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The 2022 Titanium Lions Grand Prix went to an anti-youth violence campaign that resurrected Kiyan Prince, a 15-year-old soccer pro hopeful whose life and career were cut short when he was murdered outside his school in a knife crime.
“Long Live the Prince” brought together brands EA Sports, JD Sports, Queens Park Rangers F.C. and Match Attax to raise awareness for the Kiyan Prince Foundation, an organization dedicated to preventing at-risk youth from getting entrenched in a cycle of violence. Created out of Engine, the campaign imagined what would have happened had Prince lived and turned him into a playable soccer pro character in EA Sports’ FIFA21. His stardom was also highlighted in ads for JD Sports and Match Attax trading cards.
The campaign “is one of the most disruptive ideas I’ve ever seen,” Titanium Lions Jury President Rob Reilly, global chief creative officer at WPP, said during the Cannes Lions awards press conference today. Moreover, it “moved us so much.”
The effort reached out to its young target audience in stealthy ways that helped to make the message relatable and digestible. “Selling to teens is a very hard thing to do, so you almost have to sneak that purpose in,” Reilly said. “You’ve got to find a way to get to teens in a way that doesn’t turn them off. It almost has to feel undetectable.”
The campaign’s collaborative aspect also helped it rise above the rest. “You have multiple brands involved in this, partnering with a charity,” he said. “Is it the way forward? I think it is. It’s something we’re going to have to get used to.”
Outside of the Grand Prix, the jury award five Titanium Lions. One went to another anti-violence campaign, Change the Ref’s “The Lost Class” from Leo Burnett and created with Bryan Buckley of Hungry Man. The others went to Vice Media’s “Unfiltered History” campaign, which previously won three Grand Prix: Social and Influencer, Experience and Activation and Audio and Radio; Cadbury’s “Shah Rukh Khan-my-ad” from Ogilvy Mumbai, a campaign that leveraged machine learning and tapped a Bollywood star to create thousands of Cadbury ads that doubled as promos for local businesses struggling during the pandemic; an effort from Virgin Media and FCB Inferno that turned “Dyslexic thinking” into a LinkedIn skill; and Dot Pad, a smart tactile graphics display created out of Serviceplan Munich that allows people with visual impairment to access visual content on the internet.
During the conference Reilly cited a quote from Wieden+Kennedy co-founder Dan Wieden, who was the inaugural president when the category was introduced 20 years ago: “The Titanium Lions is for work that makes the industry stop in its tracks and reconsider the way forward." He acknowledged that sitting at the table with him was the creator of the first Grand Prix-winning campaign, BBDO Worldwide Global Chief Creative Officer David Lubars, who while at Fallon Minneapolis led the seminal "BMW Films" push and this year served as president of the Film Lions.
Reilly underscored that that standard set by Wieden remains solid today. “The definition should not change,” he said. “What should continue to evolve is the ideas we bring.”
Reilly took the opportunity to address one of the big themes of this year’s festival, purpose. Purpose-driven campaigns, whether for brands or charities, have dominated entries and winners and detractors have questioned the authenticity of such ideas and the real impact of such ideas on brands. “I think purpose, if done right, sells things,” he said. “I hope you don’t give up on purpose. I hope you don’t think it’s jumped the shark because governments do not help people the way they need to. They just don’t have the means or sometimes the will, so brands will have to continue to do this. We have to push ourselves and be disruptive.” Read more: P&G's Marc Pritchard isn't giving up on purpose
Ann-Christine Diaz is the Creativity Editor at Ad Age. She has been covering the creative world of advertising and marketing for more than a decade. Outside of the job, she can be found getting in touch with her own creativity.