147080_Insights_from_the_2022_Creative_

Insights from the 2022
Creative Effectiveness
Lions winners
© Copyright WARC 2022. All rights reserved.
2022 CREATIVE EFFECTIVENESS LIONS
Insights from the 2022 winners Contents

of the Creative Effectiveness
In this category of Cannes Lions,

which rewards creative strategy
In this report
Takeaways
What this means for
2
3
4
report that has met business goals

and driven sustainable impact
over time.
The evolution of creative effectiveness
Meet the 2022 jury
“Marketing is taking charge”
5
7
8
Themes from the winning work, Chapter 1:

explored through judges’ Work that worked: Top tips for effectiveness entries 10
commentary, behind-the-scenes
features from winners, and Chapter 2:
infographics showing models Tapping into fans supercharges creative ideas 15
of what makes a creative
campaign effective. Chapter 3:
Ecosystems for change are brands’ new growth engine 20
A neuroscientific analysis of the

Chapter 4:
winners to uncover the inner
TV returns to fuel visually arresting creative 26
workings of creative effectiveness.
This report is part of the
Chapter 5:
new WARC Creative offering. Summaries of winning case
Brands explore AI-driven creativity 31
For 2022, it will be available studies as well as data points
to WARC Strategy offering insight into creative Chapter 6: Behind the winning work 37
subscribers too. effectiveness.
Chapter 7: Data 52
© Copyright WARC 2022. All rights
rights reserved.
reserved.
2
Takeaways
1. Tapping into fans focus on long-term platforms shows TV was the lead media
supercharges creative ideas. able to deliver business growth for 47% of the shortlist, and
Fan-first approaches can drive while tackling systemic issues. winners used it for powerful
engagement with specific This was the case for Renault visual executions.
fandoms while being the and Three – which created
starting point of mass-reach ecosystems to show their 4. Brands explore AI-driven
campaigns. Cheetos, Michelob products in action – as well as creativity. Be it to repair
and McDonald’s explored the Michelob, which transformed fractions in society or for
potential of engaging fans, its supply chain to help farmers entertainment reasons, winners
which is reflected in an transition to organic. experimented with creative AI
increase in ‘participation’ as a applications. For Michelob and
creative strategy this year. 3. TV returns to fuel visually the Canadian Down Syndrome
arresting creative. With Society, partnering with a tech
2. Ecosystems for change are lockdowns leading to shifts in giant was key to the success of
brands’ new growth engine. media consumption, TV the initiative. Perhaps reflecting
As the discourse around became a trusted companion this trend, partnerships rose in
purpose evolves, there is a new for at-home audiences. Data popularity this year.

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3
What Advertisers Agencies Media owners
this • Think about how you

could combine a fan-first
• Challenge your clients with
strategies where purpose
• Think about how your
platforms can encourage
strategy with a goes beyond the marketing participatory mechanics
means mainstream approach to

achieve mass reach.
department and can fuel
real-life ecosystems able to
engaging brands’ fan
communities.
for:
show product benefits in the
• Adopt a growth-first long term. • With media behaviour in
approach to purpose: flux across markets, often
consider how it can • Think about how you can act as a result of the impact
power long-term as a connector between your of the pandemic, advise
platforms able to deliver clients and tech suppliers. marketers on how your
growth to the business. channel or platform can best
• Consider researching a deliver impact.
• Consider partnerships brand's fans for new insights:
with tech companies to they may provide a different • Consider the AI capabilities
combine creativity with starting point for creative you can offer to marketers
innovation. development from regular wishing to marry creativity
category buyers. and tech.

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reserved.
4
The evolution of creative effectiveness

This report identifies The work’s creativity is not in
trends and themes question when it comes to the
common to the winners Creative Effectiveness Lions: all
of the 2022 Cannes campaigns entered must have been
Creative Effectiveness awarded for creativity in previous
Lions. WARC has years. What’s asked of judges is to
analysed data from all assess whether the creativity has led
entries, interviewed to demonstrable results.
jurors and spoken to
winners to unearth Engaging communities
insights into what makes Winning work this year often the pen’ with both fans and artists was something for themselves.” This
a campaign both creative involved a participatory element. As key to the success of McDonald’s was the case for much of this year’s
and effective. a creative strategy, consumer Famous Orders. charity work, such as Signal for Help,
participation grew by 74% from For others, engaging consumers Project Understood and
2021, and we saw it applied in meant empowering them. As judge Undercover Avatar, but something
various different ways. Engaging Rosie Collins, Head of Strategy at we’ve seen from commercial brands
fandoms has been a successful BBH commented: “Brands were not too. Dove, for example, championed
strategy for many of the winners, and just standing up for marginalised care workers during the pandemic by
Wieden+Kennedy’s Tass people or acting on their behalf, they using their own social media pictures.
Tsitsopoulos writes of how ‘sharing were empowering them to do And later in this report, Boys+Girls’

5
Patrick Meade writes about how Three growth as well as change for important it is for marketers to be
empowered an entire island to communities, committing to a agile,” said judge David Coral,
showcase its connectivity solutions. comprehensive and long-term view of President & CEO of BBDO and
purpose, beyond marketing efforts. Proximity Spain. Agility is a quality
The new face of purpose we’ve seen many winners apply to
“Our growth drives Winners this year are also a reflection Tech partnerships power innovation their channel mix. In particular, brands
economic good. of the step-change we’re witnessing in A real stand-out data point this year is were receptive to changes in media
brand purpose. P&G’s Marc Pritchard the spike in partnerships. With only consumption, with a number of them
And then it enables recently said he believes the industry 1% of the shortlist using partnerships heavily investing in TV, which saw
you to do more has been focusing too much on doing last year, the figure is now 40%. One impressive spikes in popularity both
good for society good and not enough on driving of the themes we explore is brands within the mix and as lead media.
growth. He said: “First and foremost combining creativity and AI, and this is
and planet. we are in business. Our growth drives a space where partnerships can really Looking ahead
A force for growth economic good. Growth drives jobs. come into their own. Collaborations If there is one theme uniting all of
leads to being a And then it enables you to do more with tech giants have allowed winners this year’s winners, it would be
good for society and planet. A force to apply creativity to innovative ‘evolution’. The main thread across all
force for good.” for growth leads to being a force for solutions – from a charity partnering campaigns is a forward-facing
good.” A focus on growth able to in with Google to make its voice tech attitude, a willingness to embrace
Marc Pritchard turn drive positive societal change is more inclusive, to a beer brand joining change and transformation. From
Chief Brand Officer, P&G something judges admired about this forces with Microsoft to enable shifts within the media landscape to
year’s work. This approach was lockdown entertainment. technology applications and
adopted by Michelob Ultra and approaches to purpose, winners
Renault, for example, which created Agile solutions for new media habits adapted and evolved to take new
ecosystems able to drive business “COVID-19 has highlighted just how challenges head-on.

