British Airways’ 500 Unique Billboards Wins Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes

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CANNES, France — British Airways’ “A British Original” campaign has been awarded the Outdoor Grand Prix at Cannes Lions.

The work was the first created for the brand by London-based Uncommon Creative Studio and featured 500 unique print, digital and outdoor executions.

Each nodded to the box-ticking question most travelers happen across when booking a vacation or work trip: “What is the purpose of your visit?”

However, beneath the standard “business” and “leisure” options, the ad copy offered hundreds of alternative third options ranging from “because this weather sucks” to “to eat a tomato that actually tastes like a tomato” and “I still love her.”

With no two ads the same, the scale of the campaign was designed to capture people’s wide-ranging travel motivations and to help British Airways stand out from other airlines post-pandemic. It was also built to adapt based on location, time of day, weather and the news cycle.

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Scale was key in Uncommon Creative Studio’s first work for the airline

Jury president Javier Campopiano, Grey’s worldwide CCO and global CCO at WPP’s Coca-Cola agency OpenX, said “beneath the surface of what first appears to be a classical campaign, [the creatives] found different ways to express emotion through this idea.”  

“It shows an iconic brand can become more iconic,” he added.  

Outdoor Gold Winners

  • Lacoste “Socks and Sandals,” “Pink Polo,” and “Bucket Hat” by BETC, Paris
  • Heinz Ketchup “Diner, “QSR,” “Kitchen” by Rethink, Toronto
  • Honest Eggs Co. “Fitchix” by VMLY&R, Melbourne
  • ITV and Calm “The Last Photo” by Adam&EveDDB, London
  • Stella Artois “The Artois Probability” by Gut, Buenos Aires
  • Makro “Life Extending Stickers” by Grey Colombia, Bogota
  • Fondation Anne De Gaulle “Anne De Gualle” by Havas Paris
  • Castle Lager “Bread of the Nation” by Ogilvy, South Africa

Print and Publishing Trophy

AnNahar newspaper took home the Print & Publishing Grand Prix for its “Newspapers Inside the Newspaper Edition” from BBDO Dubai.

In December, a special issue of the Arabic language-based newspaper brought back to life six Lebanese newspapers that have ceased to exist in the last 20 years.

The stunt was intended to draw attention to the crisis affecting Lebanese publishers and was timed to launch with the anniversary of the death of former editor-in-chief Gebran Tueni, who was killed by a car bomb in East Beirut in 2005.

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