Cannes Lions 2022—global creative leaders predict the top winners

As the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity returns to in-person celebrations, Ad Age resumes its annual tradition of asking global creative leaders to share their predictions on what campaigns and brand ideas will take home the big Lions. Among their picks are campaigns that have already collected honors across the awards circuit as well as under-the-radar gems.

The creative leaders are:

Dhaval Bhatt, co-founder, chief creative officer, Courage Inc. 
Amy Carvajal, chief creative officer, Code and Theory
Pancho Cassis, global chief creative officer, partner, David
Geoff Edwards, co-founder, Saturday Morning; executive creative director, Gale Partners
Amy Ferguson, chief creative officer, TBWA\Chiat\Day N.Y.
Grace Francis, chief creative officer, Wongdoody
Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer, Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Natalie Lam, chief creative officer, Publicis Groupe APAC & MEA; 2022 Press/Outdoor Lions jury president
Andre Laurentino, chief creative officer, Ogilvy U.K.
Fred Levron, chief creative officer, Dentsu International; 2022 Direct Lions jury president
Rob Lenois, chief creative officer, VaynerMedia
Jaime Mandelbaum, EMEA chief creative officer, VMLY&R
Carren O’Keefe, executive creative director, AnalogFolk Amsterdam 
Rafael Rizuto, chief creative officer, BBH USA
Tiffany Rolfe, global chief creative officer, R/GA and Creative E-Commerce Lions jury president
Gabrielle Shirdan, founder and chief creative officer, Kitchen Table
Lewis Williams, EVP-head of brand impact, Weber Shandwick

Burberry: Open Spaces

Following its breathtaking “Singin’ in the Rain” ad from 2020, Burberry delivered another gorgeous spot featuring four friends cloaked in the brand’s gear as they take a stroll through the countryside that quickly enters the realm of the fantastical.

Pancho Cassis: [This campaign] has strong chances in Film because it’s more than advertising; it’s art. It’s something people want to watch, want to share, want to understand how it was done and more.

Andre Laurentino: As close to poetry as our business gets. Their whole campaign is a mesmerizing homage to British weather. No words to describe it. 

Change the Ref: The Lost Class 
Agency: Leo Burnett Chicago

This chilling campaign for anti-gun-violence nonprofit Change the Ref duped high-profile gun advocates, including ex-NRA President David Keene, into giving culmination speeches before rows of empty seats representing high school students who would have graduated last year had they not lost their lives to gun violence. Leo Burnett Chicago tapped A-List director Bryan Buckley and the team at Hungry Man to execute the stunt.

Margaret Johnson: Firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens in America. “The Lost Class” brilliantly brings to light the fact that 3,044 members of the high school class of 2021 were killed by guns. There has never been a more important time for this kind of work. Buffalo. Uvalde. When will it end and background checks become mandatory? The visual of the empty chairs is alarmingly powerful with David Keene’s voice overhead, interrupted by 911 calls. What I would have given to be on that shoot. The adrenaline and the feeling of victory afterward. A phenomenal creative idea by Leo Burnett produced by a genius production company, Hungry Man. This is work the world needs to drive change. It makes me proud to work in advertising as it is proof that a powerful idea can drive change and influence culture.

Lewis Williams: The messaging, the cleverness in how it was produced, the simplicity and, unfortunately, because of the events that just unfolded in Uvalde. The idea taps emotionally into how we all would like to protect our most vulnerable, but at our core, feel helpless to do so.

Amy Carvajal: There is a lot to solve in the world right now, so it’s hard to clearly separate what is great work that is well done, or what is eliciting a reaction because it’s shining a light on an important issue today. One that checks both is “The Lost Class.” The narrative, use of data and experiential installation make a haunting visual to spark action. Plus it shows how poorly self-informed and easily duped Keene was.

Geoff Edwards: A riveting “commencement” speech delivered by David Keene to victims of gun violence. Tackles the topic of our Second Amendment Rights and its interpretation. Its challenge is, did they support the film with an action?

Jaime Mandelbaum: What to say about this other than, I hope this will be one of the last gun violence cases we see out of the U.S., particularly considering recent tragic events. I have the biggest admiration for the team who pulled this off, as I can only imagine the number of “no’s” they must have heard along the way. Carren O’Keefe: Creativity is about evoking emotion. This one hits you deep with an idea that’s striking in its simplicity. Combine that with a clever twist and its demonstrable impact and you’ve got a winner.

