Cannes Lions Names AB InBev As Creative Marketer Of The Year

Cannes Lions will honour Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) as this year’s Creative Marketer of the Year. The honorary accolade is presented to a marketer that has amassed a body of Lion-winning work over a sustained period of time and has established a reputation for producing brave creative and innovative marketing solutions.

Last year’s Cannes Lions awards, which were given for work from 2020/2021, saw AB InBev amass an outstanding haul of 40 Lions; two Grands Prix, two Titanium, nine Gold, 10 Silver and 17 Bronze Lions in total. Over the past few years, some of the standout work has included Budweiser’s ‘TagWords’ in Brazil, Corona's 'The Match of Ages’ in Mexico, Bavaria’s ‘Tienda Cerca’ in Colombia and Michelob Ultra's ‘Contract for Change’ in the US, which won the PR Grand Prix and a further eight Lions including a Titanium. 

Speaking at Cannes Lions Live, 2021 Titanium Lions Jury President, Susan Credle, cited the strength of the agency-client relationship as a big theme across the Titanium Lions winners. Calling out the multiple Lion-winning ‘Contract for Change’, Credle said it “showed a great relationship and trust that you could go for the big idea”. She added that in presenting the piece, the client and creative showed a joy of accomplishment in their big idea that probably most of us would say “it’s crazy we shouldn’t do it”.

Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said, “What we see time and again at Cannes Lions is that when brands unlock their creative capability and the potential they drive real business growth. AB InBev has shown how creativity can be used as a lever to drive incredible success. Its belief in the power of creative culture and capability has resulted in a body of Lion-winning work and it's a shining example of a brand that is leading the way in creative marketing. We are delighted to be recognising their sustained efforts by honouring them as our Creative Marketer of the Year.” 

Speaking about receiving the award Michel Doukeris, AB InBev’s CEO, said, “This remarkable recognition reflects our commitment to harnessing the power of our creative teams and partners from around the world. It has been great to see the creativity of our brands translating into category and business growth. I’m very proud of our colleagues who always dream big and use creativity to create a future with more cheers.”

Pedro Earp, AB InBev’s CMO, said “We’re honored to be named Creative Marketer of the Year. We’ve been on a journey over the last five years to embed creativity into the core of our business, and this award is a humbling recognition of our progress so far, as well as a testament to the people and teams who made it happen. And we are only getting started. We will continue to focus on our consumers and customers and leverage data and innovation to deliver creative business solutions that answer real needs and drive consumer, community and commercial impact.” 

The Creative Marketer of the Year award was introduced in 1992, with past recipients including: Apple Inc. (2019), Google (2018), Burger King (2017) and Samsung Electronics (2016). Most recently, in 2021, Microsoft demonstrated that outstanding creativity drives business performance and won multiple Lions at the Festival as a result. 

AB InBev will be honoured at the final Awards Show of the Festival on Friday 24 June. Cannes Lions takes place between 20-24 June and will provide an annual forum for the global industry to address the most pressing issues that they and the world are facing today.