The 2022 advertising awards for the general public: pop & fun, magic, commitment
The current edition reveals a change: while, in line with 2020 and 2021, the French expect brands to engage with the issues that concern them (environment, society, purchasing power, etc.), the creative tone is different. They like a different kind of empathy, a lighter, more relaxed, humorous, or poetic connection with brands. The winners of our awards were able to respond to the two motivations activated by the multiple crises we are experiencing: the need for security and control, and the desire to indulge and escape from everyday life.
Category: outdoor communication, good humour, pop spirit, light-heartedness, humour
N°1 - Orangina
Orangina (soft drink) is number one with a campaign that capitalises on the iconic little bottle designed by Jean-Claude Beto and the orange and blue visual codes created in 1953 by Bernard Villemot, which make for immediate memorisation and attribution. The play on words ("Boire la vie en orange", a reference to "Voir la vie en rose"), the pop and sparkling tone of the posters, and the comic strip treatment of Orangina's emblematic shake, all convey a positive and dynamic message that appeals to consumers.
N°2 - McDonald's
Number two is the Mc Quesadillas – McDonald's campaign. Following the same logic – majestic product visuals, graphic treatment, setting in both urban and natural environments, extremely colourful with strong contrasts – the posters are particularly appealing to Gen Z. Mc Quesadillas works all the better because the campaign is positioned in synergy with the advertising film.
N°3 - Picard
Picard (frozen food) is back in the Palmarès de la Pub 2022, at number three. The reasons for this excellent ranking are the same: excellent product visibility, highly realistic photographs that are clearly appetising, catchphrases that immediately create a playful relationship ("Chocolate isn't only to be found in gardens"), emphasising the link in the visuals as well as in the catchphrases ("A Sunday that smells of reunion"), pleasure ("Save the best for last") and the brand's creativity ("Traditions are good, but so is reinventing them").
N°4 - Kentucky Fried Chicken
Number four is Kentucky Fried Chicken (fast food restaurants), with a campaign that likens its specialty chickens to the jets of the Patrouille de France (French Airforce’s acrobatics squadron) in their spectacular aerial displays. Humour, irony and even provocation ("The best that France has to offer") are used to convey a message of quality, with KFC offering 100% Made In France chicken fillets in its burgers and wraps from May 2022. This approach, talking about a serious subject without taking itself too seriously, is particularly popular with consumers.
N°5 - DisneyLand Paris
DisneyLand Paris is in fifth place for its posters celebrating the park's 30th anniversary, which highlight the extraordinary experiences enjoyed by visitors to the theme park over the last 30 years. The expressions of the children, whose amazed eyes are shown on the posters, testify that they are experiencing something so fantastic that they "will still remember it thirty years from now", as the campaign headline states.
As we can see, most of the winners in this 2022 vintage of outdoor advertising have chosen to use direct messages in a pop, colourful and dynamic spirit, with a certain carefree attitude and humour for the most part. Even for CSR messages, these principles of clarity and a quirky tone remain valid; without making consumers feel guilty, they make it easier for them to act, supported by the brands in a virtuous approach. In all cases, the French preferred speeches delivered with good humour and joie de vivre, two antidotes to a world in crisis.
Film category: making people laugh, making them dream, transforming everyday life, providing solutions, not teaching lessons
The trifecta of French people's favourite advertising films shows that they expect maximum connivance from brands, in a comic vein for number one, a spectacular vein for number two, and an enchanting vein for number three.
N°1 - Hépar
Number one is Hépar (bottled water), which ticks all the right boxes for a campaign (attribution, appeal, clarity, relevance). Ten years after the "Feu d'Artifice" film and six years after "La Fusée", Agence Marcel continues to surf on a metaphor that is both offbeat and obvious, with a Brazilian Carnival float and overexcited dancers, dressed in the brand's yellow and blue codes, emerging from a tunnel to the sound of the brand's music revisited in samba. This animation of the signature, "The joy of a good bowel movement", is even more understandable given that a study carried out by Ipsos revealed that one in five French people suffer from constipation. The no-holds-barred, even transgressive humour on this somewhat taboo subject helps to play it down, with the connivance with consumers working to the full, while at the same time making Hépar mineral water the obvious solution to transit problems.
