Tag Archives: Cannes Lions

Advertising Ethics Must Become a Core Creative Capability

Ethics. A word that is at times used too little because most people don’t think ethics exists any longer. It has been said that a man or woman is not truly whole if he or she does not possess ethical behavior within. It’s has become painfully obvious that some of us don’t. That’s sad.

It’s particularly troubling in marketing and advertising. For years those industries, especially advertising, had a lower ethics image than used car salesmen. Fortunately, that image is not as bad as it was. Today’s environment and enhanced creativity has increased the need for a true belief and practice of ethical behavior in what the industry puts forth to the consumer.

The following article is a good dissertation on the importance of ethics in advertising and its crucial need when developing creativity.

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If the world’s most prestigious stage for creativity can be gamed, what does that say about the structures behind the stories we tell?

There are still advertising professionals who treat ethics as something to call in after the crash, never to integrate into the system. 

The Cannes Lions cheating scandal has exposed a fracture at the heart of advertising: a growing contradiction between the public ideals that the advertising industry promotes and the problematic business behaviors behind the scenes.

In the advertising industry, we like to think of ourselves as storytellers. But in truth, we are choice architects. We shape how people see, feel and decide, often invisibly, powerfully and at scale. That is a position of enormous influence, and it carries a moral impact.

As legal scholar Cass Sunstein has long argued, even small nudges can have major consequences. What we design into our messaging, the defaults, the frames and the incentives, can improve lives or quietly exploit them. In advertising, as in public policy, how we shape choice matters as much as what we say.

Yet, astonishingly, there are still advertising professionals who treat ethics like outsourced IT support: something to call in after the crash, never to integrate into the system.

This is not just shortsighted. It’s reckless. Ethics is not a bolt-on; it is the foundation. No trust, no transaction. Ethics cannot be outsourced; it must be embedded into every campaign as a priority capability.

The ethical advantage

Advertising thrives when people believe in it. Yet today, surveys show consumer trust in advertising hovering near historic lows. Greenwashing, data misuse and AI-manipulated content have all made audiences wary of what they see. Worse, new entrants to the profession increasingly ask: Does this industry reflect my values?

The answer must be yes. But only if we earn it.

Ethical advertising isn’t a compliance checkbox; it’s a design choice. And it can be a competitive edge. Agencies and brands that adopt clear ethical standards, disclose targeting criteria, evidence-backed sustainability claims and consent-based personalization are not only preempting legal risk, but signaling integrity. And integrity is sticky.

Consumers, employees, shareholders and customers all want to work with firms they can trust. That trust must be built by actions, not taglines.

The role of learning and professional development

Ethical decision-making in advertising isn’t instinctive; it’s learned. As the landscape evolves, so too must the frameworks and training that guide professionals in the field. We are entering an era where fluency in ethical reasoning is as essential as creative talent or data literacy. This is the professional norm in law, finance, medicine, architecture, engineering, real estate and most other major professions.

That’s why continuous learning matters. Whether you’re navigating consent-based data use, sustainability claims or AI-generated content, knowing how to assess what’s fair, transparent and responsible requires both study and structure. Ethical practice is not just a matter of personal judgment; it’s a professional discipline. 

What comes next

Ethical practice doesn’t constrain creativity; it liberates it. When boundaries are clear and trust is high, bold ideas flourish. When young professionals believe they’re part of something credible, they stay. And when clients see ethics as a lever, not a liability, better work gets made.

The Institute for Advertising Ethics is an organization that spearheads ethical standards in education of our profession. I am a founding member and firmly believe in the continued development of the professionals in our industry. Ethics is a standard of practice we dare not let go to the wayside. After all, excellence in creativity is at stake, along with our reputation as practitioners of the industry.

Viagra’s Emotional Rebrand Wins the Cannes Lions Pharma Grand Prix 

Vaseline and New Zealand Herpes Foundation also take top health honors

A bold herpes awareness campaign took home top honors in the Health categories at Cannes Lions 2025.

I know that Cannes has been over for a week or so but I read this and wanted to share it. Thanks toAUDREY KEMP, a staff reporter for Adweek based in New York City. Good advice and a good read, especially for those who may not be up on Cannes.

Pharma Lions

Viagra won the Grand Prix in the Pharma category.

The “Make Love Last” campaign by Ogilvy Shanghai and Viatris repositions Viagra with an emotional, cinematic narrative focused on intimacy and long-term relationships. The campaign marks a departure from more clinical or humor-driven approaches and was praised for its film craft and cultural sensitivity.

The sexual wellness brand’s cinematic campaign led the Health category winners at Cannes. Other Grand Prix honors went to Unilever’s Vaseline and a bold nonprofit awareness push for herpes education.

