Jury Says Diversity, Inclusion & Humanity Matter

As more winners took the stage on the second day of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2024, the importance of diversity, inclusion and humanity was clearer in the winning works. The festival is seeing various campaigns that exemplify these values.

The Entertainment Lions for Sport Grand Prix, for example, went to ‘WoMen’s Football’ for Orange by Marcel France. This campaign used deep fake technology to highlight the skill of the French women’s national football team by disguising them as their male counterparts, challenging stereotypes about women’s football.

Diversity & Inclusivity Matters

“The campaign brilliantly captures the meteoric rise of women’s football through creative storytelling and innovative technology. This campaign didn’t just engage sports fans but it sparked widespread conversation, dominated headlines and captivated audiences worldwide, proving that exceptional football transcends gender. The campaign’s success highlights an exciting future for women’s sports marketing, underscoring the power of positivity and creativity in changing perceptions and celebrating athletic excellence,” said Louise Johnson, CEO of Fuse UK and EMEA and Jury President of Entertainment Lions for Sport.

In Design Lions, which honours visual craftsmanship, the Grand Prix was given to ‘Sightwalks’ for Sol Cement by Circus Grey Peru. This project updated the tactile paving system to help visually impaired individuals navigate urban areas, creating new codes to direct people to places of interest.

Fura Johannesdottir, Chief Creative Officer at Huge, Global and Design Lions Jury President explained, “The Grand Prix portrays that design is everywhere and can be at its best when it's ‘invisible’. We loved that it is a global, inclusive and scalable design solution that can greatly improve people’s lives and make the everyday better. We appreciated the simplicity of both the idea and the execution that was done through an old, but new medium.”

A Humanity Aspect

The Industry Craft Lions Grand Prix was awarded to ‘The 100th Edition’ for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung by Scholz & Friends Germany. This campaign featured Margot Friedländer, a 102-year-old Holocaust survivor, emphasising a message of humanity, respect and tolerance.

Reflecting on the emotional depth of the campaign, Kalpesh Patankar, Chief Creative Officer at Leo Burnett United Arab Emirates and Industry Craft Jury President, noted, “Striving for bold and honest work over and over again is how you create ‘iconic’ work. But what truly struck a chord with us here was not the iconic nature of the piece but the message - ‘It’s important to me to be human.’ In a time when the world feels divided, this work transcended our differences and dared us all to be human. Honest, beautiful, painful, hopeful, human.”

In the Entertainment Lions for Music as well, the Grand Prix work borders on these lines. ‘Errata at 88’ for Diageo by AlmapBBDO Brazil aimed to correct a historical oversight by celebrating Alaíde Costa, a forgotten founding mother of the Brazilian music genre Bosa Nova.

Speaking on the campaign’s cultural impact, Madeline Nelson, the Entertainment Lions for Music Jury President and US Head of Independent Label Relations at Amazon Music, said, “With the diversity of work this year, our greatest challenge was to delve deeply into cultural insights, allowing us to understand unique perspectives. Johnnie Walker, as a brand that celebrates people’s journeys, took the deepest dive of all. They created a fully integrated campaign to honour the story of Alaíde Costa and re-write her name in the history of Bosa Nova. We had the opportunity to recognise work that will breed new levels of inspiration for the creative community, and ‘Errata at 88’ does exactly that.”

Noor Fathima Warsia

BW Reporters A veteran journalist in business and corporate journalism, Noor Fathima Warsia is the Group Editorial Director of India’s oldest business publication, BW Businessworld. In her role, Noor leads the editorial initiatives across BW Businessworld’s flagship product and communities focused on education, startups, healthcare and wellbeing, media & marketing, gaming, HR and legal among others. In a career spanning more than two decades, Noor has led the publishing of the flagship BW Businessworld magazine and its community magazines, guided the online editorial team and led communities such as BW Marketing World apart from working on editorial-led IPs such as BW Most Influential Women, BW India’s Most Sustainable Companies, BW Top 50 Marketers and more.