Cannes Lions 2024: Entertainment winners  /

Four Grands Prix were awarded across the Entertainment category, with WhatsApp, Xbox, Johnnie Walker and Orange picking up the big scoops.

WhatsApp won the Entertainment Lions Grand Prix, Diageo won for Music, Xbox won for Gaming and Orange won for Sport.

WhatsApp’s campaign, We are Ayenda, was created by Meta’s in-house agency, Creative X, Palo Alto. The 30-minute documentary re-enacted the true story of how the Afghan national youth women’s football team avoided capture from the Taliban after a law was imposed that banned women from participating in sports. Unwilling to give up the sport that they love, the documentary shows how the team used WhatsApp’s end-to-end encrypted messaging service to orchestrate their escape from the country and continue to pursue their careers in football elsewhere. 

Jury president Geoffrey Edwards emphasised how the jury were diligent in looking for campaigns that represented the distinction between entertainment and entertaining. He noted that brand’s authentic role in the story factored into the decision. ‘You could not tell the story without the brand,’ he said. ‘It was enabled by the communication they had, the trust that they had, and the safety that they felt with WhatsApp.’ 

Qualifying the documentary’s credibility as a piece of entertainment above all, he added, ‘There’s a saying that all good stories have conflict. Well, all great stories have characters that rise above that conflict to do amazing things.’

Xbox’s win was for the McCann, London campaign, The Everyday Tactician, created for Xbox alongside Sega and Football Manager. The campaign saw Xbox partner with professional football club Bromley FC, then in the fifth tier of English football, to offer one Football Manager gamer a real-life six-month coaching role at the club. The club recruited 23-year-old Nathan Owolabi, a Wembley Stadium tour guide, and Xbox showed his progress with an Exell Films and McCann London documentary that was broadcast on TNT Sports YouTube.

Speaking about the decision, jury president Lydia Winters, chief storyteller at Mojang Studios, said, ‘So many of us in the room were gamers. We were thinking, this is only the second year of this at Lions, so how do we really create something spectacular in the body of work? How do we show what gaming represents and where it’s going?’

Winters noted how this campaign aligned with the trend for this year’s entries to show how ‘gaming skill transferred to the real world’. She also added that there was a breadth of campaigns that showed a deep understanding of what it means to be in the gaming community where humour was used innovatively to solve problems for gamers.

In December last year Contagious spoke to Jim Nilsson, creative director at McCann, London. He said: ‘The idea very much hinged on this being a real job. What we thought about when choosing a partner and choosing a club is we’ve seen a lot of partnerships between big brands and big clubs. What makes this slightly different is that we’re partnering with a club at a lower level and the reason for that also comes back to authenticity.’ 

Diageo-owned Johnnie Walker’s Grand Prix for music was awarded to AlmapBBDO, São Paulo, for the campaign Errata at 88. The integrated campaign made use of print, social media, TV, influencers and a live event at Carnegie Hall in New York to tell the story of Alaíde Costa, an 88-year-old Bossa Nova artist whose historic role in the Brazilian music genre had been erased due to sexism, racism and elitism. Having been left out of a 1962 event at Carnegie Hall that announced Bossa Nova to the world, Costa was also overlooked for a 2023 event that marked a 60-year celebration of Bossa Nova at the same venue.

Johnnie Walker stepped in to finally ensure Costa had the chance to perform on the stage where she belonged, presenting Costa as ‘The forgotten mother of Bossa Nova’ with a two-page feature in Brazil’s biggest newspaper highlighting the error. Through further activations on social media and influencer partnerships the story reached thousands and Costa was invited to perform at the 60-year Bossa Nova celebration at Carnegie Hall.

In praise of the campaign, jury president Madeline Nelson, US head of independent label relations at Amazon Music, said, ‘This is an example of a brand really leaning into a story and taking the time to build an authentic campaign around making something right.’ 

Nelson also commended the diversity of this year’s jury, which she said helped to gain deep cultural insights around the work they looked at. Speaking to trends that the jury recognised around this year’s entries, Nelson noted how music is a universal language, where the jury were moved without needing to understand lyrics. She also spoke about how refreshing it was to see brands do such a wealth of purpose while not being performative. 

Orange won the top prize for Entertainment for Sport for the Marcel, Paris, campaign WoMen’s Football. The campaign used VFX to mask the identity of French Women’s national team players in a highlight reel that disguised them as some of the biggest stars from the men’s team. Having presented the reel to viewers as a celebration of how the men’s team make French people feel, the special effects were removed at the end of the video to reveal the players on show had been from the women’s team all along.

President of the jury, Louise Johnson, CEO of Fuse, said, ‘The campaign really highlights the excitement and the future of women’s sports marketing. It underscores now the power of positivity and creativity in changing perceptions and celebrating athletic excellence.’

Discussing trends the jury picked up on during the discussion process, Johnson mentioned that the quality of the work around women’s sport had evolved this year from being just about parity to ‘using women athletes for creative storytelling in their own right’. She also outlined how this year’s entries saw the return of the big brands, tapping into social conversations and cultural behaviour to enhance live sporting events and brands adopting a fan first approach.

In August last year Contagious spoke to Marcel CSO Ghislain Tenneson about the campaign, who said: ‘There is only one passion for football. You can disagree, you can support different clubs and make different predictions during games. But when you really love football, you love the acrobatic moves, the great moments of skill. This unites all true football fans. The rest is only prejudice. That love for the spectacular moves and intense moments of a game is at the core of the ad.’

Entertainment for Lions Gold Lions winners /

We Are Ayenda for Whatsapp by Creative X, Palo Alto

Change The Ref for American Cancer Story by Klick Health, Toronto

WoMen’s Football for Orange by Marcel, Paris

Entertainment for Gaming Gold Lions winners /

This is Not a Game for Movistar by VML, Mexico City

Gamer Loan for Banco Del Pacifico by Paradais DDB, Guayaquil

Entertainment for Music Gold Lions winners /

Can’t B Broken for Verizon by Ogilvy, New York

Oliveira Dos Cen Anos for Real Club Celta de Vigo by Visit Little Spain, Madrid

Entertainment for Sport Gold Lions winners /

We Are Ayenda for WhatsApp by Creative X, Palo Alto

Lap of Legends for Michelob Ultra by FCB, New York

Runner 321 for Adidas by FCB, Toronto

Oliveira Dos Cen Anos for Real Club Celta de Vigo by Visit Little Spain, Madrid