Cannes Lions 2024: Media winners /

Mercado Libre has won the Grand Prix in the Media category at Cannes Lions for the Handshake Hunt campaign, created by Gut, São Paulo.

Handshakes are everywhere, including the logo of Mercado Libre. To beat the crowded ad space of TV commercials in the lead up to Black Friday, Mercado Libre turned TV programmes into ads, creating QR codes that appeared on Globo programming any time a handshake featured on screen.

Specific discounts were created for specific moments, for example, scanning a QR code for a handshake at the start of a football match would get you a discount on sports apparel, while a handshake in a film would offer a discount on a TV.

The campaign used AI to analyse the scripts and scenes of shows to create each specific QR code and discount opportunity. The value of the coupons improved in value in the lead up to Black Friday. The campaign later expanded not just to operate for handshakes on Globo, but also social media and news media.

Jury president Prerna Mehrotra, chief client officer and CEO Media, Dentsu APAC, outlined five key trends that emerged from this year’s entries. She referenced invisible technology; how simply ideas can be brought to life; purposefully solving problems, taking advantage of unexpected opportunities, and campaigns that showed the confidence to take lighthearted moments and respond to them quickly.

Speaking of the winning campaign, Mehrotra said: ‘We wanted to look at an entry that spoke about the future of media and was using technology data insights in a very powerful manner. As media professionals. And as marketers, [we know] it’s very difficult for us to get consumers’ attention. What was really interesting about this particular entry was that the idea really proves that a strong insight can lead technology to reinvent what television would look like.’ 

She added: ‘It was a very disruptive idea, because Black Friday is a very, very cluttered environment. So we thought it was a very smart use of insight, technology and a great way to drive participation, but most importantly, also deliver business results.’

Clean Sponsorship for Consul by DM9, Sao Paulo

No ad for Prague Menos by Lew’Lara\TBWA, São Paulo

The Big Shake Up for Aktion Deutschland Hilft (Alliance of German Aid Organisations) by Havas, Dusseldorf

If You’re Into It, It’s In The V&A for V&A by Adam&eveDDB, London

The Unnnoticeable Whopper for Burger King by Buzzman, Paris

Michael CeraVe for Cerave by Ogilvy PR, New York

Inflation Cookbook for SkipTheDishes by Dentsu Creative, Toronto and Dentsu Creative, Montreal

SightWalks for Sol Cement by Circus Grey, Lima

Banned Book Club for Digital Public Library of America by FCB Chicago

Animal Alerts for PetPace by Mediaplus Germany, Munich, and Serviceplan, Munich, and L&C, New York

Contagious’ analysts and strategists spend their time at Cannes Lions interviewing jury presidents and attending seminars and press briefings, to find out what’s really going on.

Then, we use our two decades of experience to put those findings into perspective and analyse what they mean for marketing and the marketing industry.

Finally, we condense all those insights and case studies into an informative, insightful and (occasionally) entertaining 50-minute briefing (plus 10 minutes of Q&A) that we deliver to brands and agencies.

Book a Cannes Deconstructed briefing and you’ll learn:

• The strategies that underpin the big winners
• The jury perspective on what it took to win in 2024
• The trends that are shaping the most effective, influential work and what they mean for brands
• The brands and campaigns that are raising the bar for commercial creativity

To find out more, click here.