2025 Cannes Contenders: RGA creatives weigh in

Campaign: Think Name Project, Sato 2531
Brand: Asuniwa
Cannes Lion Category: Creative Use of Data

 

In Japan, it is required by law for couples to share the same surname when they get married – a practice where 95% of women sacrifice their last name to take on her husband’s. And changing the law is challenging as 90% of lawmakers are men. To tackle this issue, Asuniwa, a leading gender equality organisation, partnered with Tohoku University’s professor to project the law’s future impact, concluding that by 2531, "Sato" would be the only surviving surname in Japan.

 

Jessie Lam, senior art director, at RGA Singapore says: "What I love about Sato 2531 is how simple and honest it is. By using just one irrefutable data point, a quiet issue was turned into national and global headlines and even got the UN to pay attention. It’s not easy to make data emotional, but this was done in the smartest way possible. As creatives, most of us dream of making work that shifts culture and creates actual impact on the world and Sato 2531 did just that.

 

Campaign: Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes
Brand: New Zealand Herpes Foundation
Cannes Lions Category: Entertainment

 

 

About 80% of Kiwis will get oral or genital herpes at some point, but despite how common it is, research shows that the stigma in New Zealand is actually among the worst in the world. That’s a lot of people feeling ashamed and isolated over something that is usually pretty harmless. The NZHF says around 30% of people diagnosed with herpes in NZ deal with depression or even suicidal thoughts because of it. So this campaign aims to lessen the stigma, and invoke some local pride to drive that behaviour.

 

Jane Duru, associate creative director at Verbal Design Australia says: “No one wants to talk about STIs. And public health campaigns can be either super cringe or super depressing. I love that this campaign takes that tired rubric of "the best place to live" and flips it on its head, using humour to get us thinking differently about herpes. The insight that it’s the stigma of the infection, not the infection itself, that does the most damage, is really astute.

 

And then, from an executional point of view there’s the whole vibe of the campaign. The old-school 70s-style educational videos with real experts, just hit the mark. Trademark dry NZ wit gets the serious message across, breaking down the awkwardness around STIs, without beating you over the head with educational content. The leaderboard is also a nice touch. Turning a bit of friendly rivalry between countries into an accelerator of destigmatisation to get people energised and looking at the information. Campaigns like this can help us get to a point where we talk about herpes as openly as we do a cold, without the shame.”

 

Campaign: Mindography
Brand: Instax
Cannes Lions Category: Digital Craft

 

Instax is the world’s leading instant photo printing company. To prove the value of holding onto printed memories, they used their latest product, the Instax Mini Link 3, to print memories of a lost loved one directly from the mind.

 

Marta Caseny, group creative director at RGA Japan says: "It's always beautiful to see how the use of technology can help drive human emotions. The Instax experiment, at the intersection of science and art, shows us how using cutting-edge technology in an unimaginable way can create a profound and unique human experience. Instax gets it completely right – the experiment doesn’t just prove that memories can be printed, it reinforces the brand’s core belief, that printed memories are powerful."

 

 

R/GA pick by Marta Caseny: Cat God Calling

Brand: PONOS’ The Battle Cats 

Cannes Lions Category: Gaming

 

 

Game developer PONOS found that people were dropping out of The Battle Cats game on certain levels because these were too difficult. To help them, Higher Power Cat God was made available for players to ask him how to get past the levels they were stuck on. Thousands of fans got to speak to Cat God himself through a live chat LINE service, and a lucky few even got to speak to him over the phone from a physical phone booth hidden in downtown Tokyo.

 

"When a game developer realises players drop out in certain levels, you’d imagine they’ll try to tweak them. But instead, The Battle Cats kept pushing the boundaries of its weirdness and made Cat God available for a chat with players. Who better suited to grant you a wish than the Cat God himself? The comedic helpline, hosted by one of the most beloved characters in the game, worked like a miracle. His phone didn’t stop ringing — and he fulfilled his mission to get players gaming again. The helpline campaign smashed its benchmark targets and drove more players back to the game than any campaign before it."