Grand Prix: Modern Marketing at Cannes Lions 2025, Part 2
The saga continues.
There’s deeper meaning to this video than you think. Reflect on it.
Enjoyed Part 1 of the series? Pleasantly surprised to not see a rant about Cannes Lions in there?
I must’ve been in a strange mood.
Without further ado, here goes!
🧑🎄 Ziploc: Preserved Promos
🥷 VML, New York
🏆 Creative Commerce
Customer-centric? ✅ With the US entering its tariff era, and prices spiralling, they’ve cracked a brilliant idea that is uniquely connected with the brand.
Rooted in culture? ✅ Definitely. Budget hacks and finfluencers are all over socials these days.
Gets noticed? ✅
Measurable results? ✅ Yes. Yes. A thousand times, YEEEESSSS!!!
Is this Modern Marketing? ✅ And I wish I’d done this.
🧑🎄 Consul Appliances: Efficient Way To Pay
🥷 DM9, Sao Paulo
🏆 Creative Data
Note: This entry is under investigation by Cannes Lion. At the moment, the award still stands — and hence the analysis below.
Customer-centric? ✅ It’s simple enough, recognising a real problem consumers face. The payment mechanic is bloody smart too.
Rooted in culture? ❌ Not really. It solves a need…but lacks the cultural fluency that’d have elevated it further.
Gets noticed? ❌ Not surprising, given there’s no cultural currency or virality-driver.
Measurable results? ❌ I’m honestly shocked that this was awarded for helping 1280 families and showing one news headline. (Is it the Causevertising effect?)
Is this Modern Marketing? ❌ And it feels a bit scammy to boot.
🧑🎄 KitKat
🥷 VML, Prague
🏆 Outdoor
Customer-centric? ✅ KitKat’s long-running proposition never gets old.
Rooted in culture? ✅ Phone addiction continues to plague us all.
Gets noticed? ❌ Nothing here to make me want to share.
Measurable results? ❌ Nothing mentioned.
Is this Modern Marketing? ❌ This doesn’t feel like a fresh, breakthrough idea. In fact, it gives me the old-school scammy feels. It’s work like this being recognised so highly that gives Cannes a bad name.
🧑🎄 Paris 2024
🥷 Paname24, Paris | Auditoire, Paris | Double 2, Paris | OBO, Paris | Havas, Paris | Havas Events, Paris
🏆 Outdoor
Customer-centric? ✅ The Opening Ceremy was acknowledgement of the challenges facing humanity, and a reflection of the things we think, feel and talk about.
Rooted in culture? ✅ By default.
Gets noticed? ✅ Yes, though I have to add that it had high tailwinds, simply by dint of being an Olympics Opening Ceremony.
Measurable results? ❌ It’s hard to quantify the impact of something like this.
Is this Modern Marketing? ❌ While it ticks many boxes, the Opening Ceremonies of the Games feel more like formulaic pageantry, not breakthrough marketing for the host nation. This was more of that.
🧑🎄 Dove: Real Beauty Redefined For The AI Era
🥷 Mindshare, New York
🏆 Media
Customer-centric? ✅ A timeless insight.
Rooted in culture? ✅ Yes. With all the conversation around AI and AI-manufactured slop, this campaign has legs.
Gets noticed? ✅
Measurable results? ❌ There’s nothing in here to suggest meaningful impact on the brand.
Is this Modern Marketing? 👎 I struggled to like this execution of Real Beauty, and was kind of glad to nix it on less subjective grounds. At the end of the day, I couldn’t find a good answer to the question, “What was the point of it all?”
🧑🎄 Hyundai Motor Company: Night Fishing
🥷 Innocean, Seoul | Hyundai Motor Company, Seoul
🏆 Entertainment
Customer-centric? ❌ I panned left and right, tilted up and down, zoomed in and out, but still couldn’t capture an insight. (See what I did there?)
Rooted in culture? ✅ Yes. Pretty cool idea to produce a short film, shot on a car’s cameras.
Gets noticed? ✅ Though I’ll confess I don’t understand the “100% media coverage” claim.
Measurable results? ✅ Clear growth in dealer visits and test drives makes this an effective case.
Is this Modern Marketing? 👎 Only because the insight or customer need isn’t clear. Great PR stunt, though.
🧑🎄 Mercado Livre: Call Of Discounts
🥷 GUT, Sao Paulo
🏆 Entertainment Lions For Gaming
Customer-centric? ✅ Excellent idea — connecting gamers to shopping.
Rooted in culture? ✅ Gaming. Football. Discounts. Nailed it.
Gets noticed? ✅
Measurable results? ✅
Is this Modern Marketing? 👍 Nothing more to read here, great idea, move along.
🧑🎄 Rimas Music: Tracking Bad Bunny
🥷 DDB Latina, Puerto Rico
🏆 Entertainment Lions For Music
Customer-centric? ✅ Very sharp. The idea to connect with scorned and angry Puerto Ricans, and reverse the perception politicians had build around the island, was smart.
Rooted in culture? ✅ Doubtless.
Gets noticed? ✅ Excellent execution.
Measurable results? ✅ The album sold. Mission: accomplished.
Is this Modern Marketing? 👍 You bet. Patriotism sells, and this idea sold it beautifully.
🧑🎄 Clash of Clans: Haaland Payback Time
🥷 David, New York
🏆 Entertainment Lions For Sport
Customer-centric? ✅ I like how this connects with Haaland’s fans — and his enemies. A win for the game, either way.
Rooted in culture? ✅ Yes. A smart use of the celebrity.
Gets noticed? ✅ Smart partnerships. Smart use of celebrities — and rivalries. A recipe for success.
Measurable results? ✅ 150% growth in new players? Byron Sharp would be proud.
Is this Modern Marketing? 👍 Unmistakably.
Time for a break. Get off that phone and go stare at a KitKat instead.
Part 3, coming soon.