6
Meet the 2022 jury
Raja Rajamannar – Jury Angel Chen Rosie Collins David Coral Karna Crawford
President Chief Growth Officer, China Head of Strategy President & CEO Head of US Marketing
Chief Marketing & Ogilvy & Mather BBH London BBDO & Proximity Spain Ford Motor Company
Communications Officer
Mastercard
Jennifer ‘JJ’ Healan Patricia McDonald Christine Removille Sameer Satpathy Bertille Toledano
VP, US Marketing, Brand, Global Chief Strategy Officer Partner Divisional Chief Executive – President
Content and Engagement Dentsu creative Bain & Company Personal Care BETC
McDonald’s ITC

7
“Marketing is Why is it important to reward “Proving marketing’s

creative effectiveness? impact for businesses
taking charge” Marketing as a discipline is living an
will bring it back to
existential crisis: it’s losing its
credibility, its gravitas, its stature.
the C-suite table.”
CEOs and CFOs are perceiving
marketing to be fluffy; they have already deploying tech innovations
very little confidence in their but the work we’ve reviewed made
marketing teams being able to drive me think about new opportunities.
business growth. Secondly, I am keen to show the
With some companies even winners to my team as a spur to take
disposing of CMO roles, the more risks and think even bigger
marketing function is getting and bolder.
Mastercard’s Raja
fragmented. This is why it’s important Lastly, I found it fascinating to see
Rajamannar, Jury
to focus on creative effectiveness: how brands’ campaigns were cutting
President, shares his proving marketing’s impact and ROI across multiple industries and
views on this year’s for businesses will bring it back to the benefitting other brands. At
winners and the C-suite table and give it the gravitas Mastercard we think of ourselves as a
importance of and stature that it deserves. network which connects the various
rewarding creative parts of an ecosystem, so I’m going
effectiveness. What have you learned from to challenge my team to see how we
chairing this jury? can come up with concepts that can
Raja Rajamannar is Chief
The power of technology was very also impact other brands in a
Marketing & Communications
Officer at Mastercard clear to me. At Mastercard, we are significant way.
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8
“Be brief, be bright, Female Company was able to do it in

an interesting way. This ultimately not
be gone. As jurors,
only grew its business but also
your paper is our impacted society by changing tax law.
window into your Lastly, we witnessed marketing
work, so make sure taking charge, sharply connecting the
that window is very dots between creative work and
clean, and showing business results.
the right view.”

What stood out to you about the
Grand Prix winner?
What trends did you notice among There were a number of things we
this year’s winners? were looking for in our Grand Prix
There was a lot of work around winner. First of all, it had to deliver on
inclusion, from LGBTQI+ rights the business, in terms of growth and
to gender balance and empowering competitive advantage. But we also What advice would you give to leaving it for the judges to connect
minorities, as well as around wanted it to be game-changing work future entrants? the dots. Papers should be crisp,
sustainability. that had a lasting impact, not just on It’s essential to have credible results, clear and structured – as I say, ‘Be
It was also fantastic to see many the brand but on society and the but then it’s critical for those results brief, be bright, be gone’.
brands taking risks, stepping out of planet too. The combination of these to have a credible connection with As jurors, your paper is our window
their comfort zone with bold work. criteria is what we saw in Contract for the campaign. into your work, so make sure that
The Tampon Book was a great Change: it did very well for Michelob It’s also important for entrants to window is very clean, and showing
example of this: menstruation is not Ultra’s business and led to an entire put in the time and effort to make the right view.
an easy topic to talk about and The ecosystem change. their paper crystal clear, rather than
9
Chapter 1
Work that worked:

Top tips for
effectiveness entries
2022 Creative Effectiveness Lions

10
What makes a Creative Effectiveness winner?

Judges’ advice to future entrants
1 Join the dots 2 Make the impact clear

“Sometimes, as judges, we are not sure whether the results are linked “When crafting the story, make it very clear that all the great
to the work: it’s key to have a credible connection between the two.” impressions and positive sentiment actually translated in hard
business metrics.”
Raja Rajamannar – Chief Marketing & Communications Officer,
Mastercard Patricia McDonald – Global Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu creative
3 Less talk, more data 4 Look at the bigger picture

“When it comes to impressing judges, less is more. Go straight to “Effectiveness is a matter of business results, but it’s a matter of
the point with robust data to demonstrate your results.” progress too. Entering this category, you should ask yourself:
‘Can I prove that this communication helped society progress?’”
David Coral – President & CEO, BBDO & Proximity Spain Bertille Toledano – President, BETC
Source: Interviews with Creative Effectiveness judges

11
We witnessed marketing taking

charge, sharply connecting the
dots between creative work and
business results.
Raja Rajamannar
Chief Marketing &
Communications Officer
Mastercard

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Connecting the dots

Best practice examples of how to show the direct link between creativity and results
Discounting other factors that may have contributed to a campaign’s results is essential to proving its effectiveness. When doing so, it’s key to provide as much
information as possible, including factors that may have helped the success of the advertising. Judges value honesty and can easily sniff out exaggeration.
1 Dispel all doubt 2 Be honest 3 Get that detail in

“The results reported in this case have “By March 2020, most states in the US “There were five other Dove campaigns
been purposefully measured to isolate began to announce stay-at-home orders. over the period that will have impacted
the true impact of Michelob Ultra Stressed-out shoppers sought out sales. As a result, for the ROI we have
Courtside. Factors that were considered nostalgic comfort foods like never based the calculation on sales/revenue
and accounted for in measurement before. Undoubtedly, this gave the lift and assumed it was driven equally by
included: Cheetos brand's sales an overall bump. all five campaigns in the US market. As
• Quarantine/lockdown media While this had an effect on the overall such the ROI figure has been divided by
behaviours portfolio, Cheetos Popcorn was still a five. This is considered satisfactorily
• Pandemic impact on sales channels relatively new product. The campaign prudent, as Courage is Beautiful had the
• Refreshed brand visual identity.” gave it mass awareness and appeal.” highest Brand Power score.”
Michelob Ultra: Courtside Cheetos: Can’t Touch This Dove: Courage is Beautiful
Source: Creative Effectiveness submissions for Michelob Ultra, Cheetos and Dove.

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The Killer Chart National Quarter Pounder (QPC) sales doubled in the first week
There is nothing more impactful
than a visual representation of the
impact a campaign has had – it’s
what judges call the Killer Chart.
In this example from
McDonald’s, we can clearly see
the moment the Travis Scott Meal
launched as the beginning of a
sales spike for Quarter Pounders
– the artist’s burger of choice.
What’s even more powerful is
seeing that the work not only led
to a short-term jump, but also to
sales stabilising at a higher level
year on year in the months
following it.
A top tip from judges is to
feature the Killer Chart at the very
beginning of a case study, to
intrigue readers straight away.
Source: McDonald’s Internal Data, 12/20

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Chapter 2
Tapping into fans

supercharges
creative ideas

15
‘Fan truths’ were key to

unlocking our brand voice.
They help us show McDonald’s
through the eyes of a fan and are
now at the heart of all our
creative strategies. Jennifer ‘JJ’ Healan
VP, US Marketing, Brand,
Content and Engagement
McDonald’s

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Fan-first approaches help shape

mass-reach campaigns
Cheetos
This year, several winners where a focus on light buyers and
proved the mass-reach potential mass reach is key. But the winning
of engaging fan communities by campaigns showed how the two
combining fandom targeting concepts can work together.
with mainstream appeal. For Cheetos and McDonald’s,
targeting fandoms helped shape
Strategist Zoe Scaman wrote at the message and deepen
length about fandoms and what engagement with an initial core
she describes as their ‘formula’: before the message was pushed
community x autonomy x equity. out to a mass audience.
Tapping into fans’ community With web3 promising a range of
spirit, freedom of expression and new digital technologies – from
stake in their community can be a NFTs to DAOs (decentralised
gamechanger for brands, autonomous communities) and
especially at a time when the metaverse – it will be
audiences are fragmenting. interesting to see how brands will
It might sound like this flies in the leverage these new possibilities to
face of marketing best practice, engage fan communities.

