Creative Data Lions: Cannes 2022 Decoded

The Grand Prix in the Creative Data Lions category was awarded to DDB Mexico for a data-driven initiative that promotes the financial inclusion of women in Mexico for the investment company We Capital.

DDB's 'Data Tienda' work addressed the issue that 83% of women in Mexico have no access to credit due to possessing no loan history. As a result, their loan applications are rejected by banks despite them reliably paying back loans to local stores on a weekly basis.

To address this, We Capital launched Data Tienda, a financial information centre, to keep track of these transactions between women and their local stores, and enable them to build a credit history that banks can access to approve loans.

The single UK winner among the 13 Lions awarded in the category was Edelman London for its 'Green Light Signal' work for National Grid. This involved the installation of a new carbon intensity forecasting tool, delivering an easy-to-use and understandable signal to show when the electricity in the home is coming from clean and green energy sources.

Creative Salon spoke with Alan Kelly, chief creative at Rothco and a judge in the category, to hear his thoughts.

What happened in the Creative Data category?

"The key trend was 'levelling up'. We saw great ideas like 'The Black Elevation Map' [Black & Abroad] that tried to level the playing field for people.

Another trend was the re-emergence of fun with examples such as 'The Real Airdrop' [Garena] and 'Apologize the Rainbow' [Skittles]."

What advice would you give to marketers wanting to win a Lion in the category next year?

"Keep it simple. You don't need a huge data budget or an army of digital specialists to have a great data idea. 'Data Tienda' is a great example of that."

Why did the Grand Prix winner win?

"Such a simple idea but not an easy or quick one to activate. I imagine this one took a lot of stamina from both the agency and client to see this one through from start to finish! A brilliant and important idea."