Clash of Clans’ Fake Game History Scores 2 Entertainment Grand Prix at Cannes

CANNES, France—Clash of Clans’ campaign to build a fake lore around the mobile game took home two Grand Prix in the entertainment categories at Cannes Lions today.

“Clash From the Past,” created by agency Wieden+Kennedy Portland, won the top prizes in both the Entertainment Lions and Entertainment Lions for Gaming–the latter of which is an inaugural category at Cannes this year. 

As Clash of Clans prepared to mark its 10^th anniversary last year, the team realized the game didn’t have much lore or history that typically appeals to players’ imaginations. So it decided to trick the internet by celebrating its 40^th anniversary instead. 

The campaign went so far as to create three earlier versions of the game that would have existed in past decades, including a 1980s-style arcade platform, and to “reissue” nostalgic branded projects such as a Clash of Clans cereal, which sold out in stores. Its made-up history, chronicled in a mockumentary, involved a fallout among the game’s fictional founders­–one of whom even hosted a Reddit AMA. 

The Grand Prix winner “tapped into a universal truth about gaming: players don’t just love the games, they love the whole universe around them,” said Entertainment Lions for Gaming jury president Francine Li, who is global head of marketing at Riot Games. “It turned the traditional anniversary celebration on its head.”

Entertainment Lions jury president Brent Anderson, who is global chief creative officer of TBWA\Media Arts Lab, added that Clash of Clans’ work was “a masterclass in community building and community feeding, in understanding and giving the audience exactly what it wants.” 

“I don’t think the aim [of the campaign] was to make a community believe something, but it was definitely about making a community feel something,” he said. 

Gold winners – Entertainment Lions

• Nike | “Nike FC Presents the Footballverse: by Wieden+Kennedy Portland (U.S.)
• Abaad Resource Center for Gender Equality | “Dirty Laundry” by Leo Burnette Beirut (Lebanon)
• Duolingo | “High Valyrian Lessons” by Duolingo Pitssburgh (U.S.) 
• Skittles | “Apologize the Rainbow” by DDB Chicago (U.S.)
• Noblex / Paramount+ | “The CEO” by GUT Buenos Aires (Argentina) 

Gold winners – Entertainment Lions for Gaming

• Greenpeace | “Los Santos +3 Degrees Celsius” by VMLY&R São Paulo (Brazil) 
• Zikaron Baslon | “Fighting to Remember” by McCann Tel Aviv (Israel)
• EA Sports & Apple | “Fifa 23 x Ted Lasso” by Apple and EA Sports (U.S.)

Entertainment Lions for Music

Entertainment Lions for Music is one of the few categories allowed to give two Grand Prix, and it took that option this year by awarding Apple and British singer-songwriter Michael Kiwanuka. 

Apple’s “The Greatest,” released last year to demonstrate the tech company’s accessibility features with a joyous, inclusive cast, won the first Grand Prix.

Jury president Danielle Hinde, owner and executive producer of Doomsday Entertainment, said it was a “unanimous decision” among jurors to award the prize to Apple.

“[The Greatest] embodied empowerment and celebrated diversity and inclusion–but not in a way that felt exploitative or just ticked a box,” she said. “Also, their use of integrating accessibility features, which was so seamless, is something a lot of brands can learn from.”

The second Grand Prix in Entertainment for Music went to Kiwanuka’s music video “Beautiful Life,” which makes an “important statement about social media and how we’ve all become desensitized to horrible imagery … it’s a visceral gut punch,” said Hinde, who also praised the piece for “flawless craft and beautiful filmmaking.” 

[Trigger warning: The following video contains disturbing scenes of violence.]

Gold winners – Entertainment Lions for Music

• I Am Other | Pharrell, 21 Savage and Tyler, the Creator – “Cash In Cash Out” | “I Am Other” by Electric Theatre Collective and Division Paris (U.K., U.S.)
• Apple Music | “Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show – Rihanna” by Apple (U.S.)
• TikTok | “Rosalia Motomami Live Experience on TikTok” by TikTok (Brazil, U.S., Spain)

Entertainment Lions for Sport

The Grand Prix in Entertainment Lions for Sport went to Michelob Ultra’s “Dreamcaster,” created by FCB New York. 

The campaign addressed accessibility in sports, specifically basketball–which is fast moving but hard to follow if you can’t see it. “Dreamcaster” enlisted Cameron Black to be the first blind person to commentate on an NBA game on live TV.

To achieve this, Michelob Ultra and FCB used a mix of emerging technology, including creating a haptic language to layer on top of audio and refreshable braille programmed to give in-game statistics. 

Jury president Rob Doubal, the co-president of McCann London and joint CCO of McCann UK, said that the jurors decided unanimously on this winner because it was “innovative, leveraged emerging tech and proved a strong partnership with a brand and sponsor over a few years.”

He added that while diversity and inclusivity have become trending topics in marketing, “Dreamcaster” stood apart for its “intrinsic inclusivity.”

“It resulted in a far superior product, which is a really healthy way forward for our industry,” Doubal said. 

Gold winners – Entertainment Lions for Sport

• Kimberly-Clark Kotex | ‘Lea’ by Ogilvy São Paulo (Brazil)
• Meo | ‘The Forgotten Team’ by Dentsu Creative Lisbon (Portugal)
• Telefonica Movistar | ‘Shout’ by VMLY&R Mexico (Mexico)

Follow all of Adweek’s Cannes Lions coverage here.