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Forget the McDonald’s ubiquity and familiarity stand for one ‘big’ thing. Instead,
haters and listen had left it in a place where it was well there’s huge power in the small truths
known but not well loved. Even worse, our audience already knows.
to the fans it had been losing penetration and From there it was a small step to
share with young and multicultural find the brand’s voice. McDonald’s
audiences – the future of not just the would share truths about its products,
category but of America itself. spoken fan-to-fan: it would stop
The brand had struggled to find its speaking like a corporation and start
voice. It was paying too much acting like a fan.
attention to its most vocal haters and
competitors, or seeking novelty in Seeing celebrities as fans too
limited time offers. Plain and simple: This strategy wasn’t about speaking
McDonald’s had become big and to superfans, but finding the fan in
Wieden+Kennedy’s
boring. This makes the cultural and everyone. This is what led to Famous
Tass Tsitsopoulos brand impact of Famous Orders all Orders. Our insight was: ‘No matter
offers insights and the more remarkable. And we
learnings from the achieved it by focusing on the fans.
campaign that “Famous Orders has
reimagined McDonald’s Fan Truths and speaking fan-to-fan become a cultural
advertising for a We built a creative strategy around event in its own
new generation. what we called Fan Truths – those right and a growth
moments, memories and rituals that engine for the whole
Tass Tsitsopoulos is Group Strategy
make the brand special. McDonald’s business.”
Director at Wieden+Kennedy New York is too multidimensional to make it
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how big or famous you are, everyone J Balvin, BTS and Saweetie. These
has a McDonald’s order.’ We turned Famous Orders have generated
this idea into a commercial, $283m in incremental sales, driven
displaying celebrities’ orders youth penetration 11 months out of
arranged on trays, and saw how 12, and grown McDonald’s dollar and
fascinated and engaged people traffic share of QSR, especially among
were with what their heroes chose our target of 18- to 24-year-olds.
as their meal. Here are a few things we’ve learned
It was not a huge leap to then turn about how to best engage with their
one celebrity order into a meal fan bases and with ours.
people could buy. And that’s what we
did with the Travis Scott Meal. We Share the pen Create shared equity were clearly signposted in advance
doubled Quarter Pounder sales in the Others’ love for your brand is With every Famous Order, we’ve – their fans don’t like surprises.
first week and ended up breaking the contagious, so don’t feel afraid to looked at creating shared equity Famous Orders has become a
supply chain – running out of beef, relinquish some creative control. We between brands and fans. We leaned cultural event in its own right. With it,
onions, even Sprite, in restaurants let Travis design his own McDonald’s into each talent’s cultural codes to the brand has regained its swagger
across America. branded merch – even if he broke create a campaign bespoke to their in the US and the kind of sales that
We’d chosen Travis for many most of our brand guidelines – and let identities. Travis behaved like a have become a growth engine for
reasons, such as his creativity Saweetie hack our menu, and streetwear launch using surprise the whole business. All because we
beyond music and his passionate encourage our customers to do the drops; J Balvin followed the format stopped listening to the haters and
fanbase, but most of all because he same. We made BTS packaging that of a Grammy-worthy album release; focused on the fans. Plus, we started
was a real fan. And we’ve set the was like a textile, so their fanbase and the BTS Meal took a page out of acting like a fan ourselves.
same high bar with every one of our could make everything from shoes to the K-Pop playbook, with tour dates
Famous Orders talent – including handbags with it. around the world and events that Read the full article on warc.com
19
Three
Chapter 3
Ecosystems for
change are brands’
new growth engine

20
We’ve seen a clear shift from effective

campaigns to platforms and ecosystems
for growth. Brands are not just raising
awareness of an issue, but really
making a difference and accelerating
Patricia McDonald
Global Chief Strategy Officer
business growth through good.
Dentsu creative

21
Purpose shifts towards long-term

initiatives as brands focus on growth
Commenting on the winners, Being in it for the long run also

judges noticed how brands are allows brands to show product
adopting a more sustained and benefits over an extended period
Renault
comprehensive approach to of time. Telco Three, for example,
purpose, which extends beyond demonstrated the reliability of its
the marketing department. products by bringing advanced
connectivity solutions to a remote
This attitude translated into the Irish island. The result was both an
creation of ecosystems that both 11% population increase on the
tackled systemic issues and island and a 50% growth in
delivered growth for brands. revenue for Three.
In the US, Michelob Ultra Similarly, Renault focused on a
rethought its supply chain by small French village and provided
committing to helping farmers in all of its residents with electric
their transition to organic crops. cars. The experiment was
With Contract for Change, it showcased in a documentary,
recruited 175 farmers to be part which proved the benefits of
of the programme and sold 29m switching to electric and boosted
packs of the brand’s organic beer. Renault’s EV sales by 50%.

22
Three examples of Michelob Ultra Three Renault

ecosystems for growth
Michelob Ultra set out to satisfy the

increasing demand for organic
products by partnering with
farmers themselves, aiding them in
the transition – a win-win move that
benefited both farmers and brand.
Three transformed life on the Irish
island of Arranmore by installing 5G
tech and putting it to use across a
range of services. This helped
businesses thrive and proved the
reliability of Three’s products.
Renault created the first electric
vehicle town in the world, giving all
residents of the French village of
Appy an electric ZOE. Documenting
the town’s everyday life after the
switch, Renault showed the ease
and convenience of electric,
helping the cause of green energy
and boosting electric car sales.
23
Prove don’t Trust is a major factor for the B2B

“This couldn’t be just
promise: Three’s market, but Three Business didn’t
a marketing exercise.
have a significant reputation in the
long-term plan B2B space. It would need to find a It had to be a
to transform a way to prove it could deliver for long-term platform of
this cynical segment, not just continual investment.”
community and promise that it could. That mantra
its business of ‘prove don’t promise’ would
become the most important different functions working towards a
motivator for us to take a creative common goal. The biggest challenge
leap that moved beyond the was communicating the wealth of
traditional testimonial-type work products, services and solutions
dominating B2B communications. within the Three Business portfolio.
We know that every business is
Building a community different, so instead of trying to find
Boys+Girls’ Patrick Key to the success of this brief were one business that used all of Three’s
Meade gives insight two transformative insights. Firstly, products, why not build a community
into Three’s long-term we knew that the majority of our B2B of them that showcased each service
commitment to an target customers weren’t in technical as part of the whole ecosystem?
ecosystem for growth roles, so we needed to build trust
with The Island. through emotional storytelling that Discovering Arranmore
spoke to both the head and the heart. The stakes were high for the remote
Patrick Meade is Head of

