Cannes, France – Last night's awards show was filled with powerful videos that showed triumph, empathy and hilarity in equal measures. There are so so many to share, but here are five you cannot miss:
SickKids VS: Undeniable
What if you felt empowered to take on anything? That's the Rocky-running-up-the-stairs feeling you get watching just seconds of this video for The Hospital for Sick Children. The video was created for a fundraising effort designed to get millennial men off the sidelines and involved in supporting sick children. Instead of going the usual nonprofit approach and focusing on empathy and personal stories, they followed the lead of performance brands and built what is just short of a college football hype video. The fierce fighting story won them their donors (695% increase in online giving) and also created something much more: an anthem for the fight of these families lives. See the full site.
Inside-out #AnchorGoStrong
To engage teenagers who are skeptical of advertising, BBDO worked with World Champion Slam Poet, Harry Baker to create three new commercials for Anchor Milk. Baker has a degree in mathematics and a passion for science, which all comes through in the relaxed rhyming prose that reveals the nutritional magic of milk. Want seconds? Here's another.
Libresse - Blood
This U.K. spot from Bodyform is part of a campaign by the feminine hygiene brand to break down taboos around the menstrual cycle and exercise. It feel like a This Girl Can anthem about potential and fierce drive but the women surfing, dancing, running and competing are bleeding – gashed facings, bloody noses, raw toes, and scraped handing. The video ends with the demand: "No blood should hold us back."
Handle With Care: Gillette’s New Assisted Shaving Razor
There have been 4000 razors designed to shave yourself and only one razor designed to help you shave someone else. Caregiver Kristian Rex brings the reasons why they matter powerfully to life in an happy-cry-worthy story of taking care of his father after a stroke. The Treo razor may be the functional takeaway but the fulfilling aspects of being a carer are definitely the emotional ones. Still a little choked up over this one.
“Swisscom Calling” Samsung
Jonty Toosey, commercial director, in a talk called Truth Lies and Fairytales, asked “Why do we manipulate the truth? Because reality is dull", he said. "We are very good at understanding emotional narratives. We prefer fantasy to raw facts." Toosey suffers no boring reality gladly. Instead he creates interrupts the everyday with just the right amount of fantasy and captures the joyful reactions for brands. “It only takes the course of a second for your eye to pick out what you’re interested in and only 3-seconds before they decide to stay or move on. In our industry we have to make our content engaging and exciting for an audience that has a very very short attention span," he said. Are you still engaged? If so, here's another one: Belvita Blue Monday
What were your favorites?
