Creating characters that stick with the audience and manage to get a point across with equal portions of seriousness and humour is not an easy task, but is exactly what Havas has done with its iconic Dr. Rick and Baker Mayfield, and this is far from everything they have put forward for this year’s highly anticipated Cannes Lions Festival. From saving Yellowstone National Park to tackling homelessness of LGBTQ+ folk in New York, this mix is here to exceed anybody’s expectations.
LBB has asked every major agency network to share its best work from the past year ahead of Cannes Lions 2022. Check out all the lists published so far here.
Havas Chicago
Dan Lucey, Chief Creative Officer, Havas New York: “Yellowstone National Park was created over 100 years ago to protect the natural wonders and wildlife of these majestic lands, but once again Yellowstone needs protecting. Between 2012 and 2022 there has been a record increase in park attendance, which is great for park funding but bad for park preservation. So how can they keep the money rolling in but the people away? Enter the Inheritance Pass. It allows people to buy a park pass and gift it to a family member 150 years from now. Not only is this an ingenious solution to, well, a tough problem, it also creates a beautiful connection between generations living and those to come.”
Arnold Worldwide
Dan Lucey, Chief Creative Officer, Havas New York: “At home with Baker Mayfield is yet another brilliant character in the long line of brilliant characters Progressive Insurance has rolled out, I’m looking at you Dr. Rick. The idea that Baker lives in the stadium in which he plays is a hilarious construct that pays off in a series of very funny ads that keep football fans like me entertained between all those commercial breaks.”
Arnold Worldwide
Stéphane Xiberras, Head of the Havas Global Creative Council, Chief Creative Officer & President of BETC: "Dr. Rick has become a real ad star with the Progressive campaigns. What's interesting here with the release of this book (a real book with real pages written on real paper - I know, it's crazy) is the positioning of the insurance world with pop culture (okay, Geicko had opened the way). Another proof of the vivacity, freshness and reactivity on this amazing brand!"
Arnold Worldwide
Jamie King, Partner, Camp + King: "The Dr. Rick work is some of my favorite in the industry. It's a wonderful insight and truths this campaign continues to mine - be it going to the movies, going to a professional sporting event or the DIY store - every truth about becoming your parents is relatable and damn funny."
Havas New York and Havas Germany
Myra Nussbaum, President and Chief Creative Officer, Havas Chicago: “There are over 10 million people suffering from Parkinson’s around the world and while people are doing their best to cure this disease there has been little attention around how to relieve the problems in their everyday lives. The tremors caused by Parkinson’s make even the simplest things like browsing the internet nearly impossible. The creation of Staybl will make using handheld devices more ‘normal’ for Parkinson’s patients. With the amount of hours we spend on our mobiles this app may just be the most important one in the app store today. Hopefully, other brands and organisations follow the strategy of this wonderful idea and create innovative new ways to help people with diseases interact with their world in a more seamless way.”
Havas New York
Sean McBride, Chief Creative Officer, Arnold Worldwide: “The Issue Within The Issue is such a wonderful demonstration of how great design enhances storytelling, and how craft can push an audience to find deeper interest in important subject matters. I’m not surprised at the strong results generated by this work, it made a story that needs to be told utterly unignorable.”