Secondly, every business is like a Irish island of Arranmore. Islands of
Strategy on Three, Boys+Girls community. An ecosystem of its kind were dying out, constantly
24
overlooked by government strategy. Digital Hub from which new and

The decision to exclude Arranmore existing businesses could work
from the National Broadband Scheme remotely into global markets. Three
was another in a long line of blows also provided ICT solutions to the
suffered by this island community. school, medical centre and many
A digital transformation project on a other businesses.
community like Arranmore could This wasn’t just a short-term
provide us with the ecosystem we campaign, a lick of paint here and
needed to prove the quality and there. It was, and still is, a long-term
diversity of Three’s services and commitment from Three to prove
demonstrate how better connectivity its fundamental belief of a better
and ICT solutions can benefit not just connected life. increased by 18%. The corporate while critically transforming life
businesses, but entire communities. base increased by 203% and Three on the island of Arranmore.
The weight of the challenge meant An all-round transformation witnessed a 153% growth year on So much so that it was presented
that Arranmore’s digital transformation Since the campaign began, the island year for Three Business as a whole. at the European Parliament as a
couldn’t be just a marketing exercise. has witnessed an 11% population Three soon started winning tenders case study on how to rejuvenate
It had to be a long-term platform of increase, reversing decades of from large organisations, many of island communities.
continual investment. decline. Authorities have received whom cited The Island as a key It is as clear a demonstration of the
over 3,500 enquiries about moving to reason for considering Three impact of long-term thinking in
The ecosystem the island and tourism is up by 84%. Business in the first place. creating as much long-term effect
What followed was a complete In return, The Island became Three’s This ‘prove don’t promise’ as you could ever hope for.
overhaul of the connectivity most successful campaign ever. campaign developed into a
infrastructure of Arranmore, from It directly contributed to an increase long-term ecosystem and helped to
high-speed internet to a brand-new in market share and new B2B leads transform Three Business’ results Read the full article on warc.com
25
Chapter 4
TV returns to
fuel visually
arresting creative

26
Television regains prominence in

the media mix
Among shortlisted entries this Dove’s Courage is Beautiful was all
year, 67% used TV in their media about celebrating healthcare
mix, versus only 15% in 2021. workers during the pandemic and
Even more striking, TV was the saw OOH and TV go hand in hand
lead media for 47% of the as the lead media for the powerful
shortlist, surpassing social media. close-up portraits.
The Canadian Women’s
In the context of the pandemic, this Foundation used national TV as the
jump could be explained by shifts in jumping off point for Signal for
media behaviour. If on the one hand Help, which eventually trended on
COVID-19 accelerated the digital TikTok, spreading the word on the
transformation, on the other life-saving gesture.
lockdowns have strengthened TV’s Finally, Corona brought the joy of
role as a companion for at-home football back to locked-down
audiences. Many of this year’s Mexican audiences by creating a
winners did indeed use TV during new match made up of the most
pandemic times, and particularly impressive plays of all times and
for visually impactful work airing it on primetime TV.
intended to elicit strong emotion.

27
TV consumption: Media Consumption, Q1 2020 to Q1 2021

The lockdown effect h:mm
This chart shows daily
consumption of linear and online
TV in the United Kingdom and United Kingdom United States
United States, in hours and Linear TV Online TV/Streaming Linear TV Online TV/Streaming
minutes. As lockdowns kicked in 4:53
05:00 05:00 4:35
4:42
4:35
during Q2 2020, consumers 4:27
4:07 4:07
started spending more time with 4:02 4:01
04:00 3:41 04:00 1:44
the channel. This can be explained 1:37 1:39
1:42 1:37
by a number of factors. On the 01:18 01:23 01:22 01:23
03:00 01:10 03:00
one hand, TV was an always-on
source of news, providing
real-time updates on the 02:00 02:00
3:09
pandemic. On the other, its role as 2:44 2:38 2:45 2:44 2:58 3:03 2:53 2:50
2:31
an enabler of family time 01:00 01:00
increased during lockdowns, with
families more likely to choose it as 00:00 00:00
Q1 2020
Q2 2020
Q3 2020
Q4 2020
Q1 2021
Q1 2020
Q2 2020
Q3 2020
Q4 2020
Q1 2021
a way to get together and break
up the monotony of at-home life.
Source: WARC Media, United Kingdom, United States, Media Consumption, Q1 2020 to Q1 2021 (based on a survey of internet users aged 16-64)
28
Dove’s agile In 2020, our lives were completely new face on it. There is no greater
approach to altered. In-market Dove expression of real beauty than

communications immediately felt out selflessness and resilience.
media planning of place and perhaps even tone-deaf. Therefore, to expand our mission
in a pandemic Dove has carved out a path as a of championing ‘real beauty’,
brand with two unique pillars: Dove put the spotlight on the
Superior Care and Championing Real healthcare workers, to give thanks
Beauty. Care is at the core of what for their bravery during the pandemic.
Dove stands for, that is why Dove
took swift action to contribute to the Connecting with a hard-to-reach
efforts against the COVID-19 audience
Mindshare’s Michelle pandemic. The brand partnered with Our intent for the campaign was to
Morgan and Dan the Direct Relief organisation to honour healthcare workers and
supply PPE (Personal Protective ensure they felt seen. However,
Eckrote give a
Equipment) for frontline workers and reaching this group required
behind-the-scenes
donated Unilever products (inclusive
look at the media
of Dove) to Feeding America to help
plan for Courage is those in need. “With this work we
Beautiful, which lent In addition to working with non- showed how you can
the campaign mass profit organisations, Dove wanted to creatively tap into
reach and relevance. ensure that frontline workers were mass-reaching
recognised for their dedication to the channels for a
Michelle Morgan is Strategy Director
Dan Eckrote is Strategy Managing
community. Our task was to reframe laser-focused strategy.”
Director at Mindshare what ‘real beauty’ meant and put a
29
transportation locations within We then adopted a multichannel

Manhattan and neighbouring areas. approach spanning TV, print, digital
And to align with the nightly cheers and social, requiring a concerted
of New Yorkers from their windows, effort to identify existing inventory
we increased our share of voice and opportunities that could be
during the hospital shift change. secured at a moment’s notice.
Keeping up with media shifts Activating with agility

The pandemic accelerated the Activating with agility in mind keeps
change of consumer media brands at the forefront of culture
consumption, as families were now to sustain consumers’ connection
forced to quarantine at home. With with the brand. Dove took creative
this insight, we evolved the way we and meaningful steps to leverage
planned media to stay relevant. underutilised media to form
We strategically amplified our one-to-one connections with
message via COVID-related TV doctors and nurses – as they
unconventional tactics. While most particularly OOH. We took this pivot programming such as One World: travelled to and from hospitals – as
consumers stayed home under strict as a strategic opportunity to leverage Together At Home and BET well as with at-home audiences.
lockdown, essential workers were the surplus inventory and deploy Network’s SOS: COVID Telethon. With this work we showed not
completing 24-hour shifts, and were Courage is Beautiful via digital OOH. Additionally, we leveraged only how to creatively tap into
some of the few making daily We leveraged this channel to placement within news mass-reaching channels for a
commutes to work. In parallel to the personally connect with healthcare programming, which aligned with laser-focused strategy, but also
COVID-19 surge, advertisers were workers as they travelled to work. We consumers’ increased viewership of the importance of staying agile
pulling out of the marketplace, focused on hospitals and public networks such as CNN and MSNBC. during uncertainty.
30
Chapter 5
Brands explore
AI-driven creativity

31
In their applications of AI, brands

were trying to stretch beyond driving
their own business impact: they were
actually investing in new approaches
that other brands could also replicate.
There was a real generosity emerging
Rosie Collins
Head of Strategy
BBH London
in the work.