Health and Wellness Lions

Unilever’s Vaseline won the Grand Prix in Health and Wellness.

The “Vaseline Verified” campaign, led by Ogilvy Singapore, used social media creators to combat skincare misinformation online. The effort stood out for addressing health literacy in underserved communities and using platform-native storytelling to restore trust in science.

Health Grand Prix for Good

The New Zealand Herpes Foundation won the Grand Prix for Good.

“The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes,” developed by Finch and Motion Sickness, reframed stigma around sexually transmitted infections through bold humor and transparency. With help from real patients, the campaign used outdoor, digital and long-form content to drive destigmatization and raise awareness globally.

Review all the Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners here.

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Creativity: Key Driver to Profitability in B2B Advertising

In my continuing effort to share pertinent information regarding the value that creativity plays in today’s marketplace, I share the following interview from LinkedIn as it relates to business-to-business advertising.

As part of a multi-year partnership between LinkedIn and Cannes Lions, LinkedIn along with its think tank, the B2B Institute, worked with the Cannes Lions as a strategic thought partner to develop the Creative B2B Lions Awards. Below are excerpts from a LinkedIn interview with Tyrona Heath, Director of Marketing Engagement at LinkedIn’s B2B Institute. It is aimed at celebrating and championing B2B excellence to drive creativity and excitement amongst B2B brands, marketers, and advertisers.

Summary:

  • Creativity is a key driver of profitability in B2B marketing and plays a crucial role in building brand recognition, differentiation, and market share
  • B2B advertising is facing a crisis of creativity, with research showing that 75% of B2B ads receive a low effectiveness rating
  • B2B brand building has a massive untapped opportunity, with significant growth potential in the marketing services industry

When you talk about creativity in B2B, it can feel abstract. Can you explain it in a tangible and relatable way?

For a long time, people have associated B2B with purely business-related content, detached from the principles that influence decision-making. However, B2B content is consumed by human decision-makers who are influenced by the same factors as any other audience. Emotion, storytelling, music, characters, and persuasive techniques are all necessary in B2B to inspire decision-making. Ultimately, it’s about creating a memorable brand that stands out and drives effective outcomes, with creativity at the center.

Is B2B advertising facing a crisis of creativity? And if so, how did we get here?

In the case of B2B advertising, there is a significant opportunity for improvement. Research indicates that the majority of B2B ads lack memorability and effectiveness. According to an analysis with our creative effectiveness partner, System1, a staggering 75% of B2B ads received a low effectiveness rating of one star out of five. These ads failed to leave a lasting impression, effectively communicate the message, or evoke an emotional response. This means they were not effective in building brand awareness or generating a return on investment.

How do you sell the need for brand building and creativity to senior marketers or budget holders?

That’s a great question, and it relates to our previous discussion about marketing to the CFO. Ogilvy Rory Sutherland once compared discussing brand with a finance director to talking about the healing power of crystals to a head surgeon. To finance-focused individuals, brand discussions may come across as fluffy and irrelevant. The best ads are effective because they better encode an association in a buyer’s memory, and brand building is one of the most powerful levers for driving business growth by building memories. We need to shift our mindset to effectively communicate the connection and value of brand building and creativity.

Continue reading →

Cannes Lions 2022: The State of Creativity

Every summer the advertising world treks to France and pays tribute to its version of Mecca, the Cannes Creativity Festival. In the words of a UK publication who was onsite last week, “Cannes Lions is a circus, a meeting of minds, a place to hear the same buzzwords again and again and a chance to listen to celebrities try to explain how to do advertising to rooms full of people who do advertising for a living.

But it’s also a chance to take the temperature of creativity once a year. Seeing all the work that’s winning and being surrounded by people talking about creativity gives people a unique bird’s eye perspective for just one week.”

So, while talking to the cross section of creative leaders, a very broad, but pertinent question was asked: “what is the state of creativity in 2022?”

Here’s what some of them said.

Caitlyn Ryan
VP, Meta

There’s much more optimism and real celebration. We were seeing lots more joyful work. There was one piece that won Gold [in Social & Influencer], for BMW China for the Lunar New Year. The team worked out that the word for BMW in China includes the word horse, and it was the year of the Tiger. It’s properly bonkers but it’s also so joyful. I think it’s a really great example of a couple of things, this celebration and joyfulness, but also as a social campaign. They created all of these assets that then they gave over to the community that allowed them to socialise the idea. I think it’s quite complex but it looks simple and fun.

Yes, there of course is social purpose work – and there was amazing work, especially the charity work The Lost Class, which was just beautiful. That definitely triggers a reaction and wanting to sign up to a social purpose activation. Also we can sell products through joyfully co-creating with the community. I think that’s a really important next step out of the pandemic. It’s incredibly important that we get the economy up and running again, and we use creativity to do that.

