Creativity for business growth
Unveiling 2023's Creative Marketer of the Year — plus new ways for Marketers to get involved with the Cannes Lions Festival 2023
Discover what award-winning creative effectiveness looks like
Cannes Lions honours AB InBev with 2023 Creative Marketer of the Year
The world’s leading brewer is awarded for a second consecutive year – the only brand to achieve this in the history of the Festival. The award recognises AB InBev’s sustained creative excellence that has driven sustainable business growth.
Having demonstrated how they embedded creativity at the heart of their business, the Award recognises how AB InBev’s sustained creative excellence went on to drive enduring business growth – as well as their body of Lion-winning work amassed over a sustained period of time, and reputation for producing brave and innovative creative solutions.
Their published business results show that AB InBev has achieved an all-time high in sales volume, and brand power, in 2022. The evidence is clear: creativity drives business results.
How AB InBev got there
In 2018, AB InBev embarked on a journey to develop a creative excellence programme — setting a five year strategic goal to improve their creative marketing capabilities and drive organic revenue. This programme saw them introduce an embedded, sustainable system and culture that put creative problem solving at the centre of their business – leading to organic growth and improved creative and financial performance.
A winning formula
In the 2022 Awards, AB InBev won an outstanding 49 Lions across 10 brands from 7 countries. They won the Grand Prix in the Creative Effectiveness Lions – the award that recognises effective strategy rooted in creativity that drives sustainable business impact over time. ‘Contract for Change’ was said by Jury President Raja Rajamannar to go “above and beyond – it is disruptive, game-changing and has impact lasting into the future”.
"It is a testament to the creativity of our entire marketing organisation and the relentless focus on connecting in meaningful ways with consumers. "
Michel Doukeris
CEO
Anheuser-Busch InBev
The best thinking on effectiveness from around the world. All in one place. Only at the Cannes Lions Festival.
In the 2022 LIONS State of Creativity Study, only 12% of respondents said they felt extremely confident convincing their CFO to invest in creativity. Yet studies repeatedly find that creative marketing is an asset, not a liability, when budgets are under pressure.
Together with our sister brand WARC, we’re proud to have launched Creative Impact - a new stream of content, co-curated especially for the industry, to help you understand tackle, and thrive through some of the biggest challenges facing marketers today.
Running every day across multiple stages at Cannes Lions in June 2023, Creative Impact will act as the premier global forum for creative effectiveness.
We’ll be covering topics like:
Importantly, the emphasis will be as much on the “creative” part of the equation as on “effectiveness” — ensuring you gain true, actionable insight into how the two work together from some of the world’s best case studies.
As well as speaker sessions, the Content Stream features workshops and accelerators — ensuring every delegate can come back equipped with tools and insights they can plug into their own organisations and marketing plans from day one.
Don’t miss your chance to be part of it
A new pass — exclusively for Marketers
New for 2023, the Creative Brand Marketer Pass has been designed especially for marketers to help foster connections and learn from world-class creativity that drives business — during the Festival and all-year-round.
Unlock private screenings, a tailored itinerary, dedicated debriefs and much more.