Inside the Jury Room at Cannes Lions: New Creative eCommerce Category

What an incredible honor to be asked to serve as a juror for Cannes Lions! I am excited about the small role I played in helping to define this emerging Creative eCommerce category. It was an absolute privilege to literally be locked in a room with heroes who have informed my career and to be part of the process to select winners of the most coveted award within our industry.

As a new category, the Creative eCommerce jury team saw 263 pieces – a small number of entrants compared to other well established categories. We reviewed each one for its innovation, user experience, engagement and commercial success, essentially asking one critical question: does the work drive business forward?

A few works I personally love, in part because of the huge challenge these brands face in terms of generating more growth and because I think that these will also spark ideas for future creative eCommerce campaigns.

The Oreo Music Box

The eCommerce challenge for Oreo is that consumers aren’t buying cookies online. This bite of innovation by VML Shanghai for Mondelez International connects the cookie of our childhood to a whimsical experience with music by hacking the search engine.

The music box itself is imaginative and fun: by placing an Oreo on the turntable, a song begins to play. Each bite transforms the cookie into a different size and shape, giving consumers a new musical experience each time the cookie is placed back on the turntable. But as we discussed this submission, it was the strategy of hacking the search engine that placed this special product under online searches for “electronics” and “music” that earned it a place on the shortlist. That strategy generates excitement, huge online sales and is one that represents a next big idea in eCommerce – tailoring the way your product gets in front of your target demographics in a creative way.

McDonald’s Bitecoins

In a move to transform consumers’ ingrained purchasing habits, McDonald’s Sao Paolo’s entry focuses on creating a gaming experience that rewards loyalty. More than coupons and more than traditional loyalty programs, McDonalds caught on to the emerging cryptocurrency explosion and started offering "Bitecoin's" as a reward to retain customers through Instagram, sponsored ads and GPS tags.

Want to earn more coins? Eat more McDonald’s. Want to challenge other players? Keep your eyes on the posts in your social media feed and the changing values of the coins. This experience taps into the cultural moment of cryptocurrency and seeks to expand consumers’ interaction as well as spending habits ... earning McDonald’s a place on the Shortlist. Expect to see this campaign launch in the US next.

Nike AR Jordan

Get your kicks: R/GA’s AR experience highlights the legendary Michael Jordan through a Snapchat activated immersive experience that sees Jordan fly across the court and marks the 30 year anniversary of his 1988 Slam Dunk Contest win, the scene of the iconic Free Throw Line Dunk. Introducing a new generation to his skills on court in a way that would connect with basketball’s teenage fans, users get to fly right along with him and shop the shoe.

Particularly innovative, this experience relies upon multiplatform partnerships to allow users to shop Air Jordan III, a variation of the very same sneaker that Jordan wore in ’88. The shoe is then delivered to their home within two hours of purchase, a clever move considering the audience and one that speaks to a multifaceted idea all marketers should want to bring to their clients. Thanks to Snapchat delivering the social experience, Shopify serving as the transaction platform and Darkstore providing fulfillment services, sneakerheads emptied the online shelves in a record 23 minutes and wildly outperformed Snapchat’s engagement expectations.

Xbox Design Lab Originals: The Fanchise Model

The Grand Prix winner in the Creative eCommerce category brought in a 350% increase in controller sales for Microsoft by creating a space to allow users to design and sell their own customized controllers from within the website.

Users’ designs can be self-marketed across platforms and even used to raise funds for charitable causes. In turn the user generated designs became the content for a traditional media campaign. McCann London checked all the boxes in creating a pure end-to-end creative eCommerce solution. As the jury, we wanted to award entrants who had an eCommerce strategy that sat right at the point where technology and culture intersect.

Feeling Inspired Yet?

What stole the show was how the creative use of technology out performed pretty packaging every time. In the juror room we asked: How does it inspire? How successful are the strategies it used? How does it drive business forward? Does it build upon cultural moments or does it create them?

Thank you to the 2018 eCommerce Jury: Daniel Bonner, Daniel Burdett, Eric Jannon, Minah Kim, Cheelip Ong, Andrea Siqueira, Gemma Spence, Fadi Shuman and Jury President Nick Law. Special thanks to Dakota Ariel and the team at Cannes Lions.