Values-based Initiatives Come Out on Top at Cannes Lions 2021

Last week, the marketing community celebrated another year of creativity at the 2021 Cannes Lions Festival. The winners varied from celebrating frontline workers, to messages of inclusiveness in sport, to bringing awareness to the love of Black culture. Today we highlight three top campaigns we had on our radar that are now being recognized for their breakthrough, values-based initiatives.

• Mastercard won the Grand Prix in Brand Experience and Activation for the roll out of its True Name™ cards. These cards allow owners to use their chosen, or true names, without requiring a legal name change. This helps alleviate some of the challenges transgender and non-binary individuals experience throughout the payment process if their legal name is not reflective of who they are. Having a “deadname” on an item can not only cause “painful daily reminders of a conflict between their true name and the name on their card,” but can also lead to harassment and discrimination due to their gender presentation.
• Libresse took home the Titanium Grand Prix, as well as both the Film and Film Craft Grand Prix and the Grand Prix for Good in Health for the brand’s audacious #PainStories campaign. The goal of the initiative was to “dismantle the shame and silence that stops” women from getting the help they deserve. Libresse also called attention to and took into account the fact that while women’s pain is often brushed off, it is especially true for “Black, Asian or mixed heritage women” – with an added stigma around non-binary and trans people.
• Degree Inclusive won the Innovation Grand Prix for the launch of the world’s first deodorant designed for people with disabilities. The packaging is made for a wide range of disabilities by including a braille label, a hook to get leverage for easier opening, better grips, a larger applicator for uncomplicated use and a magnetic top for effortless capping when finished. Aline Santos Farhat, EVP of Global Marketing and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Unilever, explained that Degree Deodorant wants this launch to motivate other brands and “to inspire bold action across the industry to ensure that people with disabilities have an equal playing field.”

The winners of the festival show the power of communications and the shift towards values-based marketing. We have underscored how consumers are gravitating to and even demanding this type of content, but it is also now being celebrated and recognized by the industry elite. The trend of brands showing their values through their advertising is a growing one that will continue to become the standard by the marketing and advertising communities.