Grace Francis: We’re also reminded of how creative agencies can hold a mirror to society, reflecting our desire to use our skills to evoke and provoke societal change. [This campaign] deserves deep recognition from us all. Much like Mastercard’s “True Name” last year, we sometimes see work that needs to exist; this is one of those times.

Coors Light: Chillboards
Agency: DDB

This outdoor push from Coors Light saw the brand painting murals with reflective white paint on top of the black rooftops of apartment buildings around the city, a practice that effectively helps to lower the temp for tenants. As part of the effort, the brand also gave away 5,000 gallons of paint to Miami residents to continue the cooling. 

Dhaval Bhatt: Coors Light’s minimalist billboards on rooftops of buildings reflect up to 85% of sunlight and lower the surface temperature by 50 degrees. Billboards that reduce utility bills, help the planet and keep you chill? On brand, on point. Should do well in Out of Home. 

Dole: Piñatex
Agency: L&C 

Dole teamed up with Ananas Anam—a startup that developed Piñatex, a sustainable leather alternative made out of discarded pineapple leaves, to be one of its key suppliers. More than 200 brands in more than 80 countries now use Piñatex, including Hugo Boss, H&M and Nike. The partnership has generated more than $17 million in earned media for Dole. 

Fred Levron: Piñatex shows how agencies can partner with the biggest corporations out there to transform their businesses, shift and grow entire industries, and create positive changes for our world and environment. The initiative is bold and innovative, spotlighting how much power we have to improve our society as we build brands.

Grace Francis: As a vegan, I’m backing Dole turning their leftover pineapple scraps into vegan trainers in partnership with Pinãtex. This project transcends advertising into product development and does it with the speed of a startup and all the heart and consideration. 

Dove: Reverse Selfie
Agency: Ogilvy London

Unilever’s Dove followed up its iconic viral film, “Evolution,” which earned a 2007 Film Grand Prix, with an ad tailored specifically to selfie culture. Like the original film, this one peels back all that goes into making a girl live up to social media beauty standards, revealing a teen who resembles nothing like the woman in the opening scenes.

Cassis: This will have a lot of chances because it’s impactful and it closes the circle that “Evolution” started more than a decade ago, talking about fake images, this time done by girls themselves through filters and social media.

Eos: Bless Your F*cking Cooch
Agency: Mischief @ No Fixed Address

The product-meets-social media campaign rode the wave of influencer Carly Joy’s viral TikTok posts about how personal care brand Eos was the secret weapon to achieving “smooth-ass” lady parts. Eos gave Carly Joy her own line of creams, bearing her NSFW words on the packaging, and a limited batch of product also sold out online. The whole effort doubled the growth of the brand’s entire shaving line. 

Rob Lenois: Knowing the phrase “Bless Your Fucking Cooch” was already part of the cultural zeitgeist and then turning it into the actual product itself is a super modern way to market and also took some of the risk out of it in the first place. I can hear the conversation with the client around renaming the product to “Bless Your Fucking Cooch,” being told that a creator is talking about it exactly in that way on TikTok and it went viral, and then the client going, “Okay—let’s move on it.” Brave agency. Brave client. The results speak for themselves with a sold-out product.

Francis: I’m looking forward to the return of creative that is playful and irreverent in tone, yet still adds to the world. I’d love to see this campaign continue to shine. This is precisely why creatives need to be living on TikTok and championing influencers as their creative contemporaries.

Extra: For When It’s Time
Agency: Energy BBDO

This humorous spot, set to Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” hilariously opened the floodgates of all the pent-up longing and desire to be out in the world after the pandemic kept us locked down and separated from loved ones. When it dropped last year, it was a much-welcome dose of optimism after the dark messages of the COVID era. 

Bhatt: In my books, this is the hands down Film Grand Prix winner. Our job is to connect with real people, and nothing this year did a better job of it than this commercial. I remember when it first came out and how it made us all feel. Not just ad people, everybody. It passes the cocktail party/cab driver conversation test like nothing else this year. Yes, a lot of us pitched it, but they got it made first. And nailed it. I’m envious, and I stand in applause. 

Girls Who Code: DojaCode
Agency: Mojo Supermarket

Nonprofit Girls Who Code, which supports girls going into STEM fields, teamed with Mojo Supermarket on this campaign that slyly taught users coding skills via an interactive Doja Cat video. 

Levron:  “DojaCode” is changing the future. The campaign tapped into celebrity to equip girls around the world with coding skills. Using entertainment, technology and storytelling with a key social insight, this campaign is a strong initiative that has already created massive change.