32
Artificial intelligence opens up new

creative possibilities
From providing entertainment brought back to life a murdered
to lockdown audiences to tackling journalist, earning media coverage
societal issues, brands are and the conviction of his killers.
exploring the creative possibilities Michelob Ultra explored the
offered by artificial intelligence. entertainment purposes of AI to
reimagine NBA games for pandemic
Judges praised the use of AI to bring times. Partnering with Microsoft,
people together and, in some cases, it combined the tech giant’s new
repair fractions in society. Project AI-driven Together Mode with a ring
Understood saw the Canadian Down of 17-foot LEDs to allow fans to
Syndrome Society teach Google show up on virtual stands – a tech
Assistant to recognise the voices of application that earned it a 32%
people with Down syndrome, boost in sales.
paving the way for more inclusive What judges particularly
voice tech. appreciated across all examples was
NGO Propuesta Cívica AC used AI an element of “generosity”: by
in its mission to help journalists exploring new applications of AI,
speak up against organised crime. In these brands were seen as leading
a twist on deepfakes, it virtually the way for work to come.

33
Three examples of Canadian Down Michelob Propuesta

AI-driven creativity Syndrome Society Ultra Cívica AC
The Canadian Down Syndrome

Society empowered people with
Down syndrome to teach Google
Assistant to recognise their voice
more accurately. Voice data was
collected through a website and
fed into the Assistant’s algorithm.
At a time when fans could not
attend NBA matches due to the
pandemic, Michelob Ultra and
Microsoft fit stadiums with
AI-powered interactive screens.
Fans could join the virtual stands
by scanning a bottle of Michelob.
Propuesta Cívica AC used AI to
create a video where murdered
journalist Javier Valdez
addressed the President of
Mexico to bring attention to the
cause of journalists targeted by
organised crime.

34
The Canadian Down Syndrome voice AI space. We reached out to

How voice tech Society (CDSS) presented us with a several tech companies, and while
mobilised a fact that is incredibly positive, but the reception was overwhelmingly
also posed a huge challenge: today, positive, no one was quite sure how
community to people with Down syndrome are living to address the issue. When faced
take charge of longer, making them the first with a daunting challenge there is
their future generation to outlive their parents. a rule we follow at FCB Canada: leap
For most, this means outliving their and the net will appear. We took this
primary support system. to heart and continued looking for
Young adults in the Down syndrome a solution.
community can live independently,
but they have unique needs, which Project Understood takes shape
The FCB Canada could be aided by voice technology. A breakthrough came when we met a
team takes us through Looking at the latest data on voice Googler with atypical speech who
Gold winner Project recognition, we realised that the AI was also keen to find out how the
Understood, which powering it only understands one in technology could be improved, not
mobilised the Down every three words of those with
syndrome community atypical speech. For technology to be
“We partnered with a
more inclusive, we had to think big.
to make voice tech technology that
more accessible.
The search for the perfect partner
usually teaches us, to
We did not have the funds or the
empower people with
Tim Welsh is VP, Managing Director
Audrey Zink is Strategist manpower to solve this problem, so
Down syndrome to
Blake Connolly is Group Account Director
Shelley Brown is Chief Strategy Officer we needed to find a partner in the become its teachers.”
at FCB Canada

35
Mobilising the community to sessions, at their convenience.

become teachers Simplicity was the cornerstone of
Partnering with Google – a the user experience.
technology that usually teaches us –
we empowered people with Down Beyond Project Understood
syndrome to become its teachers. We couldn’t stop there. Google and
Social videos shed light on the the Canadian Down Syndrome
inaccessibility of voice technology Society presented their research at
for people with Down syndrome and the UN, calling on all tech companies
the impact that the tech would have to make voice technology more
on their lives, mobilising them to accessible. And in 2021, Google
donate their voices to train Google. announced Project Relate, a new
To recruit this niche audience with Android app that aims to help all
only $1,000 in media, we targeted people with atypical speech
only for herself, but for the 78 million technology requires millions of data the tight-knit community organically communicate more easily and
people in her same situation. points (human voices) to perform and we harnessed community interact with Google Assistant.
She put us in touch with Google’s AI optimally, the small size of the Down groups across North America The full impact of this campaign will
research team, responsible for the syndrome community means these through email and organic social. be seen in years to come. Project
algorithm that powers their voice systems are lacking the data they All media drove to our website, Understood is helping future-proof a
technology. Google’s voice assistant need to reliably understand them. where qualified participants could vulnerable community.
has the most market share in Canada, Google had the technology and we enter a hub for raw data collection to
which made it the ideal partner. had access to the one million voice train Google’s AI.
Working with Google’s AI team, we samples that Google required to make Participants had the flexibility to
identified the problem: since voice an impact on their voice AI. record phrases over multiple Read the full article on warc.com
36
Chapter 6
Behind the
winning work

37
The subconscious’ As most marketers know all too well,

“Harnessing the
take on this year’s advertising’s memorability is critical
power of great
to its success. Neuroscientists and
winners research specialists have proven the
storytelling is
link between long-term memory
fundamental for
encoding and ROI. driving long-term,
Our brains work like a still camera, real-life impact.”
encoding snapshots of information
into memory. Unfortunately for
advertisers, our brains are less when our brain feels like it is being
interested in brands and more sold to, it disengages. Weaving the
interested in stories. So, harnessing product or brand into the story is far
the power of great storytelling is more powerful.
fundamental for driving long-term, Three’s The Island tackled issues of
Neuro-Insight’s real-life impact. distrust through showcasing the
Holly Jordan This year’s Creative Effectiveness transformative power of its network
examines the winners share common themes, by making a remote island accessible
winning entries to which demonstrate why, from the to all. Focusing on the lives of
uncover the brain’s perspective, they succeeded everyday people made this campaign
scientific secrets to in driving meaningful brand impact. relatable to a wide audience.
their success. Personal relevance is a known driver
Make it personal of long-term memory, and this
Holly Jordan is Research Director

