Creative Awards Don’t Build Brands.
At this year's Cannes Lions awards, agencies will win applause and clients will lose effectiveness.
For anyone new here, I’m the founder of Woo Punch, a brand consultancy rooted in evidence-based brand design. I write about the evidence that debunks brand purpose, differentiation, brand love, loyalty marketing, customer personas, color psychology, mission statements, customer engagement, AdTech, and “hustle culture.”
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Agencies Win. Clients lose.
Cannes Lion season is here—where applause matters more than effectiveness, and branding is optional. Where agencies win awards to win new clients, to chase more awards. It’s a system built to impress juries, not grow brands. And it’s shaped how marketers think about what makes advertising work.
For the past two decades, marketers have treated emotional storytelling as the holy grail of advertising. “Make people feel something,” they say. “Or they won’t remember you.” That belief has shaped a generation of campaigns—beautifully shot, cleverly written, widely admired. But admiration isn’t effectiveness.
People don’t often buy because they feel.
They buy because they notice. And remember.
Let’s talk about how that actually happens.
Design is King. Not Emotion.
Robert Heath—one of advertising’s most overlooked researchers—argued that ads are often more effective when processed passively, not actively.
He draws a key distinction:
Active attention is focused, deliberate, effortful.
Passive attention is low-level, automatic—while scrolling, waiting in line, or half-watching TV.
Most ads are encountered passively.
We’re not sitting down to engage. We’re glancing, skimming, zoning out. The most engaged we get is hovering over the “Skip Ad” button.
Advertisers know this. They know attention is rare—so they chase it. Loud visuals. Tear-jerking stories. Shock. Purpose. Twist endings. But in trying to earn attention, they often forget to brand. The logo comes late, if at all. Brand codes are hidden. Consistency is sacrificed for surprise.
They reverse the order. But it should be:
Brand first. Then get noticed.
Because even when attention fails, branding can still work.
But when branding fails, attention is wasted.
Take Volkswagen’s “The Force.”
Adored. Applauded. Awarded.
But many didn’t recall it was for VW.
That’s not an outlier. That’s the Cannes playbook. Emotions take center stage. Branding takes a back seat.
But when distinctive brand assets—colors, logos, characters, jingles—are on screen from start to finish, something different happens. They stick. Quietly, automatically.
Later—at the shelf, in a scroll, in a snap decision—those cues resurface as familiarity.
And familiarity drives choice.
Why Cannes Lions Don’t Hunt.
Cannes celebrates ads that feel like short films: emotional, cinematic, purpose-driven, often politically aligned with the jury.
That’s why brands like Geico never win Lions—despite being some of the most distinctive, consistent, and effective advertisers of the last 20 years.
Cannes rewards work that wins attention—but not necessarily effectiveness.
Most Cannes winners barely ran in the real world.
Many hide any recognizable branding.
Few built memory.
Cannes doesn’t reward growth.
It rewards taste. And virtue signaling.
Creativity Is Not Enough.
Creativity can supercharge a campaign—but only when built on brand fundamentals.
The IPA’s The Long and the Short of It found that creatively awarded campaigns are more effective only when they are:
Well branded
Widely distributed
Consistently run over time
Creativity is a multiplier. Not a substitute.
When campaigns bury logos, ditch fluent devices, or reinvent brand codes—it kills effectiveness.
That’s why “boring” sometimes works better. Not because boring is good—but because boring, well-branded ads often outperform emotional ones that made the wrong tradeoff. Personal injury lawyers in the U.S. have mastered this: terrible ads, unforgettable branding.
Most Ads Won’t Win Awards. But They Can Win Memory.
Brand growth isn’t driven by emotional depth.
It’s driven by mental availability.
And mental availability comes from distinctive design, repeated exposure, and showing up consistently.
Most Cannes winners make a tradeoff: emotion over branding.
That’s why Cannes Lions roar.
But they rarely bring home meat.
can't "yes" this enough!
I recommend following Dale W. Harrison on that other platform for all things marketing and brand effectiveness - he has a few thoughts on this you might find interesting.