Bruno Bertelli
Global Creative Director, Publicis WW and CEO, Le Pub

On one level, there’s a little bit of dated work. Still purpose-led, still a little bit from the past. But on the other hand, there is a trend which is interesting, which is that today brands cannot tell people [things] or inspire people, it’s much more about supporting people doing things. Even if it’s for a small issue, it’s much more about supporting people in what they want to achieve. Story-doing has become much more societally relevant and less strategic – what’s your purpose, what’s your message? Some of these activations don’t even need a message because it’s clear that ‘here’s an issue and I’m just here to help’. It’s a very gen-z attitude. The other thing is not all brands are understanding the importance of being topical today. It’s so important after covid. If you’re not topical, you’re not going anywhere. 

Anna Qvennerstedt
Senior Partner and Chairman of the Board, Forsman & Bodenfors

Last year I was judging brand experience and activation. And I think that my big takeaway from last year was that there are so many really ‘nice’ ideas, but you can feel how quite a few of them are just… very reasonable. You look at it and it’s well done… but there’s no tension in it. There’s no element of surprise. It’s just basically very, very clever. And I think in the jury, when you look at it, you know that it’s going to do well, but then you see something where there’s an actual idea that is expected and no one saw coming, and that sort of changes you a little bit. Those are the ones that win the big awards, I think, and there are not many of them. I mean, again, lots of great work, but those really unexpected ones felt quite rare.

But I think there’s a renaissance for really creative ideas, that we’re sort of starting to see a little bit in the requests from clients.

Rod Sobral
Global CCO, Oliver 

I am a paranoid optimistic. I know it’s a cliche, but I use it all the time. I think every leader should be a bit of a paranoid optimistic. You have to believe that things are going to change, that it’s going to evolve in order for you to be in the right state of mind, and to take some risks. 

My view on that is absolutely, still the most important thing in the marketplace – and I don’t think this will ever change – is the idea. And an idea that connects with you on an emotional or a rational level, sometimes both. 

I think we do have this superpower in our industry to change people’s lives. It can be an ad that’ll put a smile on your face or remind you to call your mom or it can be an app that will help you to deal with your asthma or to run better. So I know that this is possible. And I think we should be doing that. 

I believe, when it comes to the state of creativity, we are in a very exciting place, frankly, because I feel that there’s a lot of energy to try things. Let’s be honest, with digital, with commerce, we have so many platforms, we produce so much. Any creative can relate to the many times you create something and you end up with one asset that people see for a fraction of a second. There is a lot of vision from people saying, ‘I don’t want to be part of the clutter, I want to be part of the signal’. The more clutter there is, the more anxious people get to change, to try to do something to break the mould.

John Berghdal
Global Creative Lead, Forsman & Bodenfors

There was so much fear in the last few years and everybody was thinking about just controlling things, not wanting things to get out of hand. And of course, then you lean on data, and you’re like, ‘OK, Facebook, Google, what can you give me? This is my budget and let’s just use programmatic. Let’s just steer this thing to not have a catastrophe, we’re going to control the situation’. Through creativity and unexpectedness, you have to be bold. You have to risk something – and I don’t think people have been in a risky kind of mood… [We were talking earlier] about the pendulum and maybe this is when people are waking up and coming out and saying, ‘OK, wait a minute, let’s build brands that people care about.’

 

Hopefully making a ruckus, one blog post at a time!

Be sure to check out my other blog, Joe’s Journey, for a different kind of playground for creativity, innovation and inspiring stuff.

 

Live long and prosper, Ukraine.

Quotable Quotes: Sir John Speaks, Again.

In a recent blog, I published an excerpt of an interview with British advertising legend John Hegarty, co-founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty. While he was there in Cannes for their 2018 Festival of Creativity, he had more to say during a lunch event.

Here are some of Sir John’s pearls of wisdom:

“The fundamentals of marketing haven’t changed, the tactics have. But the marketing industry has forgotten the art of persuasion.”

“Marketing people don’t step out of their bubble enough and see how the general public live.”

“The separation of media and creative was one of the biggest mistakes ever. The market isn’t always right.”

“The three pillars of branding: Is it memorable; am I motivated by it; is it truthful? We remember ideas and things that move us.”

“We’re living in a celebrity culture, not a fame culture. Fame adds to a brand’s value, even if you’re not going to buy it. A brand is not only made by the people who buy it, but also by people that know about it.”

“The foundation of brands is trust.”

“Data has been around since the nativity, but we’ve become slaves to it, like we did with market research.”

“Message to creatives: read things other people aren’t reading.”

