$10,000 on Nothing; What Cannes Juries Want: Monday’s First Things First

This Two-Person Agency Spent $10,000 on Blank Ad Space

We see enough ads each day. The best guess right now is between 4,000 and 10,000 every day. With that in mind, two Halifax creatives wanted to give their city the perfect Christmas gift: blank ads. Everywhere. Billboards, bus shelters, the sides of buses, a full-page newspaper ad, Instagram ads, YouTube pre-roll and Facebook ads. They even snagged a radio ad (although for that one the station wouldn’t let them run dead air).

Read more: The duo powers the agency Wunder—and they explained to Adweek how they executed this simple, but brilliant Christmas campaign.

What 11 Cannes Lions Jury Presidents Want in 2020

Last year’s Grand Prix winners included some classic branding, but the majority of the awarded work attached to causes and purpose. But will that hold up in 2020? We asked 11 jury presidents, including Wyclef Jean and FCB global CCO Susan Credle, for what they’re looking for next year. Several key themes emerged: Inclusion, craft and building business. “I hope we see no scam work–either entered or awarded,” Credle said. “The Lions have increasingly shifted the emphasis of the awards away from unfettered creativity and toward work that drives business.”

Read more: The judges give insight into what will be celebrated during a week where creativity triumphs.

See the World’s Beloved Destinations—After Climate Change

Some of the world’s most beautiful destinations are also some of the most vulnerable. Venice is already sinking into the Adriatic Sea. California’s stunning landscapes are burning from the forests all the way to the beaches. Glaciers are retreating rapidly (leaving Norway’s tourism board to shift its strategy). As part of a new campaign for Greta Thunberg’s Friday For Future group, FF Los Angeles created retro tourism posters to highlight what these famous tourist destinations will look like once climate change strikes.

Read more: FF Los Angeles creative director Chelsea Steiger explains how the agency created the posters.

Product Packaging As We Know It Is About to End

On the topic of sustainability, product packaging is headed toward a revolution. Consumers are demanding less wasteful packaging—activists recommend reducing and reusing is better than recycling. According to survey data from GlobalWebIndex the percentage of shoppers around the world willing to pay more for sustainable/eco-friendly products increased from 49% in 2011 to 57% in 2018. P&G, Coca-Cola and Nestle—some of the world’s largest producers of plastic—have listened and are making changes to their supply chains to cut down waste.

Read more: This deep dive into packaging from new retail reporters Paul Hiebert and Richard Collings walks marketers through how packaging will evolve in the 2020s.

Best of the Rest: Today’s Top News and Insights

Candid Career Advice from 30 Trailblazing Women

Adweek talked with a lot of impressive people this year on its Inside the Brand podcasts. And as we look back on the year, she drew some of the most insightful, practical pieces of advice from conversations she had with 30 different women who are pushing the boundaries in the field.

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