Thomas Kolster
“Doing good” is for most brands (and agencies) like pissing in a wet suit. It feels nice and warm, but quickly begins to stink.
Femvertising, gayvertising, goodvertising, causevertising or whatever you call it seems to be on everybody’s lips these days and the juries are like never before putting their heart into it and awarding purpose with metal. I usually don’t do Cannes predictions. In my book every advertiser or agency that speaks up for change, that challenges over-consumption or makes a difference should receive accolade compared to their snake oil selling peers. And I believe they will receive appraisal in Cannes this year following the saying: the more you give, the more you get.
Don’t shout! Solve shit!
Looking back at this year I see a growing body of work in the #goodvertising space, which in itself is applaudable. Can you believe that this Super Bowl had 11 commercials out of 51, which dared to stand up for something bigger than plugging product? That said, there is still too far between great impactful work where the brand is not only shouting to bring attention to an issue, but rather gets its hands dirty and solve shit!
There are simply too many marketing gimmicks done to win a Lion rather than being authentic attempts aimed at making a long-lasting difference. I’ll urge agencies and advertisers to make programs – not campaigns – that can run year after year or aim at creating scalable solutions (open-source, if possible) like Aland Index, which shows you’re in it to make a great leap forward rather than jumping in the pool with a magnum bottle of Rosé at the Carlton! No more empty roars, let’s celebrate campaigns with a big heart and a real bite!
Our Cannes Goodvertising predictions have drawn great press attention and were featured in the press in Turkey, Middle East, UK, Eastern Europe and Denmark:
Marketing Turkey, ArabAdMag, Adhugger, Digital Boom & Dansk Markedsføring.
- Mattel: Barbie Evolve the Doll
- Bank of Åland: Aland Index
- Savlon: Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks
- State Street Global Advisors: Fearless girl statue
- Channel 4: We’re the Superhumans
- AP Thailand: The unusual football field
- Amnesty International: The Refugee nation
- Momondo: The DNA Journey
- Nike: Pro Hijab
- Nestlé: 100 Million Packs
- Cover Girl: Cover Boy
- IKEA & Red cross: 25m2 of Syria
- Nike: Equality
- Individuell Människohjälp: Humanium Metal
- Tiger Beer: Air Ink
- Dove: Real Beauty Bottles
- Pampers: #ItTakes2
We’ve gathered all goodvertising campaigns on our list of possible winners at the 2017 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in one video: Check it out!
