The transformed touch points

Time of India

23-06-2025

The
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
celebrates outstanding creative work across various disciplines, honoring not just Grand Prix winners but also impactful silvers and bronzes. In our "
BE Extraordinary
" series, a collaboration with
Harsh Kapadia, CCO, Grey India
, we spotlight campaigns that truly warrant discussion for their strategic depth and exceptional execution. This installment focuses specifically on
Brand Experience and Activations
, showcasing how brands craft immersive, interactive encounters to forge direct connections with audiences, build lasting impressions, and drive tangible results in dynamic environments.
Fictional Insurance - Bogotá, DDB Colombia / RCN Prime
The "Fictional Insurance" campaign, a collaboration between an unspecified insurance entity in Bogotá, DDB Colombia, and RCN Prime, aimed to illustrate the relevance and benefit of insurance in an engaging and accessible manner. The initiative leveraged branded entertainment by integrating itself into a crime show broadcast on RCN Prime.
Viewers were provided with the interactive opportunity to "insure" fictional characters within the ongoing narrative of the show. Participants could predict the manner in which a specific character might die during the series. If their prediction accurately aligned with the plot's outcome, they would receive a real payout.
This novel approach served as an interactive activation, demonstrating the core concept of insurance payouts within an entertaining and relatable context, allowing audiences to experience the tangible benefit of coverage without overt promotional messaging.
Ads Cover Rent - Brahma Beer, Africa Creative DDB/São Paulo
Brahma, a prominent Brazilian beer brand with strong historical ties to the country's Carnival celebrations, launched the "Ads Cover Rent" initiative in collaboration with Africa Creative DDB, São Paulo. This campaign addressed the challenge of escalating accommodation costs in Brazil during the Carnival period, which often deters tourists.
The core of the initiative involved offering tourists who booked apartments through Airbnb a reduced rental fee. In exchange for this financial incentive, the renters agreed to display Brahma-branded banners on their balconies.
These banners were not generic; they were custom-designed to fit the specific size and aesthetic of each individual balcony. This provided a direct financial benefit to the vacationers while simultaneously securing prime advertising visibility for Brahma.
The strategically placed banners along parade routes effectively transformed private rented spaces into prominent, high-traffic advertising locations for the brand during one of Brazil's largest and most photographed cultural events, maximising brand exposure without the cost of official sponsorship.
The Kimberly Price - Plaza Vea, Fahrenheit DDB, Lima
Plaza Vea, a supermarket in Peru, launched "The Kimberly Price" campaign, developed with Fahrenheit DDB Lima, to stimulate viewership for Peruvian speed walker Kimberly Garcia's races during the Paris Olympics. A key challenge was that these races were scheduled for late-night hours in Peru, making widespread viewership difficult.
To incentivise audiences to tune in, Plaza Vea announced a unique promotion.
The pricing of a selection of electronic gadgets, including televisions, refrigerators, and mobile phones, would be directly linked to Kimberly Garcia's bib number.
This bib number was a dynamic element, only revealed moments before the start of her race. For instance, if her bib number was 146, certain promotional items would then be offered at a price of S/146 (Peruvian Soles). This mechanism generated significant curiosity and anticipation, directly motivating consumers to watch the live telecast at unconventional hours to discover the discounted prices.
The campaign successfully connected the supermarket's brand to national athletic pride and a shared viewing experience, extending beyond traditional promotional methods.
The Athlete's Code - Powerade (The Coca-Cola Company), Ogilvy New York
"The Athlete's Code" by Powerade, a brand from The Coca-Cola Company, addressed a significant and long-standing issue within professional sports: the potential loss of sponsorships for athletes who take necessary breaks due to injury, mental health struggles, or severe stress. In collaboration with Ogilvy New York, Powerade, which positions itself around athletic recovery, made a public commitment to integrate a specific, protective clause into its sponsorship contracts. This clause guaranteed that Powerade would continue to fulfill its financial obligations to sponsored athletes even if they needed to step away from competition for health-related reasons.
The initiative directly aligned with Powerade's core brand promise of supporting comprehensive recovery, extending beyond physical recuperation to include mental well-being. Furthermore, the campaign actively encouraged other brands within the industry to adopt similar protective clauses in their athlete agreements, aiming for systemic change.
The campaign was brought to life through a compelling film directed by Babak Khoshnoud, which featured prominent athletes such as Alex Morgan, Tatjana Smith, Linda Motlhalo, and Douglas Matera. These athletes shared their personal experiences and stories related to mental health challenges in their careers, adding authenticity and emotional depth to Powerade's commitment.
This narrative was amplified strategically across various digital platforms, social media channels, and notably, during the broadcast of the 2024 Summer Olympics. This multi-platform amplification fostered a global conversation about the critical importance of mental health within the demanding world of professional sports.
(At BE Extraordinary, a series about the winners at Cannes Lions in collaboration with Harsh Kapadia, CCO, Grey India, we peer outside the Grand Prix, and look at clutter breaking work that picked the silvers and the bronzes, but don't often get discussed.)