In this week’s Now Go Create podcast, I sat down with ex-PepsiCo marketer and brand strategist Arif Haq to unpack some of the boldest and most unexpected winners from this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Why does this matter?
Many of us work on briefs that feel uninspiring, dry, or weighed down by constraints. This episode proves that creativity doesn’t depend on having a “cool” brand or unlimited budgets. Instead, the world’s best ideas often come from flipping assumptions, understanding cultural truths, and reframing products or problems in unexpected ways.
Here are some of the key campaigns we discussed – and what they teach us about creativity.
1. The world’s unlikeliest tourism campaign
Campaign: The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes
Organisation: New Zealand Herpes Foundation
This campaign reframed herpes from taboo into national pride by combining humour with cultural insight. Using Kiwi sporting icons, it created a spoof-style destigmatisation course with a leaderboard, encouraging people to engage, learn, and reduce stigma.
Arif noted how the team probably asked themselves:
“What’s the wrong way to do a herpes campaign? Then, what’s the opposite of that?”
This campaign shows how flipping assumptions can break creative deadlocks, especially when combined with bravery and authentic cultural relevance.
2. Turning tickets into opportunities
Campaign: Lucky Yatra
Organisation: Indian Railways
In India, fare dodging is common due to limited gates and checks. The insight behind Lucky Yatra was simple but powerful: while many people avoid buying train tickets, they spend willingly on lottery tickets.
So Indian Railways transformed train tickets into lottery tickets by adding a simple code. This reframed ticket buying from a burden into an opportunity, leading to a 34% increase in sales. It shows how creative problem solving doesn’t always require changing a product – sometimes it just needs a new lens.
Claire reflected on this as an example of related worlds thinking – connecting seemingly unrelated categories (rail travel and lotteries) to spark a solution.
3. Burger King’s cheeky gaming hack
Campaign: Burger to King
Brand: Burger King
Burger King used FIFA gaming to reinforce its underdog, playful brand personality. They noticed that two real FIFA players were called ‘Burger’ and ‘King’. Players who recruited both and completed plays triggering the commentator to say “Burger King” were rewarded with Whoppers.
This idea:
- Reinforced brand consistency while feeling fresh
- Used cultural relevance (gaming) and cheeky humour
- Out-thought competitors like McDonald’s with earned media rather than outspending them
Arif described Burger King’s long-term success as:
“The secret of brand management is to be new and old at the same time.”
4. AXA’s three words that changed lives
Campaign: And Domestic Violence
Brand: AXA Insurance
Domestic violence victims often stay because they cannot afford to leave. AXA added three words – “and domestic violence” – to their mandatory home insurance clauses in France, enabling victims to claim support and find safety. This affected over 2.5 million policies.
Claire highlighted how this moved beyond CSR into genuine product innovation with purpose baked in, proving that creativity isn’t just ads or stunts – it can be how you design your services to solve real problems.
5. Rocket’s unifying Super Bowl moment
Campaign: Own the Dream
Brand: Rocket (mortgages and financial products, USA)
Rocket united diverse Americans during the Super Bowl with a brand film featuring John Denver’s ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’. Arif discussed how emotion and music can create a sense of national unity, while Claire noted how it activated audiences to sing along, making them participants rather than passive viewers.
Practical takeaways from this episode
- Flip assumptions – ask yourself “What’s the wrong approach here?” then reverse it.
- Reframe products and problems – train tickets as lottery tickets, insurance as a route to safety (check out the podcast episode on related worlds)
- Root ideas in cultural truth – humour for herpes only worked because it felt authentically Kiwi.
- Balance consistency with freshness – like Burger King does by staying cheeky while finding new executions.
- Use creativity to design services – not just campaigns. Creativity can drive business innovation with purpose.
Creativity thrives when we challenge norms, see constraints as springboards rather than blockers, and immerse ourselves in unexpected worlds. Whether it’s herpes, insurance, or fare dodging, brilliant creative thinking can turn any brief into something talkable, effective, and culturally powerful.
If you want to hear the full conversation and get practical tools for your own work, listen to episode 25 – Herpes, Home Insurance, and Fare Dodging: Creativity That Earns Its Keep here
Want your own Cannes Decoded?
Want to understand what really makes award-winning creativity tick – and how to apply it to your briefs or challenges?
Arif Haq and I are offering Cannes Decoded: a bespoke 90-minute session for your team. We’ll unpack this year’s most powerful campaigns, reveal the creative thinking behind them, and share practical tools to unlock braver, smarter ideas in your work.
If you’d like to:
- Get behind the scenes of Cannes Lions-winning ideas
- Inspire your team with fresh approaches and frameworks
- Learn how to flip assumptions and create talkable, effective campaigns
Then get in touch to book your Cannes Decoded session today.
Email claire@nowgocreate.co.uk to find out more and tailor it for your team’s challenges.