Cannes Lions: Creative B2B winners 2023 /

The Grand Prix in the Creative B2B category at the 2023 Cannes Lions festival was awarded an initiative that placed Earth on the Brazilian stock exchange to raise awareness of the planet’s most pressing problems.

The EART4 (or TERR4, in Portuguese) campaign was devised by AlmapBBDO, São Paulo, and created for Brazil’s B3 Stock Exchange and United Nations Global Impact – an organisation set up to encourage businesses to adopt responsible and sustainable policies.

Earth (or EART4, as it was listed on the stock exchange) was floated on the stock exchange on 26 April with the intention of speaking to world business leaders in a language they would understand – value.

The organisations behind the campaign described it as ‘The world’s most urgent IPO [Initial Public Offering]’, and said that it was a way to highlight issues plaguing humanity that businesses can assist with.

A real-time simulator showed what’s happening to Earth’s stock price based on what’s happening in the world, and B3 and UN Global Impact also created an annual report on Earth’s ‘performance’ as a company.

The EART4 report has already reached 20,000 business leaders across the globe and earned $58m of media, according to people involved with the project. The campaign also reportedly resulted in a 140% year-on-year increase in sign-ups to United Nations Global Impact’s voluntary agreement.

ERTH4 is also expected to float on the stock exchanges of the US, UK, Mexico, Italy, Nepal, Norway, Colombia, Indonesia, Finland and Sri Lanka in the coming months.

The Creative B2B jury president, Tom Stein, who is also the global chairman and chief growth officer for Stein IAS, said the campaign ticked all the boxes. ‘One of the biggest things for all of us on the jury was the growing realisation of the systemic impact that B2B has [and] the real effect that the community can have on the world. Whether that’s from a social or a commercial impact standpoint – in many cases both joined together – [showing] the power of unity to lift economies and address the big problems that face the world.’

Stein issued a rallying cry for more B2B marketers to follow in EART4’s footsteps. ‘We can use this opportunity as a continued call to action to the B2B community to think bigger, think bolder and to set higher creative ambitions. We are making so much progress, but in a lot of way it’s the beginning, and I’m so excited,’ said Stein.

Creative B2B Gold Lions winners /

Certified Human, for Intel, by Dentsu Creative, Chicago

Rock Star, for Workday, by Ogilvy, Los Angeles and Chicago