In the early days of the digital revolution sustainability was perceived to be less of a priority. Now that sustainability transformation has, in a way, replaced digital transformation as the primary shift businesses are evolving to enable, purpose-driven brands are pivoting to a ‘digital for good’ mindset. Cannes Lions celebrated a great example of ‘digital for good’ this year, Lay’s ‘Smart Farm’, which was awarded a Bronze Lions in Innovation. Extreme and unpredictable weather conditions brought to bear by climate change are posing a threat to Indian agriculture, forcing farmers to inspect crops daily – an impossible task. As a contracting partner to over 27,000 farms in India Lay’s created a platform that uses satellite imagery, 4 years of data from 3,000 hectares of land and AI to deliver to farmers an early warning sign application they can easily consult on their mobile phones. It’s estimated that the solution reduced crop pandemic threats by 80%.

For instance, 37% of Gen Zers associate “addressing mental health” to sustainability, while only 15% of Boomers do so. Cannes Lions is an opportunity for marketers to come together and not only celebrate the creative work that will hopefully inspire new, more sustainable consumer behaviors, but also look inwards and evaluate their own practices within the marketing and advertising supply chain in light of this new, broader definition of the industry’s sustainability mandate. As it was remarked in a dentsu Beach House session titled ‘Growth through Good: How Sustainable Business Practices Drive Growth’, sustainability is the new digital, in the sense that it’s the most important innovation opportunity at hand for brands and society today. The three core pillars of this wider sustainability mandate (and opportunity) that emerged from various discussions among industry leaders this week are: the need to shape a more environmentally sustainable world, the need to empower the rise of a more fair and open society, and the need to use the power of digital technologies for good.

When it comes to shaping a more sustainable world by engendering behaviors that preserve and regenerate our planet’s natural resources, a dentsu and Kantar research report focused on consumers in Asia Pacific found that while 98% of respondent said they are prepared to take action to live a more sustainable lifestyle, only 17% of them said they are actively changing their behaviors accordingly. It’s apparent that brands’ considerable sphere of influence needs to be used to drive behavior changes that close this intention-to-action gap that exist among consumers. Solar Impulse’s ‘Pret-a-Voter’, which was awarded Gold Lions in both the Print & Publishing and in the Direct categories, is a great example of closing this gap. This French NGO observed that, while there is no shortage of debate around the criticality of environmental sustainability among politicians, the legislative process is so cumbersome that seldom sufficient action is taken in time to address these issues. They thus produced a book where 50 environmental solutions were drafted as laws ready to be voted upon in the National Assembly and sent it to all its 577 members. Some of these resolutions have already been approved and others are in the Assembly’s forthcoming agenda.​

Inequities in society exacerbate the crises the population faces at both a local and global level, including the environmental crisis. Dentsu and Nikkei inc. – the largest financial newspaper in the world - partnered with Harvard, Oxford, and Tokyo University to develop a transformative new way to measure a country’s growth, the Well-Being Index (GDW), taking into account indicators like employment, wages, work-life balance, housing, health, education, social connections, the natural environment, and the ease of raising children.  The development of a more fair and open society requires a measurement tool to benchmark against and the GDW, used alongside the GDP, can help governments and companies make informed decisions while structuring their investments and policies. The Well-Being Index project also shows just how much an ecosystem approach is required to make significant strides in the sustainability agenda. The ’Well-Being Index’ was awarded a Gold Lions in the Business Transformation category.

On the other hand, Hungerstation’s ‘The Subconscious Order’ uses eye-tracking and AI to enable this mobile app to create a food order based on our subconscious mind, which is capable of processing things 500,000 times faster than our conscious mind. The goal is to spare consumers choice overload and losing as many as 132 hours per year scrolling through various restaurant menus. ‘The Subconscious Order’ was awarded the Grand Prix in Creative Commerce.