N°2 - DisneyLand Paris
At number two is DisneyLand Paris for its Marvel Avengers Campus campaign, which looks like a trailer. A father and daughter are strolling through the park when Iron Man appears in the sky and lands in front of Avengers Assemble. Spider Man is not to be outdone, climbing onto the Worldwide Engineering Brigade premises and immobilising spider bots with his web. Black Widow, Black Panther and Captain America also feature in the cast. The film offers a high-quality experience in which fictional characters and visitors come together to inspire audiences to discover this new Marvel universe, which opened its doors last July. DisneyLand Paris is clearly identified as the actor in this creative experience, with epic, interactive adventures that transform everyday life.
N°3 - Dior
Number three is Dior. The film Noël 2022 takes place at the Château de La Colle Noire, owned by Christian Dior in the Var hinterland from 1950 until his death. It evokes the magic and mystery of the night rather than the usual image of a festive Christmas gathering for families: the castle appears, nocturnal and glittering, in a silence pierced by a hooting, an atmosphere that would have pleased Jean Cocteau. We move from black to gold or a combination of the two with the appearance of Anya Taylor-Joy at midnight and from silence to the voice of Dame Shirley Bassey singing Where Do I Begin.
Dressed in black, the characters exchange gifts and dance slowly; the enchantment develops its charm with the appearance of snow in the dining room, an owl and a white wolf, and the disappearance of Anya Taylor-Joy who closes the doors of the castle under the starry vault. The enchantment includes the iconic products, "J'Adore", "Miss Dior", "Rouge Dior", and the "Constellation" codes of the luxury brand. This approach, which is both mystical and dreamlike, dark and sunny, has won over the French because it works on powerful archetypes and opens up the world of Dior.
N°4 - Tourtel Twist
Tourtel Twist (alcohol-free beer)'s relaxed humour earned it fourth place in the Ipsos 2022 awards. Two men in a pedalo shaped like a green duck are chasing other waterfowl from the same family. Because they're going to "catch up with the pack" – a reference to the Tour de France, a period when the campaign is widely publicised – the two friends clink their bottles with pleasure, as the tagline, "Any excuse is a good reason to drink", invites them to do. The good-natured tone, the simplicity of the situation, the naturalness of the protagonists, all work together to build a brand image that is friendly, close to people, positive, and a world in which people don't take it too far.
N°5 - Carrefour
Number five, Carrefour (supermarkets) is also making the most of proximity and complicity by bringing together the company's employees, in this case Camille, a supervisor, and consumers, a family happily playing with a large cardboard house from the "Les jouets géants" collection for the "Les Incroyables" range. In just a few seconds, the campaign conveys a maximum number of messages: low price (€10), CSR commitment (recyclability), creative and stimulating play (colouring, assembling), made in France, collaboration ("Inspired by you - Created by us"). The film shows how easy it is for customers to have fun together and enjoy themselves while being involved in the brand's economic, ecological, and social approach.
What most of the films in these 2022 awards have in common is the empathy that brands express for the French, through relevant situations, resonant speeches, and concrete solutions. What appeals is the idea of having an experience with the brand, whether it's quirky (Hépar), extraordinary and dreamlike (Dior, Guerlain), epic (DisneyLand Paris), relaxed (Tourtel Twist, Grand Frais), eco-responsible and family-friendly (Carrefour), or socially committed (Leclerc, Groupama).
Table of content
- An introduction to Flair France 2023: The era of polycrisis?
- The secrets of happiness
- Is "local" the new magic word?
- The 2022 advertising awards for the general public
- New forms of mobility
- Why is luxury outpacing inflation?
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