Google: Black-Owned Friday
Agency: BBH USA

Going into its second year, Google’s “Black-Owned Friday” campaign with BBH USA featured a shoppable music video featuring T-Pain and Normani that sold more than 100 products from 50 Black-owned businesses.

Gabrielle Shirdan: A stunning piece that deserves a top prize. The craft was on point. I miss art direction like that. The work was directed by Daps and it was quite a bold piece that reimagined one of the busiest days for retail into a dedication to Black-owned businesses, which is no easy task. It was a beautiful spot that told a story many brands could shy away from—giving Black businesses their flowers. I built my agency, Kitchen Table, around elevating Black and brown-owned businesses, so this spot struck a chord.

Levron: Another powerful example of how technology can be a tool for creativity. This campaign tapped into the vastness of Google to grant visibility to Black businesses, ultimately building wealth, boosting culture and empowering communities. 

Google: Real Tone

Google developed “Real Tone” technology for its Pixel phone to accurately capture a more diverse range of skin tones. Google engineers had worked with a number of Black photography and directing talents to develop the technology, which was promoted earlier this year in a Super Bowl spot and also in a native advertising campaign with The New York Times.

Bhatt: Historically, camera technology has excluded people of color, especially those with darker skin tones. This is an incredibly thoughtful idea that has the power to not just promote equity and visibility, it directly affects Google’s bottom line. My pick for Mobile Grand Prix. 

Mandelbaum: More often than not, especially with products, we are bound to parameters and pre-set conditions that the end consumer can't affect. And our industry tends to give little or no thought to them because they are seen as a "given." Projects like “Real Tone” have a tremendous impact in breaking this "pre-set" mindset and genuinely impact people's lives daily.

Andre Laurentino: A wonderful product idea that puts humanity at the heart of tech. Impeccably developed and executed. Our business thrives when we address unmet human needs. It’s beyond inspiring: it’s necessary. 

Shirdan: Also a winner for me. Directed by Joshua Kissi, this piece was powerful in that it shared a message of inclusive innovation, true technology that aims to help people (literally) feel seen and it did so on the biggest stage in advertising, the Super Bowl. I respect that.
 

Heinz/Call of Duty: Hidden Spots
Agency: Gut

This tie-up between Heinz Ketchup and Activision’s Call of Duty flagged hidden havens within the game where players could safely take cover—freeing them to chow down on a snack (with some ketchup) in the real world without getting slaughtered in the game. 

Rolfe: “Hidden Spots” just might go even deeper still into the minds and behavior of gamers, unlocking such a niche human truth and elevating it to something we can all appreciate and relate to. 

NBA: Welcome to NBA Lane
Agency: Translation

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the NBA and Translation imagined a fun, fantastical neighborhood where basketball legends of past and present lived and played side by side. Michael B. Jordan, driving the "Hoops Bus," served as the celebrity tour guide, waving to greats including the L.A. Lakers' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, the Boston Celtics' Larry Bird and more. There are poignant moments as well, including a nod to the late Kobe Bryant, immortalized on a striking mural. 

Shirdan: The NBA’s “Welcome to NBA Lane” is a win. It felt like an ode. It got me—that moment for Kobe. You could tell it was created by lovers of the game. It took us back. I also love that they cast behind the lens just as critically as those in front—directed by Nigerian-American director, Rick Famuyiwa. Bravo.

The New York Times: Independent Journalism for an Independent Life
Agency: Droga5 New York

The New York Times’ famously celebrated the idea of “Truth” in its award-winning campaigns, but this year, the brand shifted its focus to its readers, by telling the stories of their lives, via its own headlines. 

Laurentino: Many brands have sought to tell real stories of real people. This is one of the best examples. And it has the product staring you in the face the whole time in the most truthful, natural and beautiful way. Never has independent journalism been more relevant to the world. And never has it been so powerfully heralded as in The New York Times’ campaigns in the past few years. 

The Nippon Foundation: Hi Toilet
Agency: TBWA\Hakuhodo

The Nippon Foundation developed what’s billed as the “world’s first hands-free and voice-activated toilet” with TBWA\Hakuhodo in response to research showing the effort people make to avoid contact when using public potties.

Lam:  An idea with a “purpose” not done in a preachy, guilt-trippy and serious way. Innovation in its purist, whimsical form. It’s from the Apple school of “you don’t know you need it until you see it.”

