·The session ‘An Introduction to Dentsu Sports & Entertainment’ reflected on the increasing convergence that is occurring between scripted IP (such as movies and television shows), sports, gaming, and the creator landscape across social platforms. The storytelling element these platforms afford to today’s athletes is blending sports more into traditional entertainment, as reflected upon in the later sessions ‘In Conversation with Michael Johnson’ and ‘UR Cristiano: Ronaldo’s Journey from Football Icon to Media Player’. This convergence was celebrated by Cannes Lions as it awarded a Grand Prix in the Outdoor category to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, a celebration of diversity that brought together performers like Lady Gaga and Celine Dion and athletes like soccer world champion Zinedine Zidane.·

Recognizable entertainment IP holds an incredible power to drive brand adoption, and to do so in an incredibly short amount of time. Budweiser’s ‘One Second Ads’, which was awarded the Grand Prix in Audio and Radio, was a fantastic example of this phenomenon. The campaign featured ads on TikTok that, instead of lasting the usual 30 seconds, played the single, initial second from popular rock and pop anthems, encouraging fans to guess the tune in exchange for a coupon code. The campaign accomplished its goal of zero ads being skipped on the platform.

Cannes Lions celebrated some examples of work that gave us a glimpse of what the world will look like when true-to-brand creativity is fully democratized, such as Lidl’s ‘Lidlize,’ which was awarded a Gold in the Direct category. Noticing the incredible engagement from its shopper community with product drops featuring the brand’s iconic red, yellow, and blue colour palette, the discount retail chain launched an AI platform that allowed consumers to turn any product - from luxury fashion bags, to coffee machines, to bicycles - into a ‘lidlized’ product. The community leaned in, generating 2,000,000+ products, and voted for the best product (the bike) which is now being produced and sold.

Cannes Lions also celebrated work that reinforces how a truly unique brand platform can stand the test of major tech paradigm shifts, such as the explosion of Generative AI. Awarded the Grand Prix in Media, Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Redefined for the AI Era’ is the last iteration on the brands 20+ year running ‘Real Beauty’ platform. Anticipating a new threat to the representation of women, as standard AI prompts often produce unrealistic beauty norms, Dove trained AI to generate images ‘according to Real Beauty ads’ and partnered with Pinterest to provide users with shareable, personalized videos of Real Beauty that, when pinned, contributed to transform Pinterest’s AI algorithm.

Another Thursday panel, titled ‘The Shoppable Moment Phenomenon’, features insights from a recently published research report from dentsu and Roku on shoppable TV ads. One of the key insights is that, while they value personalization, consumers are increasingly more likely to pay attention to ads when they provide a promise of value exchange (whether that’s in the form of a coupon, or free delivery, or a limited-time promotion).

‘Deals’ command attention, especially at a time of economic uncertainty, and especially among younger generations who have developed a ‘thrifting’ mentality, having grown up with infinite retail options to browse at their fingertips. This humongous delta in attention that deals are able to drive was used by examples of work celebrated at Cannes Lions as a platform for change. Ziploc’s ‘Preserved Promos’ partnered with retailers to offer consumers the extension of the offers on expired coupons, as long as a Ziploc product was also added to the cart before checkout. This campaign was developed to help consumers at a time when they are struggling with inflation, and it was awarded the Grand Prix in Creative Commerce, as well as a Gold in the Direct category. Tata, a low-cost grocery chain in Uruguay, figured that consumers very often forget to bring to the store with them the reusable bags they are meant to use instead of banned plastic bags. This leads to frustration and the purchase of more reusable bags at a cost to the consumer, ending up with the creation of waste similar to what the ban of plastic bags was meant to eradicate. But while they might forget about a bag, consumers won’t forget about a deal, so Tata printed out unique bar codes on its next generation of reusable bags that customers can scan as they enter the store to get access to a list of personalized discounts for the day. The ‘Rewards Bag’ campaign was awarded a Gold in the Media category.