Cannes award-winning copywriting is here!

This article is selected from the "Cannes Annual Advertising Awards Selection". Through the award-winning cases of "Outdoor" and "Printing", it reveals the essence and direction of copywriting. The article shows how copywriting can give vitality to brands through various changes and use the power of words to stimulate user emotions. This not only allows us to relive the beauty of copywriting, but also inspires us to go beyond the inherent techniques and create more dynamic language. Recommended for students who are interested in high-quality copywriting.

The 2023 Cannes Advertising Festival has come to an end, and 24 awards in 10 categories have been announced. Among them, the "Outdoor" and "Print" awards, which are two awards that rely heavily on copywriting, are the holy temples in the hearts of old-school copywriters. They are mixed in with numerous categories and do not seem to be as dazzling as before. But this does not mean that copywriting is not important. It is precisely that copywriting is too important, so it is really difficult to write. Relatively speaking, using some new technologies and trying some new media seems to be easier to attract people's attention.

Let’s take a look at some of the best copywriting that made it to the Cannes Lions this year.

1. Outdoor Grand Prize: Original British

Creative Agency: Uncommon

This is an advertising campaign launched by British Airways last year. The advertisement proposed a new brand proposition "A BRITISH ORIGINAL". The content came from questionnaires filled out by British Airways passengers at their flight destinations. A total of 500 different print advertisements were produced and placed in outdoor, print and digital media. In addition, there were 32 commercials. The creativity was simple and clever, and the quantity was large and sufficient.

Why do you fly?

○ Business

○ Leisure

● Because the only thing worse than having sand in your shoes is having no sand in your shoes.

○ Business

○ Leisure

● Go for divorce

○ Business

○ Leisure

● Eat tomatoes that taste like tomatoes

○ Business

○ Leisure

● Because of this horrible weather

2. Grand Prize in Printing: Reviving other newspapers within a newspaper

Creative agency: Impact BBDO Dubai

On December 12 last year, the famous Lebanese newspaper "Al-Day" published a special newspaper. Each page of the newspaper published a newspaper that had been suspended in the past 20 years. "Al-Day" invited reporters from these newspapers to write again to celebrate press freedom on this day, and also to commemorate the founder of "Al-Day", Ghebran Tueni, who was assassinated on this day 17 years ago. They hope to use such a campaign to arouse people's attention to the Lebanese news crisis.

This inevitably reminds people of what Zhang Xuefeng had said to the candidate's mother in the live broadcast room - "If he wants to apply for journalism, just knock him out!", and then Zhang Xuefeng was admitted to the hospital.

3. Other award-winning copywriting selections in the outdoor/printing category:

1. Outdoor category - Golden Lion

Heinz Ketchup Fraud

Creative Agency: RETHINK

EVEN WHEN IT ISN'T HEINZ,IT HAS TO BE HEINZ.
Even if it's not Heinz, it has to be Heinz

This series of works was also used as material for the "Copywriting Free Shipping Knowledge Planet" English-Chinese translation exercise in April. The ad shows restaurants trying to fool customers through "ketchup fraud". It uses a social network candid photo style to show the restaurant's fraudulent behavior of filling Heinz ketchup bottles with other brands of ketchup because those ketchups are cheaper.

Here are some good works for copywriting practice:

@Haru: Use a Heinz can to give the ketchup some face.

@微信chihling: Even if it’s not Heinz, you have to pretend to be one.

Teacher Cheng also gave a very classic quote: If you can't squeeze out Heinz, squeeze in.

2. Outdoor Category - Silver Lion

IKEA: Second best, but also proud

Creative agencies: DAVID Madrid, INGO Hamburg

Proudly the Second Best.

Second best, also proud

Furniture advertisements always show how practical furniture is, but IKEA openly admits that it is useless - the dining chair is left idle because the dad holds the baby while eating, but IKEA is very satisfied with this because parents and children are closer, so it is willing to take second place.

3. Outdoor category - Bronze Lion

Change The Ref: Send your children to war

Creative agency: BBDO

Send your children to war. It's safer than sending them to school.

It is safer to send your children to war than to send them to school.

Over the past 20 years, the number of children killed by gun violence in the United States has exceeded the total number of active military personnel and police officers killed.

This is an "anti-gun violence" advertisement from the public welfare organization Change The Ref. People often think that fighting on the battlefield or being a police officer are very dangerous professions, but here we use data to tell you that due to the frequent occurrence of gun violence, sending children to school is more dangerous than fighting on the battlefield, guiding the public to rethink the pros and cons of "gun freedom."

This is also the material for our Knowledge Planet's English-Chinese translation practice in May this year. Here are a few good ones:

@士: Instead of waiting to die on the playground, it is better to go to the battlefield to survive.

@不辩: Children’s eyes should be used for aiming, not reading.

@Xiao Li: The teacher teaches us how to hold a pen, but cannot teach us how to hold a gun.