We consider the brain as having a undoubtedly contributed to the
at Neuro-Insight metaphorical built-in ad blocker – campaign’s success.
38
Global lockdowns required us to To spread its message, L’Enfant

adapt to a new way of life and for Bleu utilised the trust that children
brands this meant recognising the have in gaming micro-influencers.
new context in which their audiences Our own research shows that
were living, reconsidering the ways influencer posts generate 114%
to communicate with them. stronger memory than ads seen on
The best examples of this are the other platforms. The smaller fanbase
lifesaving campaigns by L’Enfant of micro-influencers makes them
Bleu and the Canadian Women’s feel more accessible and
Foundation. Both winners were quick trustworthy from the brain’s
to react to the changing contexts perspective, making them an even
triggered by the pandemic by stronger subset of influencer
implementing active interventions marketing for brands to harness to
that could provide refuge for the drive action.
When it comes to delivering of ‘going green’, and the positive most critically vulnerable during this
environmental messages, relevance change this had on their world. time: victims of abuse. L’Enfant Bleu
needs to go deeper to drive real created an avatar within a video “The more relatable
action. The human brain, above all Matching content to changing game, while the Canadian Women’s something
else, is wired to serve itself. Renault contexts Foundation established a discreet is, the more likely the
overcame this challenge by delivering As we exist in a complex and hand gesture for use on video calls. brain is to encode it.
a self-serving campaign to inhabitants ever-changing media landscape, it’s Both approaches ensured victims of As humans we are
of a remote French village. Upon fundamental for brands to understand abuse still had a safe and secret hardwired to find
receiving electric cars, residents the unique value of each context and context in which they could social connection.”
could individually explore the benefits identify where best to deliver content. communicate for help.
39
Real people, true emotions so content that focuses on real

All memories are coloured by people is hugely effective.
emotion, which plays a key role in Take the Canadian Down Syndrome Female Company
driving future action. However, not Society: it gave the community a
just the happy emotions count, space to be empowered and actively
any emotionally relevant narrative change their future. We know the
is important. brain pays attention to personally
The power of emotion was relevant content, in this case real
demonstrated in Dove’s Courage is people addressing an everyday
Beautiful. In showing harrowing challenge, and the use of direct
images of exhausted healthcare questions provides interaction, which
workers during the pandemic, the further sustains attention.
campaign displayed real, uncensored, However, relevance goes beyond
human emotions. the campaign; it applies to the
The use of close-ups worked well ambassadors that brands use to congruent to the campaign farmers throughout the three-year
to deliver the appropriate emotional amplify their story. We know that if objectives to drive change. transition period. At the heart of its
narrative and helped make the content shared by an ambassador is campaign was the farmer, supported
content more relatable – something incongruent to their identity it has a Pulling it all together by both brand and consumer,
that the brain responds incredibly detrimental impact on brain response This year’s Grand Prix winner, making this an incredibly powerful
well to. and is strongly disliked. Michelob Ultra, succeeded in all the human-focused narrative.
The more relatable something One example from this year’s above. It responded to greater
is, the more likely the brain is to winners is The Female Company, consumer demand for organic
encode it. As humans we are which carefully selected feminist products alongside reluctance to
hardwired to find social connection, celebrities and female politicians change from farmers, by supporting Read the full article on warc.com
40
GRAND PRIX
Michelob Ultra:
Contract for Change
Agency:
FCB New York / FCB
Beer brand Michelob Ultra supported farmers
Chicago through the transition to organic farming by
Advertiser: pledging to purchase their yield to make Michelob
Results Takeaways
Michelob Ultra
(AB InBev)
Ultra Pure Gold beer.
Market: Drove sales of more than • The supply chain is where actions of social
USA Despite rising demand for organic produce, farmers
29 million packs of responsibility can present clear
were reluctant to transition to organic crops, worrying
Michelob Ultra Pure Gold opportunities for stakeholders.
about reduced yields and finding buyers in an
• Doing good in the world isn’t always an act
unfamiliar market. Michelob Ultra set out to encourage
16.1% increase in of charity; by being pioneers of change,
them to begin their organic transition by pledging to
revenue brands can grow their business.
become their first organic customer once the
transition was complete. Michelob Ultra partnered with
Captured 70% of growth
organisations to provide farmers with training and
in the organic beer
support, organised workshops on organic farming
category
and amplified the activity through a Super Bowl spot. VIEW THE CASE STUDY

41
Judges’
“Contract for Change has not only had a great impact on the current state of
the brand, but will also have future impact on the environment.
comments It will give Michelob a strategic advantage for being a first mover for
environmental good.”
Sameer Satpathy, Divisional Chief Executive – Personal Care, ITC
“You have to look at it within the context of American farmlands, where only
1% of farming is organic due to the cost of the transition itself. The issue was
not so much how to sell organic beer, but how to change the supply chain to
make it possible to produce it, and Michelob solved the problem at the root.”
Bertille Toledano, President, BETC
“It was a completely different approach to effectiveness. It wasn’t a

campaign, it was a platform for growth: it not only grew the brand, it grew
business for the individual farmers.”
Patricia McDonald, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu creative

42
GOLD GOLD
The Female Company: CDSS:

The Tampon Book Project Understood
Online shop The Female The Canadian Down Syndrome
Company outsmarted the sexist Society, a charity, improved
VAT law on menstrual products voice assistance technology by
in Germany by selling tampons encouraging people with Down
hidden inside books. syndrome to donate voice
samples to Google’s speech
recognition database.
VIEW THE CASE STUDY VIEW THE CASE STUDY
Agency:
Results Scholz & Friends Berlin
Results Agency:
FCB Toronto
Abolition of tampon tax Reached 826,107 people on Facebook
Advertiser: Advertiser:
Reduced VAT on all menstrual products The Female Company Garnered 82,995 engagements Canadian Down Syndrome
45,000+ subscribing customers Market:
1 million voices samples donated Society
Germany Market:
Canada
Takeaway Takeaway
Brands can make the most of a modest Technology can help communities take
budget by working with influencers that are charge of their own future, leading to
congruent with the brand’s mission. long-lasting change.

43
Judges’
“Project Understood used technology as a force for inclusion, making that
community feel empowered and valued, and it’s something that will be useful
comments in years to come.”
Patricia McDonald, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Dentsu creative
“Menstruation is not an easy topic to talk about and The Female Company
was able to do it in an interesting and powerful way, which ultimately not
only grew its business but also impacted society by changing tax law.”
Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Mastercard
“It’s always interesting to see brands that challenge the law, especially small
brands. The Tampon Book shows that even a small, tiny brand can have a big
impact – not just on the brand itself, but on the world too.”
Rosie Collins, Head of Strategy, BBH London

44
GOLD GOLD
L’Enfant Bleu: Burger King:

Undercover Avatar Moldy Whopper
Child safeguarding association Fast-food chain Burger King
L’Enfant Bleu encouraged increased sales and perception
children at risk of abuse in of the brand’s high-quality
France to reach out by inserting ingredients by displaying a burger
an undercover avatar into the becoming mouldy to demonstrate
video game Fortnite. that no artificial preservatives had
been used.
Agency:
Results Havas Sports & Results Agency:
INGO, Stockholm / David
1,200 friend requests from children Entertainment, Paris 14% increase in sales Miami
50+ million PR impressions Advertiser: 26% increase in perception of quality Advertiser:
L’Enfant Bleu
700+ million media impressions 48% more aware of removal of preservatives Burger King (Restaurant
Brands International)
Market:
France Market:
Takeaway Takeaway Europe
When brands are targeting a niche, Breaking the traditional rules of visual
micro-audience they need to insert themselves perfection in food advertising can be
into a space the audience uses and is used to. advantageous for brands.

