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The Cannes Lions Categories Just Got Outrun

16/06/2022
Advertising Agency
London, UK
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Virtue Worldwide’s global ECD Morten Grubak identifies trends he’s noticed in the run-up to Cannes Lions and selects the work that he’d like to see picking up metal next week
 
‘Metaverse’ has been the buzzword of 2022: we've seen hundreds of campaigns celebrating opportunities within the space, but many won't get the recognition they deserve at this year's festival.
 
When submitting our own work, I noticed that it's hard to find a category for web 3.0 specific campaigns. The closest category in the 2022 catalogue is the ‘Creative use of technology’ listing. Given how broad technology as a concept can be and how many advertisers use it in some capacity for their campaigns, I’d expect that category to be pretty overloaded...which means that a lot of branded metaverse projects, including work for huge brands like Coca-Cola, will have struggled to find an appropriate category for work and face a huge amount of competition.
 
Coupled with the fact that we all have so much still to learn about the metaverse, I’d suggest that any shortlisted web 3.0 work may not be judged by the right people.
 
Perhaps next year we’ll see web 3.0 specific categories, but for now, let’s see how much web 3.0 work goes the distance. 
 

No more coronavirus campaigns 

 
Campaigns focussed on the pandemic and the struggles of the past two years’ will be few and far between. The heartfelt, community focussed adverts that were so popular during lockdown have served their purpose and I’d be surprised if we see many in this year's shortlists. 
 
But the pandemic still poses a very real threat for individuals and businesses alike, so I’d suggest we also won’t see many campaigns up for awards that have built a strategy around post pandemic messaging. The “welcome back” campaigns will be scarce, but campaigns that have helped solve a social problem created by the pandemic deserve to be celebrated. 
 
My favourite is this one by Tienda Cerca which will likely make it’s last dance at this year's Cannes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfiRpEDanS0
 
I hope to see many others like it in the shortlists!
 

The Rise of Brand-side Creative Studios

 
2022 could be the year where brands have their creative renaissance. Some of the most powerful projects I have seen this spring are not from a creative agency but from the brand itself. 
 
Think YouTube Creative Studios, Google Labs, Verizon Creative Marketing or Epic Games - we might see a battle of the brands with campaigns like ‘9/12 The untold story of reconnecting New York’ by Verizon Marketing and ‘UnF**k It’ by YouTube Creative Studio competing for the top prize.
 
In any case, the campaigns below get my vote for an award at this year’s Lions.
 

Spinneys + Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation - The Bread Exam



 Agency: McCann / Paris


Girls Who Code - DojaCode


 
Agency: Mojo Supermarket + Active Theory + Girls Who Code
Client: Girls Who Code

SAMSUNG - iTest



Agency: DDB New Zealand



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