Cannes Lions 2022

In a maximum security prison in Oudenaarde, Belgium, the first eCycling team for prisoners was launched. Decathlon provided them with clothes and equipment (bikes, trainers, …) to cycle on Zwift, a virtual world where 3 million cyclists race and ride together. Enabling them to ride with people from the outside world for the first time. As anonymous athletes instead of being labeled a prisoner or outcast. The project is ongoing, permanently reconnecting prisoners with society from behind bars.

D’Ieteren, the leading Belgian car distributor launched a new private transport service: HUSK. A saturated market difficult to penetrate. So, how could they earn the public's attention instead of buying it? By solving Belgium’s most shameful mobility problem. Due to underfunding from the government, more than 5000 special needs children spend up to 8 hours in a school bus, each day. A national disgrace, from one of the richest countries in the world. Which is why HUSK Presented: Reduce the Ride. An initiative to get Belgian special needs children to school faster, awaiting a structural solution from the government.

The Brussels Motor Show. The biggest sales driver for cars in Belgium. Every year, it attracts half a million visitors, accounting for 30% of the sales target of a whole year. So when the Brussels Motor Show was canceled, it was a disaster for all major car brands in the market. To reach all these potential buyers, car sales were approached in a whole new way. Every street turned into a showroom and introduced the Volvo Street Configurator, the very first app that recognizes the configuration of any Volvo in the street.

We tend to forget it, but in our cities, there is a lot of beauty. We just need to see it. MINI challenged its drivers to look at the city differently. #SeenfromaMINI was launched, a photography project in which 5 street photographers were sent on the road, with a MINI. They were invited to document the wonderful diversity and cultural richness that surrounds us. The frame of the car window became the frame of a picture. These images became an extensive social campaign, an art exhibition, and an inspiration to look at things differently.

July 2021, Belgium experienced the most destructive floods in its history. The damage caused by the deluge was enormous: over 220.000 houses (on a population of 11 million), countless cars, furniture… but also tens of thousands of photos were destroyed. Although these ruined photos do not represent a lot of financial value, their emotional value and the memories linked to these photos, are priceless. So, in sync with its purpose, Canon decided to act by introducing a heartwarming initiative: ReStory. A project aimed to restore all flood damaged photos. Free of charge. Because photos are memories. And memories are too precious to lose when you already lost everything in the floods.

In Brussels, as everywhere else in Belgium, it rains often, very often. This is one of the reasons why people don’t use their bikes as often. To motivate Brussels residents to always take their bikes, Brussels Mobility transformed a campaign poster into a designer poncho. So now you can bike through the rain in style. Two fashion designers created wearable posters, perfectly sized for outdoor billboards. The billboards covered the most important bicycle lane in Brussels which resulted in the 500 poncho posters being gone in less than two hours.

It’s an ‘age-old problem’: you can’t hear a thing when you’re crunching chips while while watching movies or any other content. And as much as it is a first-world problem, not being able to hear audio while eating chips is something we’ve all experienced (and reaching for a laptop’s volume buttons with greasy fingers just creates even more problems). Luckily, Lays came to the rescue with Crispy Subtitles. A Chrome extension to Youtube that automatically activates subtitles every time it detects that you are munching chips. Indeed, ‘crisp-activated subtitle technology’ to allow you to make binge watching a better experience.

From 2022 all Mercedes-Benz’ factories worldwide will obtain their electricity from renewable resources only. To communicate this to the world, an eco-friendly outdoor brand installation was created using one of Europe’s largest wind turbines. By attaching high-powered led lights to the blades, and using eco friendly smoke, the turbine transformed into the iconic Mercedes-Benz star at nightfall. Due to its height of 120 meters and its width of 70 meters, this imposing brand installation illuminated the night sky, could be seen from miles away, and delivered a clear but clean message that Mercedes-Benz were joining forces with the wind.

After having children, mothers struggle to combine work and childcare. This often results in part-time work, making them responsible for the tasks at home as fathers mostly continue to work full-time. And that is one of the biggest reasons for the gender wage gap. In the film ‘The Umbilical Cord’ real former Belgian sport champions share their story and what it means to have to sacrifice the career of your life for the love of your life: your children.