45
Judges’
“I always think about the agency receiving the briefing and I know it’s really
difficult to target children because they avoid mainstream channels.
comments L’Enfant Bleu found an island of sorts in gaming: a space where children are
present and, crucially, parents are not.”
David Coral, President & CEO, BBDO & Proximity Spain
“L’Enfant Bleu used gaming in a way that really understands the way the
audience uses that environment and how much more open they are willing to
be there. It didn’t just go in there and talk with the children – it created a full
ecosystem to support them and get them out of vulnerable situations.”
“Great brands own visuals in a manner which gives them an advantage and
reinforces why people come to them in the first place. And Moldy Whopper,
for good or bad – only time will tell – will create a memory structure. I don’t
think you can unsee it.”
Sameer Satpathy, Divisional Chief Executive – Personal Care, ITC

46
GOLD SILVER
Dove: Michelob Ultra:

Courage is Beautiful Courtside
Personal care brand Dove Beer brand Michelob Ultra
increased value sales and brand increased household penetration
power by honouring the sacrifice and sales in the US by partnering
made by healthcare workers with Microsoft and the NBA to
around the world. digitally transport basketball
fans to the court during the
COVID-19 lockdown.
Agency:
Results Ogilvy Toronto / Ogilvy Results Agency:
FCB New York
$183 million increase in value sales growth London 11% increase in household penetration
Advertiser:
13-point increase in brand power Advertiser: 32% year-over-year sales growth Michelob Ultra (AB InBev)
Dove (Unilever)
1.3 billion earned impressions 31% increase in brand reach Market:
Market: USA
Global
Takeaway Takeaway
Using close-ups is a sure-fire way to deliver By partnering with technology companies,
emotional impact, as it builds a human brands can explore innovations that
connection with the audience. redefine customer experience.

47
Judges’
“Courage is Beautiful landed exactly at the right time and was an uplifting
piece of work, representing the heroes of that time in a sensitive and
comments enlightening way. It also found a role for the product, cleverly connecting the
care of workers with the care that Dove is able to provide to consumers’ skin.”
“This campaign is a new chapter for Dove in becoming a leader in

understanding the consumer beyond physical beauty – focusing on who they
are and not what they appear to be. Dove has been moving from aspiration
to inspiration for human beings.”
Christine Removille, Partner, Bain & Company
“Courage is Beautiful shows that Dove’s platform continues to evolve. It’s a

new way of showing reality in a very courageous way and also shows agile
marketing during COVID-19, as it was responding almost in real time.”
David Coral, President & CEO, BBDO & Proximity Spain

48
SILVER SILVER
Cheetos: Three:
Can’t Touch This The Island
Snack brand Cheetos increased Telco brand Three increased
sales and household penetration business leads and drove brand
by encouraging people to growth by bringing innovative
embrace the benefits of fingers connectivity solutions to the
covered in Cheetos dust. isolated Irish island of Arranmore.
Agency:
Results Goodby Silverstein & Results Agency:
Boys + Girls Dublin
1.4-point increase in household penetration Partners 152% year-on-year growth
Advertiser:
Cheetos Popcorn sales doubled Advertiser: 18% increase in business leads Three
Cheetos (PepsiCo)
99% positive PR sentiment Increased market share to 36.7% Market:
Market: Ireland
USA
Takeaway Takeaway
Brands should look to their products’ Brands can use emotional storytelling to
weaknesses and find a way to turn them tackle unique challenges and deliver
into strengths. innovative business solutions.

49
BRONZE BRONZE BRONZE
Renault: McDonald’s: Canadian Women’s

Village Electrique The Travis Scott Meal Foundation: Signal for Help
VIEW THE CASE STUDY VIEW THE CASE STUDY VIEW THE CASE STUDY
Agency: Agency: Agency:

Car brand Renault Publicis Conseil, Paris
Fast-food brand Wieden+Kennedy
The Canadian Women’s Juniper Park / TBWA
increased sales in McDonald’s increased New York Foundation, a public Toronto
Advertiser:
French rural areas and Renault market share and sales Advertiser: foundation, tackled Advertiser:
McDonald’s Canadian Women’s
generated worldwide Market:
by turning rapper Travis domestic abuse in Foundation
media coverage with its France Scott’s signature order Market: Canada by creating a
USA Market:
campaign to expand the into a meal in the US. potentially life-saving Canada
electric vehicle niche. hand gesture that quickly
went viral.
Results Results Results

154% increase in sales in rural areas 1.3% increase in market share Nearly 5 billion organic impressions
250+ articles generated worldwide 10% increase in sales Global recognition and recorded cases of use
50
BRONZE BRONZE BRONZE
Propuesta Cívica AC: Stayfree: Corona:

#StillSpeakingUp deeptruth Project Free Period The Match of Ages
VIEW THE CASE STUDY VIEW THE CASE STUDY VIEW THE CASE STUDY
Agency: Agency: Agency:

NGO Propuesta Cívica Publicis Riga / Publicis
Menstrual brand DDB Mudra Group
Beer brand Corona We Believers New York
achieved justice for the Mexico City Stayfree helped women Mumbai increased sales and
Advertiser:
murdered Mexican Advertiser: leave the sex trade in Advertiser: brand sentiment by Corona (AB InBev)
Propuesta Cívica AC Stayfree (Johnson &
journalist Javier Valdez India by giving them the Johnson)
bringing people a football Market:
by using AI to create a Market: opportunity to develop match at a time when Mexico
Mexico Market:
video featuring him. new skills. India COVID-19 prevented live
games in Mexico.
Results Results Results

Javier Valdez’s killers convicted 100,000+ days of education 98% positive sentiment
Coverage from 100+ international outlets New skills for 11,200+ women 54% increase in volume sales
51
Chapter 7
Data

52
Awareness and Campaign objectives

sales are main focus
2022 shortlist vs. 2021 shortlist (selected objectives)
Alongside sales growth, this
2022 2021
year’s shortlist saw a pronounced
focus on awareness as an Sales growth: 53%
objective, which has grown by Increase value/volume 56%
nearly 40% since 2021. This went 53%

Awareness
hand-in-hand with a spike in 38%
brands looking to attract new
Brand building: 47%
customers, such as Cheetos and Build brand equity 61%
Michelob Ultra.
Social, political & 27%
not-for-profit 23%
While building brand equity saw a
decrease in popularity, it was still Sales growth: 20%
the objective driving nearly half of Gain new customers 1%
shortlisted entries. In particular, it

13%
was the key goal of work that Word of mouth
15%
aimed to showcase brands’
Sales growth: 13%
capabilities and products, such as
Increase market share 1%
Three’s The Island and Renault’s
Village Electrique. 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
Source: Creative Effectiveness Lions, shortlist metadata 2021-2022

