In the 1940s, a group of advertisers from the Screen Advertising World Association wanted their advertising films to be recognized in the same way that traditional films are recognized at the Cannes Film Festival.

So, they created their own festival, known as the International Advertising Film Festival at the time. The event has evolved to celebrate creative advertising from all over the world.

The 73rd annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity took place in Cannes, France from June 22-26. There were 20,050 submissions from 92 countries.

One of these submissions was the “Heinz Dipper Project,” a marketing campaign from Kraft Heinz featuring a French fry holder with a built-in Heinz Ketchup label shaped pop-out container to hold sauce for dipping.

This innovative branded merchandise campaign, which received Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions awards, came to fruition with the help of TPS Promotions & Incentives, PPAI 100’s No. 57 distributor.

TPS Promotions was approached by Kraft Heinz and tasked with creating the “Dipper” from scratch. The food and beverage conglomerate, along with its partnering global agency Rethink, joined TPS on the journey of taking an initial paper stock French fry container prototype and evolving it over the next five months, explains David MacMurdo, director of sales at TPS.

“We produced several prototypes along the way, only to come to what we have today in the Heinz Dipper,” MacMurdo tells PPAI Media.

Global Satisfaction

Although the Heinz Dipper is a “Made in Canada” product, its reach extends far beyond North America.

The product has launched in multiple countries, and there are plans for even more expansion. “Over 450,000 Dippers have been produced and shipped globally since the target launch date,” MacMurdo says. “Production continues to ramp up for distribution to new and existing countries to the program.”

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In addition to going viral on social media, the Dipper even caught the eye of late-night talk show host Seth Meyers, who poked fun at the product during his monologue. The Dipper’s popularity illustrates how creative reimagining of an item that’s been a staple for over a century can garner buzz and attain newfound relevancy.

Over 450,000 Dippers have been produced and shipped globally since the target launch date.”

David MacMurdo

Director of Sales, TPS Promotions & Incentives

Other big winners at the Cannes Lions include adidas and Columbia Sportswear, both receiving Grand Prix awards.

Adidas won an Innovation Grand Prix for its “Supernova Adaptive” campaign representing the shoes of the same name designed specifically for athletes with disabilities. The campaign highlighted adidas’ decision to create a new shoe from the ground up rather than adapting previous designs to fit different needs.

Columbia Sportswear won a Brand Experience and Activation Grand Prix for its unique ad campaign targeting flat earthers. The campaign encouraged flat earthers to try and find the edge of the earth while wearing Columbia Sportswear gear. This provocative ad starred Columbia Sportswear’s CEO Tim Boyle.

Luxury fashion brand Moncler received the Luxury Grand Prix for its “Warmer Together” campaign featuring Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, sporting Moncler outerwear, in their first ad together.