Cannes Forecast: Humberto Polar’s South American Favourites

No matter how much I love great work from anywhere, I can’t deny that I'd like to see my region grow in quality and quantity in the Cannes’ arena, so here are my favourites that I’d like to see win...

...from my region:

'Linesman for Peace' for the Sao Paulo Football Federation by Wunderman Brazil

Why do I love this? It’s because I love football as much as life itself; because I hate violence at football games; and because I've asked myself all my life, “What do linesmen do except drive the referee to wrong decisions?” Most of all, it’s because those red and yellow flags were invisible to me until I saw this campaign – and now they will remind me that football should stay a beautiful celebration forever. I hope it does the same for Brazilian fans.

...from my country:

'Happy ID' for Coca-Cola by McCann Lima

I consider myself a very cynical Peruvian when it comes to expressing optimism about our alleged economic growth. Returning to my country after 24 years, I have to say that there are strong reasons to make a campaign like this in Peru. Naive? Maybe. Needed? Sure. We should remind ourselves that making our country great is not someone else's duty. ID photos have always been around, but how they are linked to a brand purpose in this campaign is amazingly simple. 

...from my agency:

'Searching for Hearts' for the Peruvian Cancer Foundation by FCB Mayo

This was a tough piece to produce. We took a big risk and found out that every human being deserves a chance for redemption, no matter how bad the crime. This campaign held a mirror up to our society and gave new life to a charity that had been ignored by many Peruvians – the ones who are so vocal about our growth, yet aren't willing to donate a single coin. A little miracle happened in that prison and we helped it to come about. That's a huge reward already.

Humberto Polar, FCB Mayo, Peru CCO