Like all agencies, we always follow what happens in Cannes with great interest. This year was no different, and about fifty of us gathered afterwards to discuss the festival at Mito Brainy (our in-house event series for learning and chatting). But we did put a twist on our discussion: we had watched the entries with the intent to find some that could have been made in Hungary too.

What does that mean? That we were trying to pinpoint the ones which could have potentially been created with a timing and budget that would be realistic for the Hungarian market too. In other words: which ones could have been ours? 

Everyone selected a few projects like this and then explained why they considered them to be within the realms of possibility for us too.

When non-binary sexual indentities no longer constitute a taboo topic, we can still count on cannibalism. 

The McCann campaign created for the Swedish Food Federation – an 18-minute-long, discussion-provoking film about the future of food production and Sweden’s exceptional innovations in the field – won the Grand Prix in the Entertainment category. Could it have been created in Hungary? I don’t see why not in principle: they “just” had to write a good script for the project, which covered a daring story in a dark-humoured but entertaining mockumentary.

We all saw it, loved it and talked about it. But not about why it could have been our project too.  Don’t get me wrong, we don’t mean that our desk drawer is bursting with scrapped, Grand Prix-worthy ideas. It’s just that when you see this print, you feel sad that you were not the one to notice it, that you didn’t see it, that it wasn’t you. Even though the formula is presumably quite simple: the more time we spend with the products and services of our client, the bigger the chance we’ll come up with something like this. And if it’s just half as good as Pepsi’s example, we can be satisfied.

With today’s ever more frequent heatwaves, we are all but ready to burst into flames, but rethinking our environment could help with this a lot. 

This is what Coors Light combined with its ‘Made to chill’ brand message, and they found a local community whose life they could significantly improve with their project called Chillboards, which involved painting black roofs white (with billboard-like visuals). The white roofs help keep these buildings cooler by reflecting the sunlight. 

So to sum up: what you need is a brand whose image lines up well with wanting to relieve the effects of global warming and an everyday problem in the lives of its consumers – such as the effect of a heatwave-filled period like the current one. And some white paint.

Michelob has created a real win-win situation by entering into a long-term contract with its grain suppliers: the farmers will switch to organic farming and Michelob guarantees that after the long switchover period, it will keep buying the grains at a good price. It seems like a simple, fair deal, yet before this, no one had managed to alleviate the biggest fear of farmers: that after a costly switch to organic, there might be no buyers for their more expensive, premium goods. With the contract, Michelob has ensured the livelihood of farmers and the ingredient supply for its own organic beer, while also supporting the switch to sustainable farming, and thereby further improving the reputation of the brand.   

A truly useful brand act from a brand that deeply understands the problems of its target group.

When was the last time you opened an unwanted message on Facebook or in your email? Right? You are not a noob. What about unasked for texts or push notifications on your phone? Trickier question? And what if it’s not even your own phone? No skin in the game, right? Right. That’s what Publicis exploited when creating their uber-smart solution for Hack Market, which let them turn the Apple products of their competitor into their own ad spaces. The brazenness easily rivals the “Burn this ad” campaign from a few years back.

At the beginning of the 2010s, we thought that QR codes would become the new WAP. But lo and behold, they are still here in 2022. And if they are, they can be used to win a Cannes Lions prize: all you need is a sharp-eyed art director and a team specializing in case studies who can make something out of nothing. The project perfectly demonstrates how effective it is to combine a simple idea with a local issue and striking presentation. The jury ate it up.