Rethink named #3 Independent Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions

Cannes was a little different this year, with the festival and awards taking place virtually and the 2020 and 2021 competitions running parallel. But what a week it’s been! 

Rethink was named the #3 independent Agency of the Year, following 11 Cannes Lions, including a Gold Lion for the agency. 

The awarded work comes from all three offices and six different clients, and was the most Lion trophies awarded to a Canadian agency (as well as a Rethink record tally). 

The Gold Lion was awarded the Kraft Heinz Pour Perfectly in Promotional Item Design.

To help Canadians with an age old problem, we changed the iconic Heinz Ketchup glass bottle. The iconic label is repositioned at an angle of exactly 31°—the angle that best allows the ketchup to pour easily. 

More wins for Kraft Heinz came with a Silver Experience & Activation Lion in Branded Games, and Bronzes in Design Lions Promotional Items and Experience & Activation Lion Food & Drink. 

Famous for their slow pouring ketchup, offered what might be the slowest puzzle ever made—570 pieces all in identical Heinz Ketchup red.

A Silver PR Lion was awarded to Molson Canadian’s Make It Canadian in the Sponsorship & Brand Partnership category.

East West Market’s Embarrassing Plastic Bags picked up a Silver Media Lion in Use of Ambient Media and a Bronze Design Lion in the Point of Sale category. 

In an effort to help customers think twice about absentmindedly taking a single-use bag we created new bags that look like they come from other, more embarrassing stores.

A Bronze was awarded in Media Lions to the Fondation Emergence Brutal Postings in the Use of Print category. 

For the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, we took homophobic and transphobic posts from social media feeds and displayed them in the streets to confront people. Every 23 seconds, a homophobic or transphobic comment is posted online, and nobody cares. Because our reflex is to ignore those comments online, we made them unignorable.

Rethink also took home a number of Lions for Radio & Audio. 

IKEA’s Won’t wake the baby ad’s won Bronze in Native Advertising. With parents using white noise playlists on Spotify to help their baby sleep, the last thing they want to hear is a loud ad. So we made quiet, shushy ads that wouldn’t wake the baby. And for parents who were still awake we had some gently whispered offers that would help them get back to sleep.

Over The Bridge’s Lost Tapes of the 27 Club won a Silver in NonProfit and a Bronze in Use of Audio. Using artificial intelligence we analyzed the audio data from iconic 27 club members to identify specific patterns in their riffs, rhythms, melodies and lyrics, which we then used to produce entirely original music. Music that could have existed had they gotten the mental health support they needed.