Pepsi: Better With Pepsi
Agency: Alma

Pepsi challenged the dominance of Coca-Cola at major burger chains with this daring campaign that showed various fast feeders’ wrappers strategically crumpled—with the help of an origami artist—to form the Pepsi logo. 

Amy Ferguson: I’m a sucker when brands get ballsy like that. So subversive! It’s a good argument for simple, iconic visual solutions. Those were all the rage when I was coming out of ad school (a long time ago) but you don’t see them as much anymore. It doesn’t have 6,000 tactics and a full ecosystem but it still worked across print, out-of-home and social. It’s nice to see simplicity resonate.

Bhatt: So simple. So smart. My vote for the Print and Publishing Grand Prix.

Samsung: iTest
Agency: DDB Tribal Aotearoa Auckland, New Zealand

In order to sway iPhone users into considering switching over to Samsung, DDB created this app that transformed the interface of their iPhones into that of a Galaxy Android device. 

Lam: This is a brilliant hack, a product demo at its best. Too often clients and agencies pile too much brand purpose on everything, instead of focusing on the product. This is so clever and cheeky—it’s good to see humor coming back after years of overwhelming heaviness in the industry.

O’Keefe: Taking over an iPhone to test out a Samsung? Brilliant. It’s simple. It’s surprising. It’s an excellent example of how basic technology can be breakthrough if the idea is innovative enough. I suspect we’ll be seeing more clever use of mobile webpages after this. 

Spotify: A Song for Every CMO
Agency: FCB New York

This B2B campaign for Spotify directly targeted top CMOs from brands including CVS, Frito-Lay, Indeed and more by creating songs in their honor. The lyrics highlighted their major career achievements while the tunes spanned an array of genres, from alt-rock to country.  

Ferguson: This campaign is so good and simple it actually angers me. I love silly ideas that get executed and crafted really well. And this blows the old “B2B is boring” convention out of the water. Plus, perhaps most angeringly, it didn’t cost a million dollars to make. Just a simple, smart idea that got a ton of attention. I’m jealous.

Verizon: Reset
Agency: Madwell

A fast, reliable internet connection is key to video game play, and without it, gaming could easily look like this campaign from Verizon Gaming, created out of Madwell. A newspaper courier doesn’t quite sit on their bicycle, a bus passenger is missing a head—all to show that such glitches can be avoided, as long as you have Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband.

Rolfe: I work on Verizon, so I’m also jealous whenever another agency does great work on the account--but also inspired to do even better. “Reset” is incredibly well produced. You can just tell that the team had a blast with this one. From the quality of the CG, to the blocking, to choice of music, even down to the little touch at the end when the Verizon “V” glitches. It’s just a fun ride that reminds you what we all love so much about this industry. Oh, and the line at the end just nails it if you’re a gamer.

Vice World News: The Unfiltered History Tour
Agency: Dentsu Webchutney

Vice World News and Dentsu Webchutney were behind this guerilla tour of the British Museum, which brings to light all of the disputed artifacts in its collection.. Virtual visitors use Instagram Augmented Reality filters to reveal the provenance of the pieces and the countries from which they were questionably “acquired.”

Lam:  Besides the cleverness of the idea and a meaningful use of AR—“alternate reality”—I’m really waiting to see how museums all over the world tackle this issue. When will real actions be taken? Most of the world’s biggest museums would be half empty if they do return stolen arts. 

O’Keefe:  I love the rogueness of this idea which could only be delivered by AR—a powerful and purposeful use of technology. The insightful idea and immersive experience are both masterful.

Rafael Rizuto: What I love the most about this idea is the audacity. The fact that they hacked one of the most traditional institutions in the world, The British Museum, is already extraordinary. I also love the fact that they used technology (Instagram AR filters and Immersive audio) at the service of the idea, not the other way around. On top of that, it showcases a powerful cultural insight. A very daring and fresh idea.

Wendy’s: National Roast Day
Agency: VMLY&R, Ketchum, SparkFoundry

Though in 2022 it entered its fourth year, Wendy’s “National Roast Day,” in which the fast feeder takes down brands, celebrities and more on social media, was as funny and fresh as ever, showing off its sharp wit and singular voice in a terrain few others have been able to master. 

Carvajal: A viral social media frenzy that engages the world's biggest brands and in turn their social media followers is something to envy. Wendy's National Roast Day is a bold collection of sassy burns that only the Wendy's brand can successfully deliver, and that deserves some recognition.

Contributing: Brian Bonilla, Parker Herren, Alexandra Jardine, Keira Wingate