Created in partnership with IMPACT BBDO, the campaign transformed the UAE’s presence at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity into an open invitation for creatives, entrepreneurs, and innovators whose boldest concepts may have been rejected elsewhere. Rather than promoting a destination, the campaign promoted an environment where ambitious ideas could find the opportunity to become reality.

For the third consecutive year, the UAE established a strong presence across Cannes through a series of strategically placed out-of-home installations. Positioned around the Palais des Festivals and along the Croisette, the billboards addressed one of the advertising industry’s most familiar experiences: seeing promising ideas dismissed before they have the chance to be realised.

The campaign featured striking headlines including “The Ideas They Reject, We Build,” “The Idea Wasn’t Wrong. The Room Was,” and “Don’t Reduce the Idea. Change the Place.” Together, the messages reinforced the UAE’s long-running “Impossible is Possible” positioning while presenting the country as a place designed to support experimentation, innovation, and execution.

According to Khaled AlShehhi, Executive Director of Marketing and Communication at the UAE Government Media Office, the campaign drew inspiration from an experience shared by many creative professionals.

“Every creative professional understands what it feels like to have an idea questioned or dismissed,” he said. “Some concepts fail because they are not ready, but others simply arrive before the people evaluating them are prepared to embrace them. Our message is an invitation to those ideas that still deserve the opportunity to become reality.”

The campaign extended well beyond traditional billboards. Developed with IMPACT BBDO, it appeared across large-format outdoor advertising, digital screens, building wraps, and indoor media placements throughout the festival. Its visibility across key Cannes locations helped make the installations part of conversations taking place both inside and outside the official festival programme.

The campaign also generated significant engagement on social media, where delegates frequently photographed and shared the installations, helping the message reach audiences beyond Cannes itself.

Ali Rez, Regional Chief Creative Officer for IMPACT BBDO group of companies, said the work reflected the country’s broader ambition.

“The campaign represents a nation that believes bold thinking deserves bold action,” he said. “It’s an invitation to creators looking for a place where ambitious ideas have the opportunity to be realised.”

With this year’s Cannes presence, the UAE once again used one of the creative industry’s biggest stages to present itself not simply as a destination, but as a partner for ambitious thinkers. By focusing on ideas that never made it beyond the pitch room, the campaign challenged creatives to consider a different perspective: perhaps the idea was never the problem. Perhaps it was the place where it was presented.

This campaign is about:
UAE Government Media Office, UAE Cannes Lions Campaign, Cannes Lions 2026, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, IMPACT BBDO, Outdoor Advertising, OOH Campaign, Creative Billboards, Brand Campaign, Innovation, Advertising, Creative Industry, Marketing Campaign.

Individuals around the world have had a lot to contend with in 2020 – between wildfires in Australia and western parts of the U.S., the prevalence of “murder hornets” in B.C., and of course, the global COVID-19 pandemic, and it hasn’t been a great year, to put it mildly.

The unpredictability of 2020, and life in general, was the central insight that led to the development of Mosaic Life Insurance’s “Protect yourself from 2020″ campaign, which aims to get Canadians talking about, and considering, purchasing life insurance.

The campaign also looks to create awareness for Mosaic, which is a part of legacy insurer First Canadian Insurance and was launched just over a year ago. Created by agency Conflict, Protect yourself from 2020 features OOH ads in markets like Toronto and Edmonton, as well as nationally-run digital ad units, with facetious headlines like “Hopefully the year ends before you do” and “A zombie apocalypse wouldn’t surprise us.”

Credits
Advertising Agency: Conflict, Toronto, Canada

This campaign is about:
Mosaic Life Insurance, Print Advertising, Creative Ads, Creative Billboards, OOH, Best Insurance Ads, Insurance Campaigns, Best life insurance ads, Protect yourself from 2020

Jockey brands its underwear as ideal for all male body types and not just for ripped blokes. In an interview with NZ Herald, Will Radford, Jockey’s category and marketing manager for Australasia said: “What we’ve done with the imagery of Dan Carter and the All Blacks is aspirational… The reality though is most guys don’t look quite like that so bringing in Will is great because he’s a typical Kiwi bloke which is exactly what we were after.” Featuring Hall, who is well known from shows such as Shortland St. is a smart move by Jockey in their second year of collaboration for creative TV ads with the All Blacks.

The campaign was shot at One Tree Hill College’s gym and is all set to include digital advertising, ad shells and in-mall creative billboards advertising apart from point-of-sale advertising. Radford went on to state, “We sell underwear for everyone and we make underwear for everyone to feel comfortable in.” Drawing inspiration from this, the campaign aims at men of all shapes and sizes and focuses of the essence of Jockey’s campaign – underwear for the ‘Real Man’.

Behind the scenes at the All Blacks Jockey shootAll changes saved.

All colour – Jockey | Behind the scenes ‘Real Man’ campaign

Jockey Behind the Scenes at New Zealand Fashion Week with the All Blacks & All Blacks Sevens

Campaign Name: Real man
Brand Name: Jockey