180LA Wins a Grand Prix at Cannes for Turning Boost Mobile Stores Into Polling Places

CANNES, France—180LA’s brilliant idea to turn Boost Mobile stories in low-income areas into places where people could vote fended off competition from McCann’s Fearless Girl and other campaigns to win the Grand Prix in the Promo & Activation Lions at Cannes tonight.

Millions of lower-income and minority voters wait in long lines to cast their ballots. Boost Mobile stores are located in these communities, which inspired 180LA’s idea. The campaign resulted in 23 percent higher voter turnout in Boost precincts during the 2016 election. The work also won a silver Lion in addition to the Grand Prix.

See the case study here:

“We are very proud to present this Grand Prix,” said jury president Stephane Xiberras, chief creative officer of BETC Paris. “It’s promo plus activation. It’s not just about promoting a store. It’s about promoting human values. You can choose your future if you decide to vote.”

The case study above features a clip of Barack Obama explaining that the U.S. systematically makes it more difficult for its citizens to vote. That struck a chord with one Promo & Activation juror in particular—Emma Perkins, executive creative director at MullenLowe Open in the U.K.

“I was in the room when he gave that speech,” Perkins said. “It was at South by Southwest in Austin in March last year, where essentially he came to brief the creative community to think about the next best thing—and to make that next best thing something that would make voting, in one of the most established democracies in the world, easier for people.”

She added: “It really struck me when we saw this piece of work, and I relayed that story. It was a very powerful moment for a president to be briefing our industry to think of that challenge. And we thought this was a wonderful example of a way to do that—to involve a brand that is already at the heart of those communities, and have a store in each of these places, and to help people who want to vote but find it very difficult.”

The jury handed out 15 gold Lions to 10 different campaign. McCann’s Fearless Girl, which won three Grand Prix on Monday night—in Glass, PR and Outdoor—finished with two golds and a silver in Promo & Activation.

See all the U.S. Lion winners from the five categories honored at Monday’s award show here.

Tim Nudd

@nudd

Tim Nudd is a former creative editor of Adweek.