Publicis Groupe Central & Eastern Europe’s Cannes Contenders for Cannes Lions Festival 2023
This year, Cannes Lions Festival will be celebrating its 70th edition. It is truly fascinating to consider its journey over 70 years, and the creativity and creative business developments it has been a witness to in this time - I’m excited and looking forward to the discussions we will be hearing and having in Cannes soon.
Turning our lens back on Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) region, I believe the work is getting better and better in CEE. Speaking from a Publicis Groupe perspective, it is evident in the strong body of work from Poland and Ukraine especially, where we are building on the powerful relationships we have with our clients.
Publicis Groupe Poland in particular is currently on the forefront of our creative push. Projects like ‘The Liver Check’ for Sanofi or’ Stick to the truth’ for Gazeta Wyborcza show strong insights rooted in deep understanding of consumers behaviour and real feelings, which drove powerful ideas and outstanding results. On the other hand, experimental/tech-driven activations like ‘The River Alert’ for BNP Paribas are a further creative proof to our commitment to data and innovation. Well done to Publicis Groupe Poland’s chief creative director, Dagmara Witek-Kuśmider and team!
A special heartfelt mention also goes to our team in Ukraine that notwithstanding the incredibly tough conditions, inspired us all with Carrol for Charity, a far-reaching great use-of-media piece featuring Shazam, with amazing result. Another mark to the boundless power of creativity. Chapeau Kosta Schneider and team.
And now, we keep our fingers crossed.
Publicis Groupe Central & Eastern Europe Cannes Contenders
The Liver Check - Sanofi/ Essentiale
Agencies: Publicis Worldwide Poland/ MSL/ PHD Media/ Papaya Films
Polish men don't take care of their health and don't go to the doctors, but they take care of their cars. That's why we created an activation that allowed Polish men to test their livers while they're checking their cars at car control stations. We placed doctor's pop-up offices with liver diagnostic equipment, and we surprised men with a simple but convincing analogy. We used the power of an experience and context of Polish vehicular law that states that every car needs a yearly checkup, to change men's habits and prejudice for good.
Carol for the Charity - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Ukraine / Kiyv
There’s a song, 'Carol of the Bells', bringing the Christmas mood for more than 100 years and known the world over. But what you may not know is that this song came from Ukraine. The famous 'Carol of the Bells' is in fact based on a traditional Ukrainian folk song arranged by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych in 1914. Christmas 2022 was a very different one for Ukrainian children. War changed everything. To help Ukrainian children we turned the famous Christmas carol into a donation platform. We transformed 'Carol of the Bells' into 'Carol for Charity'. We changed the lyrics to a relevant to wartime. And asked people to shazam it. Wherever they are, when they hear the song, people can shazam it, and immediately donate to children in just a couple of clicks. That’s how a world-famous Ukrainian carol supported Ukrainian children in the darkest times ever.
Gazeta Wyborcza – Stick to the truth
Agency: Publicis Worldwide Poland
In Poland, the government and the Church are coming together to bring Polish education back to orthodox. One of the critical subjects is an in vitro fertilization (IVF). The Ministry of Education recommended a new schoolbook, which contained lies and harmful information about IVF with such quotes about children born thanks to the method as 'breeding' and 'human production' - including a toxic question: "Who will love the children born this way?" As a result of this, children would learn from this textbook, also, children born thanks to IVF. Gazeta Wyborcza, a nationwide Polish newspaper, sparked a national debate about IVF and Polish education. We printed a revised science-based page with factually accurate information about IVF. The page was designed to be an alternative to the government’s textbook's page 226, and it was easy to cut and stick into the textbook in place of the original one. The revised page appeared in the paper edition of Gazeta Wyborcza and on the website on September 1st, the day of the beginning of the school year. Most importantly, we gave visibility to IVF and we put social pressure on the government and on the Ministry of Education and Science.
BNP Paribas - The River Alert
Agencies: Publicis Worldwide Poland/ MSL/ PHD Media/ Papaya Films
The ecological disaster on the Oder River caused by water pollution in Poland on July 2022 caused the death of over 360 tons of fish. Polish anglers were the first to notice and they alarmed authorities, but their voices were ignored. There is no permanent water monitoring in Poland. Polish authorities ignored the voice of those -the anglers- who raised the alarm, the first ones being affected by the pollution. Now we want them to be the first to solve the problem. We gave anglers a tool they need to ensure the waters they are fishing in are safe. The River Alert – the first fishing bait that fishes for clean water and investigates water pollution while fishing. Created in collaboration with hydrologists and fishing experts. Environmentally friendly technology measuring conductivity - the most important water pollution indicator. The wobbler transmits data to the River Alert platform. The app collects data from the bait and instantly uploads it. It’s a data bank and a map to display real time situation for the whole country. And most importantly - it is a system of rapid alerting the NGOs responsible for water protection.
The Little Headhunters - KIDS Foundations + LinkedIn
Agency: Publicis Poland
Publicis Poland’s recruitment campaign for children’s hospitals featuring children with hospital experience as young recruiters drew smiles and technology expert volunteers. The foundation K.I.D.S. is transforming Polish children’s hospitals into modern ones. But to do so, it needs the best technology experts in Poland as volunteers. How do we reach them and convince them to help implement the latest technologies at children's hospitals? And one more thing: they need to do it for free. In this campaign, the children took matters into their own hands. Children who have experience with Polish hospitals, helped recruit the greatest experts on LinkedIn, becoming the youngest headhunters in the world.