53
Partnerships see Creative strategy

highest spike
2022 shortlist vs. 2021 shortlist (selected strategies)
This year, the number of 2022 2021
shortlisted entries using a
40%
partnership element skyrocketed, Consumer-generated content, participation
23%
going from only 1% in 2021 to
40%. Examples were Courtside, Informative, educational
40%
31%
where Michelob partnered with
the NBA and Microsoft, and 40%
Partnerships
Project Understood, where the 1%
Canadian Down Syndrome

46%
Society joined forces with Google. Corporate responsibility + Sustainability
38%
27%
There was also an increase in Emotion
38%
brands using participatory
mechanics in their work – from 20%
Celebrity
Dove featuring care workers’ own 1%
selfies in its campaign, to 20%

Brand activism
McDonald’s inspiring Travis Scott 1%
fans to create their own art
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
featuring the artist and his order.
Note: In 2022, WARC introduced two new tags that replaced the ‘Sustainability, responsibility’ one: ‘Corporate responsibility’ and ‘Sustainability’. Here, we
have combined their percentages to allow for comparison with 2021. The exact 2022 percentages are: 33% ‘Corporate responsibility’; 13% ‘Sustainability’.
54
Television leaps Media mix

ahead of social
2022 shortlist vs. 2021 shortlist (selected channels)
While social media was still the
most used channel among the
media mix, television witnessed a Media used Lead media
substantial increase in popularity,
2022 2021 2022 2021
going from 15% to 67%. As lead
channel, it even trumped social Social media 93% Television & 47%
77% Connected TV 8%
media, being the media of choice
73%
Online video 13%
for nearly half of the shortlist. The 61% Online video
22%
return of TV could be explained by Television & 67%
shifting consumer behaviour Connected TV 15%
Public relations
13%
0%
during the pandemic, a theme we 33%
Public relations 15% Events & 7%
explore in Chapter 4.
Word of mouth, 27% experiential 0%
influencers 15%
Outdoor, out of 7%
This year also saw an increase Outdoor, out of 20% home 8%
in work using PR – such as home 31%
7%
The Tampon Book and 20% Social media
Livestreaming 0%
30%
#StillSpeakingUp – as well as
7% 0%
word of mouth and influencers – Mobile & apps Mobile & apps
23% 8%
such as Undercover Avatar and
0% 30% 60% 90% 0% 20% 40%
Courage is Beautiful.

55
Awareness and sales Hard and soft metrics

are top metrics
2022 shortlist vs. 2021 shortlist (selected metrics)
Though they remain in the lead,
sales and market penetration
decreased in popularity in favour Hard metrics Soft metrics
of metrics such as market share 2022 2021 2022 2021
and behavioural change. With a
growth in work around Sales
53%
Awareness
73%
67% 54%
responsibility and sustainability
came increased focus on attitude Market penetration / 33% 67%
PR value
change, which was a metric for all customer gain 42% 54%
non-profit campaigns this year.

27% 53%
Market share Social media, buzz
17% 69%
Like it did in campaign objectives,
Attitude change 27% Brand health / equity 40%
awareness tops soft metrics,
(non-profit) 8% measures 54%
while social media buzz lost
importance, which tallies with 27% Consumer 40%
Behavioural change
social as a channel losing share in 17% participation 8%
2022. Meanwhile, as shown by 7% 13%

Revenue Web traffic
many of the winners, participation 25% 31%
was a key metric, and PR value

0% 20% 40% 60% 0% 30% 60%
also increased in importance.

56
Budgets and Budgets and durations

durations increase
2022 shortlist vs. 2021 shortlist
Campaign budgets are on a
growing trend compared to last
year, with 58% of the shortlist Media budgets Campaign duration
going above the 500k mark 2022 2021
2022 2021
versus 28% in 2021.
17%
No budget 33%
18%
Last year, campaign durations Up to 3 months
77%
25%
were very much polarised, with Up to 500k
54%
work lasting either up to three
8% 7%
months or between one and three 500k - 1 million 3 - 6 months
0%
years. This year, we are 0%
17%
witnessing more medium-term 1 - 3 million
18%
activities, with 34% of the shortlist 27%
5 - 10 million
17% 6 - 12 months
being campaigns that lasted 0% 0%
between three months and a year.
8%
The increase in long-term work – 10 - 20 million
10%
33%
from 23% to 33% – also points 1 - 3 years
8% 23%
back to the theme around building Over 20 million
0%
sustained ecosystems for growth,
0% 20% 40% 60% 0% 50% 100%
which we explore in Chapter 3.

57
Contact us
London New York
33 Kingsway 55 W 46th St
London 27th Floor
WC2B 6UF New York, NY 10036
Chiara Manco David Tiltman Lena Roland United Kingdom United States
Commissioning Editor, Senior Vice President, Head of Content, +44 (0)20 7467 8100 +1 212 201 2800
Case Studies, WARC Content, WARC WARC Strategy
chiara.manco@warc.com david.tiltman@warc.com lena.roland@warc.com
enquiries@warc.com americas@warc.com
Singapore Shanghai
WeWork Unit 05-08
71 Robinson Rd 31/F Garden Square
Singapore 068895 968 West Beijing Road
+65 3165 4600 Jing'an District, Shanghai
asiapacific@warc.com + 8621 6197 8692
nihaochina@warc.com
Amy Rodgers
Head of Content,
WARC Creative
amy.rodgers@warc.com

58

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Insights from the 2022

Insights from the 2022 winners Contents

In this category of Cannes Lions,

report that has met business goals

Themes from the winning work, Chapter 1:

A neuroscientific analysis of the

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What Advertisers Agencies Media owners

this • Think about how you

means mainstream approach to

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The evolution of creative effectiveness

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Meet the 2022 jury

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“Marketing is Why is it important to reward “Proving marketing’s

“Be brief, be bright, Female Company was able to do it in

the right view.”

Work that worked:

2022 Creative Effectiveness Lions

What makes a Creative Effectiveness winner?

1 Join the dots 2 Make the impact clear

3 Less talk, more data 4 Look at the bigger picture

Source: Interviews with Creative Effectiveness judges

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We witnessed marketing taking

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Connecting the dots

1 Dispel all doubt 2 Be honest 3 Get that detail in

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Source: McDonald’s Internal Data, 12/20

Tapping into fans

2022 Creative Effectiveness Lions

‘Fan truths’ were key to

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Fan-first approaches help shape

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2022 Creative Effectiveness Lions

We’ve seen a clear shift from effective

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Purpose shifts towards long-term

Commenting on the winners, Being in it for the long run also

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Three examples of Michelob Ultra Three Renault

Michelob Ultra set out to satisfy the

Prove don’t Trust is a major factor for the B2B

Patrick Meade is Head of

overlooked by government strategy. Digital Hub from which new and

2022 Creative Effectiveness Lions

Television regains prominence in

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TV consumption: Media Consumption, Q1 2020 to Q1 2021

approach to altered. In-market Dove expression of real beauty than

transportation locations within We then adopted a multichannel

Keeping up with media shifts Activating with agility

2022 Creative Effectiveness Lions

In their applications of AI, brands

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