20 Campaigns Creatives Think Will Win Big at Cannes

In a survey done in the lead-up to Cannes, Adweek asked creatives what piece of work embodies the spirit of what Cannes should award. The creatives nominated a mix of pieces, from the hilariously absurd (Voiz’s “The Innocent Eyes”) to the straight absurd (Squarespace’s “Singularity”) to the absurdly impossible (Vow’s “Mammoth Meatball”) and the absurdly perfectly executed (Apple’s “The Greatest”).

Here are the 20 campaigns that creatives from across the world flagged as potential winners at Cannes.

Apple: The Greatest

Agency: In-house

Creatives who loved it: Zoe Kessler, group cd, Johannes Leonardo; George Bryant, Group CCO, Golin; Felipe Ribeiro, CCO, Wieden+Kennedy; Walid Kanaan, CCO, TBWA\RAAD Mena; Geoff Edwards, ecd, GALE; Todd Triplett, svp, global ecd, Known; Tim Roan, CCO, McGarrah Jessee; Tomás Ostiglia, ecd, Lola MullenLowe

“It’s an ad that speaks to the product benefits really clearly while working really hard at a different brand level altitude at the same time. It’s what all advertising should do. Sell a product really clearly and make you like the brand. It’s an amazing example of tech and humanity coming together. It’s art.” —Kessler

“The short film champions the transformative power of representation in the world, affecting positive change, and reinforcing the importance of accessibility for all people.” —Bryant

“Once it grabs you, it never lets you go. It’s been a long time since work brought me to such an emotional and inspirational place. It is wonderfully timed, paced, scripted and captured. It represents a world that I hope we can soon attain.” —Triplett

“It is a celebration of craft: casting (oh my god!), editing, music, photography. Looks contemporary, feels fresh. It is a demo (I really love demos). It’s full of purpose (but in a good way). 1,000% around the product. I learned things I didn’t know about the product.” —Ostiglia

Clash of Clans: Clash From the Past

Agency: Wieden + Kennedy

Creatives who loved it: Nic McCarthy, global head of creative excellence, Wavemaker; Jed Cohen, ecd, Mother; Britt Nolan, president and CCO, Leo Burnett Chicago

“To mark Clash of Clans’ 10th birthday, W+K created 40 years of fake history to put the mobile game on par with hall-of-famers like Mario and Pac-Man. Kicking off with ‘The Untold Story,’ a hoax documentary about three fictional CoC games, followed by ‘reissued’ hoodies, a fake Reddit AMA, phony TV ads and much more Barbarian-level pranking. Cannes history will be written by men who ride hogs.” —McCarthy

“‘Clash From the Past’ is just a simple, counterintuitive idea executed to absolute perfection. But they took it so far and went so deep into creating not just a fake ’80s promotional cereal, but era specific games as well. It’s so brilliantly stupid—I hope it wins all the things.” —Cohen

“Knowing Cannes, I’m sure this idea will lose out to something that makes the world a better place, so I wanted to take the opportunity to honor this piece of utter nonsense. It’s completely untrue, it goes way too deep, and it’s perfect for its audience. It’s also totally wholesome and not at all provocative, which is really hard to do.” —Nolan

Vow: Mammoth Meatball

Agency: Wunderman Thompson

Creatives who loved it: Beth Kushner, group cd, Mekanism; Peter Nicholson, CCO, Hill Holliday; Adrian Botan, CCO, Europe McCann Worldgroup Europe

“‘The Mammoth Meatball’ is an astounding piece of work. It is one of the most singular, pure creative ideas I have seen in a long time. It is equal parts creativity and innovation, and it truly can change the way people think about food sustainability.” — Kushner

“It simplifies the value and understanding of growing meat to eat. It’s attention-getting, creates conversation and provides meaning in our lives. It’s beyond PR, it’s marketing that demonstrates the power of creativity to change a business.” — Nicholson

“I also happen to know a thing or two about lab-grown meatballs; last year we tried to sell the meat of a Swede, which was pretty silly, but I still didn’t see this one coming. It’s beautiful, it’s surprising, the science is flawless, and it achieves 100% suspension of disbelief.” —Botan

Budweiser: Bring Home the Bud

Agency: Wieden+Kennedy

Creatives who loved it: Chris Beresford-Hill, NA President and CCO, Ogilvy; Ron D’Innocenzo, CCO for North America, Golin

