Cannes Contenders: M&C Saatchi's 10 Highest Hopes for 2023
Ahead of Cannes Lions 2023, agencies from across the M&C Saatchi network have compiled a list of 10 campaigns that they hope will garner both attention and awards at the festival. An international spread of works, the projects have been selected from an array of different companies - hailing from a variety of countries including Sweden, South Africa, the UK and the UAE. The selected creative, which includes work for the British National Health Service (NHS), Nando's, adidas, Absolut and more, is accompanied by comments from several M&C Saatchi creative leaders, who give their insight into why these are the network's most promising picks. From creating a giant keyboard for horses to strapping billboards to joggers, you can't miss out on this selection of work as the most anticipated week in advertising draws ever-closer.
NHS - Ribbon Dancer
Guy Bradbury, creative partner at M&C Saatchi London: "It’s not an easy task to get people to think about this topic, but this distinctive, memorable and joyous creative work reminds people that a simple screening test could save their lives. Set by the perfectly chosen track with Sammy Davis Jr's words: ‘I want to live, not merely survive', this work shows that any subject can be creative."
Ben Kinsella Trust - Shout Out To My Son
Wendy Dixon, chief growth officer at M&C Saatchi Group: "This work is a brilliant example of how creativity can work hand-in-hand with tech innovation. To raise awareness of the dangers of knife crime, M&C Saatchi London and Clear Channel developed an AI system which was trained to understand what an ambulance siren sounds like. Every time an ambulance is near, the siren sound triggers powerful messages from mothers to their sons, making the connection between ambulances and the genuine worry mothers have when they hear one stronger and more powerful than ever before.”
Nando's - Sthuthuthu
Standard Bank - Priceless Print
Jake Bester, executive creative director at M&C Saatchi Abel Cape Town: "What really makes art priceless to a community has nothing to do with the price tag. Yet, a price tag has become an exclusionary factor that prevents people from experiencing art’s true value. I love how this piece breaks down a barrier, giving people who wouldn’t normally have encountered art of this kind a chance to do so in a surprising and unintimidating way."
Razor PR, part of M&C Saatchi Group SA- The 1000th Street Store
Christopher Lazley, partner and executive creative director at Razor PR: "Purpose-based work like 'The Street Store' offer some of the richest opportunities for creative problem-solving. That’s because you’re not just influencing purchasing decisions, you’re shaping what people deeply care about and why it matters.”
Absolut - The Absolut Choir
Ronaldo Tavares, executive creative director at M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment: “The Absolut Choir embodies the work we aim to create: inspiring, innovative and purposeful.”
adidas Zound - The Running Billboards
Linda Elers, creative director and partner at M&C Saatchi Stockholm: "'The Running Billboards' is truly a brutally simple idea, and a way of using a very traditional medium in a new and fun way. We needed a campaign to promote adidas FWD-02 SPORT, the ultimate headphones for runners, but we had a very limited budget. So, the idea was to target runners where they are - in the running trails. We created specially designed lightweight billboards with a message: keep up and scan the code to get a 50% discount on the headphones. We didn’t only get the target group to see the ads – they actually chased after them. This idea is just simple and fun, and proves that it doesn’t have to be that complicated. Also, it does something new and unexpected with the outdoor media.”
RFSU and The Swedish Disability Rights Federation - Sex Is For Every Body
Linda Elers, creative director and partner at M&C Saatchi Stockholm: “‘Sex is for Every Body’ is such an important piece of work, about an extremely delicate matter: the marginalisation of people with disabilities when it comes to being represented in romantic or sexual settings. Naturally, we wanted to let people with different types of disabilities be portrayed in a loving and sexy way in the campaign – but we needed to be careful not to cross any lines or ‘kinkify’ having sex with someone with a disability. After working closely with our clients and with a large group of people with different kinds of disabilities, we managed to create a campaign that is not only amazingly beautiful, but that has been highly appreciated by many.”
Burger King - Flame Grilled Challenge
Ryan Reed, chief creative officer and partner, M&C Saatchi UAE: “I love this idea because it’s not an ad. This brutally simple idea challenges ad-cynical gamers to use Burger King’s proposition of ‘Flame Grilled’ to crush one of the world’s most popular games... and brag all over social about it. A 'Whopper' opportunity with a small nugget budget.”
Business Iceland - OutHorse Your Email
Stevie Archer, executive creative director at SS+K: “To me, the most compelling ideas answer a very human problem with a wildly distinctive solution. Nobody likes getting an endless onslaught of work emails when you’re supposed to be on vacation. And building a giant working keyboard so Icelandic horses can write real out-of-office replies was the perfect Icelandic answer to that.”
