Cannes Lions 2022 was a welcome return after two years of the pandemic. The sun beamed and the Croisette was packed with festival goers enjoying the vast array of talks in the Palais, hosting client meetings and events.
However, there was a more serious tone that set the backdrop to this year’s festival, from Greenpeace staging a series of protests against brands greenwashing and debates on lack of diversity in the ad industry to President Volodymer Zelenskyy’s video address reminding people about the war in his country.
Amongst this contrast, I was pleased to see that sport as a marketing platform came out strong again this year in the winning work and in particular the Grand Prix, picking up the Titanium as a creative tool to create actual change. Some of the best were Super Humans by Channel 4, an incredible Paralympics trailer, and The Breakaway by Decathlon, a case study about the first e-cycling team for prisoners.