“It’s exactly what the brand should have done, but we all know those ideas are the hardest ones to get through the system intact, and it did, down to the iconic image of the giant shipping container full of beer going to the winning country. But Bud is the one who really won and should win at Cannes.” —Beresford-Hill

“They were able to turn a crisis … into a game-changing opportunity for their brand. From its extremely smart social post “Well, this is awkward…” to the brand flipping the script and offering the unsold beer to the country that won the World Cup. Simply brilliant. A great example for us all that some of the best creative opportunities can’t be planned for.” —D’Innocenzo

Squarespace: The Singularity

Agency: In-house

Creatives who loved it: Jeff Bowerman, ecd, DEPT; Evan Roberts, CCO, TBWA Sydney

“It’s a super simple idea that didn’t have a bigger purpose than reach and awareness of what Squarespace does, but taps into something all great ads do: truth. ‘A website for making websites,’ a meta-concept for what the business actually does and what every consumer probably thinks, is kinda absurd. The fact such a service gets a Hollywood A-list talent like Adam Driver (who is brilliant) and a Super Bowl moment adds to the lovely silliness.” —Bowerman

“It is simultaneously incredibly simple, tangential, hilarious and deep. It’s the piece of work this year that had me scouring the internet for more. And all through the ecosystem every piece found was as entertaining and crafted as the last. Deeply jealous of all aspects.” —Roberts

Hilton: The 10-Minute TikTok

Agency: TBWA

Creative who loved it: Greg Hahn, co-founder/CCO, Mischief

“On paper, this is a great idea. Perfect for the brand platform of “For the Stay,” reaches the right audience in their native environment and allows the brand to say a lot about the hotels. But there is a big difference between “Let’s do a 10-minute brand TikTok” and making a 10-minute brand TikTok that anyone would watch. They nailed it on the execution. Every second is rewarding, with a barrage of #iykyk references, and keeps you from swiping on to the next hit dopamine waiting just beneath this one.”

DHL: DHL Message Delivery

Agency: FCB Dubai

Creative who loved it: Valerie Madon, McCann SEA, chief creative officer

“It’s an idea that celebrates what a brand does best through effective and relevant media by Horizon FCB Dubai. An engaging campaign that would help differentiate DHL in a category and stay top-of-mind.”

AppleTV | Public Displays of Encouragement

Agency: Media Arts Lab

Creative Who Loved it: Amy Ferguson, CCO, TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York

“Who doesn’t love an old school out-of-home campaign? So simple and pure, and it pierced culture in a really smart way. We can all agree that Cannes gets a little serious sometimes, it would be nice to see a campaign that just makes you smile win big.”

Ikea: Proudly Second Best

Agency: DAVID Madrid and INGO Hamburg 

Creative who loved it: Jim Curtis, CCO, Clemenger BBDO Australia

“This is a powerful yet simple idea, which hasn’t been overly crafted and is grounded in an insight that’s absolutely true. I’m hoping the industry has the confidence to properly celebrate work like this. It’s a real brand, with real marketing objectives, where the creativity being applied is adding value and helping engage a mass audience.”

The Government of Tuvalu: The First Digital Nation

Agency: The Monkeys

Creative who loved it: Ali Rez, CCO, Impact BBDO Menap

“The sheer scale of this work is mind-boggling, but after all it has to be if you are going to become the first entirely digital nation. The campaign is a perfect example of how digital craft used for a greater good should be celebrated and encouraged. It’s heartbreaking to go through the film, which eventually leaves you with awe and dread, apt for the problem at hand.”

Coca-Cola: The Masterpiece

Agency: Blitzworks

Creative who loved it: Joel Holtby, co-founder and CCO, Courage

“This film truly lives up to its name. The ad is set in the gallery where Andy Warhol’s ‘Large Coca-Cola’ comes to life and magically interacts with paintings from Turner, Munch, Van Gogh, Hiroshige, Vermeer and emerging artists around the world. It’s a pitch perfect example of an iconic brand leaning into its iconic status to create something that leaves the viewer in awe.”

NotCo: We Didn’t Write This Campaign

Agency: MRM Chile

Creative who loved it: Luciana Cardoso, ecd, CPB Brasil

“Not Milk was being sued by the big diary industry. But, all the allegations were, in fact, the very reasons that the product was created. In a brilliant move, it used the copy of the legal documents that the lawyers wrote as its campaign. So, if copywriters are worried AI will steal their jobs, beware of the lawyers.”

