#CreativeCircle2025: How a thief, a tennis racket, and Cannes reminded me why strategy matters
Tension and timing
A middle-aged man came tearing out the mall at full speed, allegedly fleeing after stealing a tennis racket. Security gave chase, shoppers froze. Some stared and a few laughed. It was chaotic, uncomfortable and deeply memorable.
In advertising, we talk a lot about tension, timing, and tapping into the human condition. That moment was absurd and real and on brand for the kind of work that makes an impact. And as Pete Case, CEO and creative chairman of Ogilvy South Africa, later reminded us in his reflections from judging Creative Strategy at Cannes Lions, real life is the best brief you’ll ever get.
Case said the work that stood out most at Cannes Lions 2025 had the perfect recipe for the kind of absurdism I’d just witnessed: ideas that were grounded in truth, unexpected, and emotionally charged. They didn’t just tell stories. They made you feel something, then proved their value in the real world.
“The work that rose to the top had strong consumer insights, understood the brand position, allowed brands to play in culture, strategise new ambitious work, and gave creatives the space to do great creative work,” said Case.
Strategy that starts with people
Case was the only creative in a room full of strategists during the Cannes Lions judging process — five online sessions, some lasting up to three hours. What stood out to him was clear: the work that really landed was built on solid consumer insight, a clear understanding of the brand, and the ability to play in culture in a meaningful way.
He put it simply: “If it didn’t hit strong metrics and couldn’t prove it, it got pushed out well before the shortlist stage.”
Some of the campaigns Case mentioned were surprising in their simplicity or bold in their ambition — but all of them delivered real, tangible business results. The kind of impact that shifts behaviour. Just like that stolen racket made me want to pick up tennis again, if only to see what kind of racket could inspire such risky, almost gluttonous determination from the thief.
Case said the stellar work shown made him, "regain my love for strategy and the great strategy that allows for creativity to shine."
Some of the work that stood out to him:
AXA’s Three words campaign, which helped domestic violence survivors relocate in emergencies, showed what happens when a brand takes a real risk. The business results followed.
Found in translation by Medalla Light leaned into user-generated content and hyper-local humour — not made to go global, just made to land where it mattered. It earned $15m in media without trying to be for everyone.
Dove’s long term Real beauty campaign, was the Belle of the ball and took home the Grand Prix, it stood out for its consistency over time — from self-esteem education to challenging harmful beauty filters. It was a reminder that long-term thinking still works.
Humanimal for Colombian Tourism stood out because the vast amount of strategic work that went into the campaign.
What these campaigns had in common was that they weren’t afraid to be specific. They understood who they were speaking to and they respected the audience enough to do something real.
Back to the racket
That tennis racket moment is a good example of how the world strategists are creating for is unpredictable, sometimes chaotic, and always full of human complexity. That’s the space creative strategy needs to live in. Not above it but inside it.
Case concluded that advertising must always make an impact in our own communities before we start thinking of awards. “We must make sure we make impact here before caring about Cannes.”
