Cannes Lions, runners and riders

The Contagious team have once again put their heads together and reputations on the line to predict which campaigns will win big at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

When we bestow Cannes Lions Contender status on a piece of work, we’re not saying it’s worthy of just any old Lion, we’re saying that we think it will or should* take home a Grand Prix.

For those attending the festival next week, our list is a conversational crib sheet full of information and analyses that you can draw upon should anyone corner you at a buffet table or a bar and demand your opinion on the work.

For those who aren’t, it’s a pleasantly brisk tour of some of the best examples of commercial creativity from around the world.

And for us, it’s an opportunity to put to good use some of the knowledge that we acquire while seeking out and analysing the best campaigns from around the world throughout the year… and an opportunity to be smug when we’re right. 

Find out here which campaigns have made the grade.

*Sometimes juries make mistakes and award Grands Prix to campaigns that aren’t on our list.

Campaign of the Week /

The Philippines is home to some of McDonald's most scenic restaurants, and the fast food chain wanted more people to visit them. Noticing that these locations were a popular stopover for cyclists, McDonald's invested in ‘Bike and Dine’ facilities, like repair stations and bicycle-safe Ride Thrus.

To promote the initiative, McDonald's and agency Leo Burnett Manila challenged cycling groups and influencers to create routes across the country, with McDonald’s as the start and end points. The fast food giant also hosted #TourDeMcDo community bike rides, and offered free meals, special cyclist meals and merchandise to people who posted about it.

The campaign helped reframe the drive-thru experience, deepened McDonald's association with cyclists, and resulted in a more than 25% increase in Ride Thru sales. And if Leo Burnett Manila didn’t refer to the job internally as ‘the peloton brief’, they really missed a trick. Read our full analysis of the campaign here. Contagious.

How to win Creative Marketer of the Year /

How do you instil a culture of creative excellence into a corporation that employs over 100,000 people and does business in almost every country in the world?

If we had a dollar for every time we were asked that question… we’d go out of business in a matter of weeks because that’s an absurd fee for consultancy services.

But what we can tell you for free is that we believe treating creativity as the predictable outcome of a repeatable process, rather than the product of divine inspiration, is a good way to encourage a constant supply of ideas. And that belief in frameworks and practices was what guided Contagious’ advisory team when it started working with Unilever on its creative transformation in 2019, helping to establish and run its Creative Council, which shares best practices, among other things.

Unilever was already no slouch when it came to producing creative marketing campaigns. But the leaders within the FMCG multinational were cognisant of the changes that marketing was going through at the time, and they figured it was a good time for a root-and-branch review of how they nurture innovation.

Last month, Unilever’s efforts were recognised when it was named the 2024 Marketer of the Year by the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, for ‘consistently delivering work that raises the bar for creative excellence across the global creative communications industry.’

And while a lesser newsletter might be content to just crow about having a hand in such a success, we aspire to better things. So we called in a favour and asked members of the Creative Council and Creative Community at Unilever to tell us the things they did that had the biggest impact on the company’s culture and the quality of its creative marketing. Read their tips and musings here. Contagious.

Come watch us take the Lions apart /

We're turning VML's London offices into a mock Croisette next month, to walk you through some of the big winners and trends from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativty.

Join us on 9 July to hear two sections from our Cannes Deconstructed presentation, which will be packed with insights about what went down at Cannes and what it means for marketers in the year ahead.

We'll also have industry experts on stage to discuss the most highly awarded campaigns and what it took to win a Lion in 2024.

Expect inspiration, food, an open bar, and the opportunity to network with lovely people who know the value of creativity. Contagious.

Reputation and brand activism /

Brands must establish a reputation for fighting the good fight before most people will buy their brand activism, according to a study published in the Journal of Advertising Research.

The researchers conducted a series of survey-based experiments and found that people generally perceive brands as less credible when their ads tackle divisive issues, but found that a reputation for activism can mitigate this effect.

Read our full write-up of the study in our Strategist’s Digest report. Contagious.