4. Printing-Golden Lion

Not Milk: Advertising copy written by rival lawyers

Creative agency: McCann Worldgroup

Not Milk, an intelligent dairy startup, has used an artificial intelligence program to create a milk substitute that is almost identical to milk using peas as raw materials. It has been sued by the entire milk industry. The reason for the lawsuit is: what you produce is clearly milk, but you claim that it is not milk.

In response to this, Not Milk launched an advertising campaign to fight back. What's interesting is that the text of the advertisement was not written by an advertising copywriter, but was taken from the lawyer's complaint filed by the other party against itself. This is because all the information about Not Milk's production process was written into the complaint. They directly used the text of the opponent's lawsuit against themselves as a copy to prove their innocence and fight back against the opponent, and broke the opponent's defense on the spot.

We didn't write the text.

It was written by the milk industry lawyer (who sued us)

“Not Milk (“NotMilk” in Spanish) is a plant-based beverage made primarily from peas, sold nationwide by The Not Company and available in major supermarkets nationwide. — Milk Industry Legal Advisor

/

Not Milk. Not Milk.

That's where the matter ends.

We didn't write the text.

It was written by the milk industry lawyer (who sued us)

“Not Company vigorously promotes its product Not Milk” (“NotMilk” in Spanish) as a substitute for milk” – Legal advisor to the milk industry/Not Milk is not milk. End of story.

5. Printing-Silver Lion

Burger King: Late Night Breakfast

Creative Agency: DAVID New York

We have heard this a thousand times in commercials: breakfast is an important way to start the day. Now Burger King tells you: it is also the best way to end the day. The commercials have discovered that for many people who have been up all night, going home after breakfast and having a good sleep is the best way for them to say goodbye to the day.

This night, I'm waiting for this meal

-Burger King breakfast, 6am-10am

6. Printing-Bronze Lion

International solidarity association Vision du Monde (World View): What you cannot see

Creative Agency: STEVE

Things You Can't Watch

He witnessed

A starving child was thrown away

/

45 million children worldwide are suffering from famine, help us change their view of the world by donating to Vision du Monde.

Things You Can't Watch

She witnessed

Her parents were shot dead/

250 million children around the world live with the horrors of war. Help us change their view of the world by donating to Vision du Monde.

Things You Can't Watch

She witnessed

On her wedding night, she was 11 years old / Every year, 12 million minors are forced to marry. Help us change their view of the world by making a donation to Vision du Monde.

7. Printing Category – Finalist

LV: Winning is a state of mind

Creative agency: LV

During last year's World Cup, LV's poster was all over the Internet. In the picture, the "two heroes" Messi and Ronaldo played chess on the squares of LV suitcases. The poster became popular on social media all over the world. Messi and Ronaldo both reposted the poster on Instagram, with a total of more than 80 million likes and 850,000 comments, which can be regarded as a World Cup marketing case that will go down in history.

VICTORY IS A STATE MIND.

Winning is a mindset.

We also used this image to practice captioning in Planet. Here are two good ones:

@Zendy: Three-way matchup
@二黑哥: We have won. We have walked together.

8. Printing Category – Finalist

Clooney Justice Foundation: Hair is not a crime

Creative Agency: McCann Dubai

A public service announcement from the United Arab Emirates, where women are forced to cover their hair in public and face severe consequences if they do not comply, including imprisonment, persecution, and even death. The Clooney Justice Foundation has launched a campaign to draw attention to this restriction on women's "hair freedom" around the world and call on more people to support their rights.

FOR 99% OF WOMEN. HAIR IS NOT A CRIME. STAND FOU THE OTHER 1%

For 99% of women, hair is not a crime. Support the remaining 1%.

This is also the practice material of our Knowledge Planet before, it is good to post a few sentences:

@The elegance that you and I are accustomed to is beyond their reach
@_Swindler: 1% of women are in a cage, staring at your freedom.
@玲隆骰子: The most flexible hair is woven into the toughest prison.

9. Printing Category – Finalist

Mitsubishi Philippines: Building Safety for a Lifetime

Creative Agency: BBDO Guerrero

Presidential Decree No. 115-A of the Philippines declared May of each year as "Road Safety Month". In response to the government's call, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines released a set of posters.

The copy is very concise, "Build safe, for life". The sentence structure uses the "attribute" form (safe & life), which is very easy to read. It can be seen that "attribute" copywriting is not only loved by Chinese copywriters, but also by foreign copywriters.

A highlight of the poster is the protagonists Astrid and Samuel, two elderly dummies used in Mitsubishi Motors' accident collision tests. Unlike ordinary dummies, Astrid and Samuel grew up happily because they were safe and sound in Mitsubishi Motors' N collision tests and slowly grew old. All collision test dummies have a "good end", which perfectly embodies Mitsubishi Motors' proposition of "protecting people's lives".

Build safe, for life.

I'll stumble through life all my life just for your safety.

This is still our previous practice material on Knowledge Planet. It would be nice to post a few more sentences:

@李继晖: Let us collide with each other for a lifetime in exchange for your peace

@二黑哥: With my whole life, I wish you a safe life

Author: Kuang Thirteen

Source: WeChat public account "Copywriting Free Shipping"