Leo Burnett Gets India's Second Gold Lion With Gatorade

Leo Burnett India earns a Gold Lion in the Creative Data category for Gatorade's 'Turf Finder' campaign, on day three of the Cannes Lions 2024.

On India winning Gold Lion, Anushree Ghosh, Head of Digital and D2C at ITC - Foods Division representing India in this category as a juror shares, "Gatorade Turf finder with Google Maps is a brilliant example of how a brand can spot a compelling & a relevant (urban and civic planning) idea at the intersection of data and brand’s core. One of the best cases to withhold the principles of the Creative Data category and a fitting Gold winner. The imagination exhibited in data visualisation and predictive analytics, coupled with fantastic execution makes it phenomenal. Super proud of this piece of work from India."

On Leo Burnett winning Gold, Amitesh Rao, CEO, Leo Burnett, South Asia states, “Delighted to win a gold, absolutely ecstatic to win it for Creative Data. This is validation for our ability to leverage the incredible new tools and technologies available to empower creative solutions today.”

“The Gatorade Turf Finder campaign is everything that Leo Burnett believes in – using new-age technology and data to solve ‘real’ problems and make a ‘real’ impact. And we are so proud that our work and vision are resonating with the jury at Cannes as well as winning us this Gold for Creative Data. We are thankful for our partnership with PepsiCo, who have helped give this campaign the scale it deserves. Epic Brands, epic work,” says Rajdeepak Das, CCO Publicis Groupe South Asia & Chairman Leo Burnett South Asia.

Talking about the collaboration between Gatorade and Leo Burnett, Rao expresses, "⁠From the outset, the shared objective was to create a program that would manifest Gatorade in the lives of its consumers while staying rooted in its product truth. This campaign is a result of the coming together of talented creative teams and technologists with a brave and visionary client."

The 'Turf Finder' campaign utilised data and technology to help young athletes in India find nearby open spaces to play sports safely. Using satellite imagery and mapping data, the campaign was based on an AI model to detect and map open turfs and fields across India's major cities.

The data was then integrated into a mobile app that allowed users to locate their nearest available turf, see real-time availability, book slots, invite friends and get directions. The app empowered a new generation of athletes to discover places to play that may have been previously unknown or inaccessible to them.

Explaining the creative process of the campaign, Das elaborates, “Addressing the scarcity of recreational space in urban India, Gatorade and Leo Burnett’s ‘Turf Finder’ initiative is committed to finding us places to play, wherever and whenever space permits in the city. Utilising historical maps data, we pinpointed appropriate locations, including empty streets and transform them into accessible playing areas for citizens across India’s metropolitan cities.”

Gatorade's 'Turf Finder' exemplified data-driven creativity that solved a real consumer problem in an innovative way. 

Rose Herceg, Country President of Australia & New Zealand at WPP served as the Jury President for the category.

Reema Bhaduri

BW Reporters The author is the Editorial Lead at BW Businessworld. Majorly writes on marketing, advertising, experiential marketing and retail. She closely looks upon the vertical of BW Marketing World and BW Retail World.