This year’s top prize in Social & Influencer went to skincare brand CeraVe, for its social-first Michael CeraVe campaign. Created by Ogilvy PR, New York, the campaign humorously addressed the similarity between Cera’s name and its brand name, to land the point that its products contain ceramides and are developed with dermatologists – not by actor Michael Cera.

The campaign was seeded in the weeks preceding the Super Bowl, starting with a series of stunts by Cera to fuel speculation about his connection to the brand, and culminating in a humorous Super Bowl spot, earning 32 billion impressions and a 25% increase in sales.

‘Social is everything, and everything is social,’ said Social & Influence jury president, Amy Ferguson (CCO and partner, Special US). The jury whittled down 1,800 submissions to arrive at the winner. ‘We loved that it can point to a world where we beautifully blur the lines between [advertising and the real world].’ said Ferguson. ‘It is lovably absurd, a complicated masterclass in multichannel, [and] it did a ton for the business. [It’s a] symbol of how you can take a risk on brave, unexpected creativity and how the result can be loved by culture, by the jury room and by the business's bottom line.’

It’s an exciting category, she said, ‘because it’s so modern, it’s changing literally all the time – so adapting to that is a challenge that we can meet with creativity.’ The jury set out some loose judging critera: ‘First and foremost, [we were] trying to find ideas whose centre of gravity whose inherent idea was tied to social or influencer or both,’ she explained. ‘If you lopped off the social/influencer part, would it still work?’ If so, it’s not a contender for this category. Second, the jury was looking for impact: ‘real work that real people gave a shit about that did something for the business or the world’. Finally, Ferguson said, they were seeking out ‘the most unexpected, most surprising, most creative ideas... Am I super jealous? Do I wish I made that work? That’s what we wanted to celebrate.’

Social & Influencer Gold Lions Winners /

Gonna Need More Tide for Tide by Saatchi & Saatchi, New York

Heinz Ketchup & Seemingly Ranch for Heinz Ketchup by Rethink, Toronto

Yes, Couch! for Facebook Marketplace by Mojo Supermarket, New York, and Creative X, Palo Alto

Michael CeraVe for CeraVe by Ogilvy PR, New York

WoMen’s Football for Orange by Marcel, Paris

Assume That I Can for Coordown by Small, New York

The National Sport of Kazakhstan for RUH Fighting Championship by GForce, Almaty

No Smiles for McDonald’s by TBWA\Hakuhodo, Tokyo