The Coca-Cola company named 2024 Cannes Lions Creative Brand of the Year

The Coca-Cola Company, whose global marketing partner is WPP Open X, has been crowned Cannes Lions 2024 Creative Brand of the Year for the first time in its history. The win follows WPP Open X, led by Ogilvy New York scoring the Print & Publishing Grand Prix earlier in the week for Coca-Cola ‘Recycle Me’, which involved Aussie expat and Ogilvy New York CCO Samira Ansari.

On the opening day of the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Ogilvy brought home its first Grand Prix and four Gold Lions for creative ideas that had an unreasonable impact for some of the agency’s biggest brand partners.

“Recycle Me” for Coca-Cola, created by WPP Open X, led by Ogilvy New York and supported and activated by Ogilvy LATAM, Ogilvy PR and EssenceMediacom, won a Grand Prix in the Print & Publishing category. It is Coca-Cola’s first Cannes Lions Grand Prix in a decade. The campaign unveils a series of powerful images that depict the Coca-Cola logo after a can has been crushed during the recycling process. This telegraphic and impactful visual, with the ‘Recycle Me’ call to action taken right from the side of the can, is designed to put recycling front of mind and encourage the consumer to take positive action after consuming a can of Coke. The campaign also took home a Gold Lion in the Outdoor category.

Says Ansari: ”We believed this was a unique way to celebrate the brand’s iconicity while promoting a key initiative for Coca-Cola: encouraging consumers to recycle their used Coke cans. We are incredibly grateful to our brave clients for supporting and championing creativity in all its forms—even crushed ones.”

Says Vega: ”One of the reasons the Coca-Cola brand is globally recognizable is its distinctive logo and packaging. This concept utilized those strong brand elements, specifically highlighting the ‘Recycle Me’ message found on every can. Typically, a brand’s logo is considered untouchable, so the idea of altering it is bold. However, even after crushing the logo in various ways, it remained identifiable, presenting a unique opportunity.”

The win has assisted WPP being named Cannes Lions Creative Company of the Year for 2024, with Ogilvy taking home Creative Network of the Year.

WPP agencies collected a total of 160 Lions, including a Titanium, 6 Grand Prix, 27 Gold, 43 Silver and 83 Bronze Lions, with winners representing 41 different countries.

The news follows the announcement in May this year that Unilever, one of WPP’s biggest clients, was named Creative Marketer of the Year for 2024.

The Creative Company of the Year award is given to the company which earned the most points across its agencies.

During June’s Cannes Lions Festival, Ogilvy’s DAVID received a Titanium Lion and Grand Prix for JCDecaux’s Meet Marina Prieto, while WPP Open X led by Ogilvy won a Grand Prix for Coca-Cola’s Recycle Me and Ogilvy PR (Onefluence) also collected a Grand Prix for CeraVe’s Michael CeraVe.

VML’s Scholz & Friends won a Grand Prix for The 100^th Edition for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as did Grey for Sol Cement’s Sightwalks and Ogilvy and Mindshare for Vaseline’s Transition Body Lotion. AKQA’s Pink Chip for DEGIRO and UN Women picked up no less than three Gold and two Silver Lions, capping a performance that saw wins from every WPP network across every discipline.

WPP’s media agencies EssenceMediacom, Mindshare and Wavemaker had a very strong festival, with GroupM ending the week as the industry’s leading media group with 90 Lions, up from 59 last year.

Says Mark Read, CEO of WPP: “I am absolutely thrilled for our clients, people and agencies whose brilliant work these awards recognise. To win Creative Company of the Year for WPP and Network of the Year for Ogilvy, with The Coca-Cola Company being named Creative Brand of the Year for the first time in its history, is a remarkable achievement. Thank you to everyone who has made this such a successful Cannes Lions for WPP and our fantastic clients.”

Says Rob Reilly, chief creative officer of WPP: “Creative excellence comes down to three things – people, process and passion. But to do it at scale takes an unwavering partnership between our brilliant agencies and our brave brand partners. Thank you all for believing in the transformational power of creativity.”

Devika Bulchandani, global CEO, Ogilvy: “It was inspiring to see so many agencies with unbelievable work this week. Our industry moves forward when we all come together to celebrate and champion the undeniable impact that creativity can have on our clients’ businesses and the communities we live in. I’m extremely proud of Ogilvy’s performance, but I am also incredibly gratified that collectively as an industry we proved that creativity always wins.”