRATEGY
ENTERTAINMENT
CRAFT
80

Regional
year
Network of the
AGENCY
1 DENTSU
2 LEO BURNETT
3 OGILVY
AGENCY
1 FCB
2 BBDO WORLDWIDE
3 McCANN WORLDGROUP
AGENCY
1 BBDO WORLDWIDE
2 LEO BURNETT
3 McCANN WORLDGROUP
AGENCY
1 OGILVY
2 FCB
3 TBWA WORLDWIDE
AGENCY
1 GUT
2 AKQA GROUP
3 DDB WORLDWIDE
AGENCY
1 BBDO WORLDWIDE
2 SPECIAL
3 ACCENTURE SONG
AGENCY
1 DDB WORLDWIDE
2 PUBLICIS WORLDWIDE
3 McCANN WORLDGROUP
ASIA NORTH AMERICA
LATIN AMERICA
MIDDLE EAST
AND
NORTH AFRICA
PACIFIC
SUB-SAHARAN
AFRICA
EUROPE
81

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