“Being the biggest isn’t the same as being a brand leader.”

Have a favorite? Let me know!

Sir John at 2018 Cannes Festival of Creativity on, well, Creativity.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I’ve been involved in the advertising and marketing industry for a long time. Mostly, I’ve enjoyed it. I love creating things. I love the creative process, creative problem solving. I love creativity.

Creativity is, in part, what this blog is all about. It’s also, me thinks, one of those words that is vastly overused, and when you ask several people what is meant by it, you’ll get several different responses. It’s difficult for most folks to equate creativity with, say, engineering. Frankly, I think it was damned creative when the design and engineering of the Golden Gate Bridge came about.

Creativity is always evolving. We, as creative practitioners, should be evolving right along with it. So, whenever I see an article on the subject or hear a renowned expert talk about it, I want to read and listen to what is said. Maybe I can pick up some tips.

That happened recently when reading an issue of AdAge. I thought I’d share some of what I read.

The expert: Sir John Hegarty.

Sir John Hegarty Cannes 2016

Sir John Hegarty attends The Cannes Lions 2016 on June 20, 2016 in Cannes, France.
(June 19, 2016 – Source: Christian Alminana/Getty Images Europe)

Sir John was attending the 2018 Cannes Festival of Creativity where he’s been coming since 1989. A founding shareholder in Saatchi & Saatchi and a co-founder of TBWA London before starting Bartle Bogle Hegarty in 1982, Sir John has himself been behind hall of fame work for Levi’s, Volkswagen and Audi. Never shy about his opinions, Hegarty took the opportunity of yet another Cannes Lions to share a few thoughts on the current state of creativity with Ad Age.

A few excerpts from the interview by  . . .

You’ve bemoaned the increasing role data and tech have played in the creative process.

I was accused by Martin Sorrell of being a dinosaur because somebody said “Hegarty doesn’t believe in data,” which is not actually true. Data is fundamentally important. One of the greatest stories ever told, the Nativity, came out of data collection, didn’t it? You’ve got to remember a brand’s job is also to convert.  . . . Go out and throw your net wide. How do I know who’s going to like what I’m selling?

Meaning that with targeting, advertisers are preaching to the converted?

It’s not that. It’s a lazy way of marketing: “Look at the data, what does the data tell us? It’s an instruction manual!” No, it’s not an instruction manual. You’ve got to think about how you’re building the values of this brand. I know I’m boring and I say this all the time, but a brand is made not only by the people who buy it but also by the people who know about it.

“Those people” being the brand itself and also agents of the brand?

If I say to you “Rolls Royce,” you say, “Ooh!” You’re probably not going to buy one, but by talking to a broad audience who understands what your brand is about, you become part of culture. We are forgetting that part of advertising’s function of course is about effectiveness, but it’s also helping that brand become a part of culture.

Last year the talk was all about Fearless Girl. There doesn’t seem to be a corollary this year.

I’ll get provocative here again: Fearless Girl did what for the brand? I don’t know what brand it was associated with. We’ve lost connection. We’ve confused persuasion with promotion. Everybody got hugely excited about the Nike FuelBand 10 years ago. I thought it was a brilliant promotion. I used to be a runner. There was no way I would ever run in Nikes. New Balance, yes. I don’t care how many FuelBands you create, I won’t buy them. I don’t think you make a great running shoe. You have to persuade me.

What do you make of consultancies moving into the agency space?

Why shouldn’t these people get involved? Unless you understand how to convert that into a communications program that stands out in the marketplace, then what’s the point? The trouble is agencies are their own worst enemies and are not very good at establishing a trusted rapport with clients.

You mentioned the Nativity being the original data-informed creative. You look at the Ten Commandments, some of the most enduring “content” ever, and it was written on stone. The oldest medium there is.

Exactly. The greatest brand in the world is the Catholic Church. Best logo. Every lesson in marketing is there. The point is: Two thousand years, some problems, still going. Where will you be in 2,000 years?

Well, gee, Sir John, I don’t know where I’ll be in 2,000 years. I imagine I’ll most likely have been turned into a pile of dust somewhere or maybe I’ll have been recycled somehow. The key word here is imagine-ation. It’s the heart and soul of creativity. Each one of us has an unlimited imagination and boundless creativity — even when we think we don’t.

It’s when limitations are thrust upon us that our abilities are challenged. At times, our creativity is even called into question. As Albert Einstein once said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” It’s what we do with our knowledge that’s important.

How may we apply creativity and that imagination to do something constructive with that knowledge, to contribute to society, to help educate someone; heck, even to make someone laugh. We must keep on creating, keep on striving.

Does it take a mindset of creativity to be creative? Huh, imagine that!