2023 Cannes Contenders: Wunderman Thompson's mane choices

Prominent creative agencies are sharing their picks of the region's best advertising output with Campaign Asia-Pacific to acquaint the industry with outstanding work competing at the Cannes Festival of Creativity this year. 

Today a quartet of Wunderman Thompson creatives from around the region give it a go. Hear from APAC CCO SheungYan Lo in Shanghai, Singapore CCO Mateusz (Mat) Mroszczak, SVP & ECD Rajeshwari Rao in Mumbai and Philippines CCO Joe Dy as they select their 'mane contenders' for Gold and Grand Prix glory. 

Campaign: Kami
Brand: Down Syndrome International
Cannes category: Digital Craft
Creative making the pick: Mateusz (Mat) Mroszczak, CCO, Wunderman Thompson Singapore

This idea just has every ingredient to make it a winner. It’s purposeful, it is inclusive, It has fantastic craft, it’s social and it’s on web3. For me it has set a new benchmark in terms of how to think about influencer led ideas. I love everything about it, and hope it goes far!

Campaign: Samsung Flipvertising
Brand: Samsung
Cannes category: Digital Craft, Brand Experience & Activation, Innovation
Creative making the pick: Rajeshwari Rao, senior vice president & executive creative director

Clever! Clever! Clever! How do you get the target audience that considers personalised ads to be an invasion of their privacy wanting to be targeted by specific YouTube ads? This is how. An online scavenger hunt that takes one through a plethora of content including unboxings, tech reviews, comparisons, etc. all of which wasn’t paid for. Simple. Effective. Extremely clever!

‌Campaign: Unbranded Menu
Brand: McDonald’s
Cannes category: Gaming Lions, Brand Experience Digital Activation Lions, Promo Lions
Creative making the pick: Joe Dy, chief creative officer, Wunderman Thompson Philippines

“Quite a clever way of reminding us via gaming that the way we visualize burger, fries and other similar food items, all over the world, is largely influenced and defined by our own experiences with McDonald’s. It also mobilized gamers to be advocates of the brand and in a way, let McDonald’s be an inadvertent partner of every game the gamers reported them in. It's done pretty well at AdFest, Spikes, Clios, D&AD and The One Show.”

Wunderman Thompson's Own Pick:

Campaign: Fried Chicken Incense Stick
Brand: KFC
Cannes category: PR, Social & Influencer, Brand Experience & Activation
Creative making the pick: SheungYan Lo, APAC chief creative officer

"In Chinese culture, burning incense sticks to ancestors has been a big part of the rituals. And when it comes to celebrating traditional festivals or memorizing special occasions in one’s own kinship, chicken is one of the typical offerings on the table. But I could never imagine you could do these two things in one go, until I saw this idea from KFC in Thailand.

Some of the people might think that it is a total disrespect. But if you want the new generation to rethink their relationship with their roots and their ancestors, repeating long-winded reasonings will only distance young people further. KFC boldly takes the lead to resolve the family issue for the customers in CNY, the most festive season for Thai Chinese. It has successfully put the issue and their fried chicken on the table. Thank you for the chicken-flavored incense sticks. Thai Chinese families have never enjoyed a more harmonious celebration among generations (in this world or not) for a long time.