Intel: Certified Human

Agency: Dentsu Creative

Creative who loved it: Samira Ansari, CCO, Deutsch NY
 
“When we think of Titanium-worthy ideas, we think of game-changing executions. Ideas that have the potential to impact our lives in a huge way. AI is the hot topic of the day. I am sure we will see many ideas using AI this year in Cannes. But this execution is something far greater—it’s a piece of technology that can detect AI-generated deepfakes. The world needs this tool. Bravo.”

Cheetos: Hands Free

Agency: GSP

Creative who loved it: Atit Shah, CCO, Digitas North America

“What’s not to love about Cheeto’s ‘Hands-Free’ integrated campaign? It’s work done on behalf of an actual brand, driving affinity and commerce, in a brilliant, fun and behavior-led way. Completely taking credit for our hands-free culture obsession—self-driving cars, face recognition smartphone tech and beyond—as the result of the delicious OG of obstacles, Cheeto’s dust. It’s a delightful, big and networked idea … across TVC, social and OOH interception of the hands-free tech giants, even a wild, experiential hands-free house at SXSW. It crashes culture while driving business. Win win.”

McDonald’s: Deals Stuck in Time

Agency: Filmic Art and NORD DDB

Creative who loved it: Tiffany Rolfe, global CCO, R/GA

“McDonald’s ‘Stuck in Time’ promotion is a simple and smart hack of existing tech and brand nostalgia. The clever integration of Google Street View allows people to virtually hunt McDonald’s promotions from the past, reminding people of McDonald’s enduring value, while rewarding them with a historical deal today. It managed to turn couponing into a brand-building experience. At a time where clients and customers are looking to save money, a campaign using existing ads reframed through a great idea and easy tech proves the potential of creativity to solve real business challenges, without huge investments.”

Women in Sport: Correct the Internet

Agency: DDB New Zealand

Creative who loved it: Rafik Belmesk, CSO, Dentsu Creative Canada

“It stirs the pot of algorithmic bias and shines a light on women’s sports’ overlooked triumphs. It’s like the Grammarly for search engine sexism. It’s about rewriting the narrative and using tech to empower change. But these kinds of ideas are useless unless they work, and that’s the most impressive thing about it: They got search engines evolving, ensuring women’s achievements stand shoulder-to-shoulder with men’s.”

Voiz: Innocent Eyes

Agency: Ogilvy Thailand

Creative who loved it: Firrdaus Yusoff, head of creative, Forsman & Bodenfors Singapore
 
“Humor is a language we all speak, and this spot from Thailand speaks it fluently. It has a ludicrous plot to tell you a simple story of irresistible wafers. Funny ads, entertaining ads, weird ads—these are the kind of ads that have been missing from the big stage in the past years, and it just goes to show how great comedic writing can still stand its ground against the brand purposes of the world.”

Calm: The Last Photo

Agency: adam&eveDDB

Creative who loved it: Juan Javier Peña Plaza, NA CCO and partner, GUT

“I feel our industry should always be celebrating the power of ideas in the world, the ideas that are bigger than the specific media they are executed in. To me, ‘The Last Photo’ is one of the best examples of this. A simple, yet powerful idea that shines a light on a very important issue. An idea that speaks to the heart more than the brain.”

Nativa | Crops of Hope

Agency: MullenLowe SSP3

Creative who loved it: Jo Wallace, global executive director, Media.Monks

“Farmers in northern Colombia were struggling during the pandemic. So AB InBev’s Bavaria Brewery created a new beer made with cassava. Why? Because it grows well there. ‘Crops of Hope’ gave local farmers an income and the resulting beer, Nativa, became the second-biggest seller. Win-win for the farmers and AB InBev. And probably a win at Cannes.”

M&M’s: Replacement Spokescandies

Agency: BBDO

Creative who loved it: Rachel Carlson, founder and creative director, Foul Mouth Creative

“The world is craving dopamine right now. So my vote would go for a piece of work that is straight joy and entertainment, while pushing up against some fairly, uh, controversial opinions. M&M’s Ma&Ya’s campaign. It was ridiculous for someone who rhymes with Bucker Gnarlson to cancel the green M&M. And it warranted an equally ridiculous brand response. Tasty, tasty revenge.”