INDUSTRY AWARDS

Cannes Lions names Unilever as 2024 Creative Marketer of the Year

By our African Marketing Confederation News Team | 2024

Global FMCG giant honoured for its work that is ‘pushing the creative boundaries consistently and continuously’.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced Unilever as the 2024 Creative Marketer of the Year. The honorary accolade is presented to a marketer that has amassed a body of iconic, Lion-winning work over a sustained period.

Photo: Unilever

Unilever was last honoured as Creative Marketer of the Year in 2010 and in the following years has amassed hundreds of Lions.

At last year’s Cannes Lions, Unilever was awarded Lions across several of its brands including Dove, Hellmann’s, Dirt Is Good (known as Persil, Skip and OMO), Magnum, Vaseline, Marmite and Pot Noodle.

In 2023, Unilever’s largest brand, Dove, was awarded the Media Lions Grand Prix for its ‘#TurnYourBack’ campaign developed by agencies Ogilvy, London and David, Madrid.

Jury President praises Dove campaign

The ‘#TurnYourBack’ campaign was deemed by Media Lions Jury President, Christian Juhl, to be “a timely example of how our industry can use the power of media to protect young people and empower them to reject the pressure they feel to conform to artificial standards and be confident in their true, unfiltered selves”.

Comments Simon Cook, CEO of the Lions: “This award is about recognising and celebrating those brands that are consistently delivering work that raises the bar for creative excellence across the global creative communications industry.

“Unilever is pushing the creative boundaries consistently and continuously across a wide range of brands from different markets, in collaboration with a breadth of agency partners, demonstrating a clear understanding and commitment to the power of creativity as a driver for progress and growth. Congratulations on this much-deserved win.”

The Creative Marketer of the Year award was introduced in 1992. Past recipients include AB InBev, Apple, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Google, Heineken, IKEA, Mars, McDonald’s, Samsung and Microsoft.

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