2019 Cannes contenders: 'Earnbassadors' by CHE Proximity Melbourne

Contender: Earnbassadors
Agency: CHE Proximity Melbourne
Client: Velocity 

Nominated by:

Jamal Hamidi, executive creative director, global, DDB Group Hong Kong:

The internet disagrees about who exactly said that context is everything, but whoever said it was 100% bang on. At any other time, the notion of turning customers into ambassadors would elicit a response of “that’s nice, who doesn’t want that?” But what makes this campaign great is that, at a time when our industry automatically turns to social influencers as the solution to every problem, this does the opposite. Instead, this builds fame by recruiting ordinary people, rather than the army of Instagrammers and KOLs everyone seems to be addicted to. Importantly, the brand puts its money where its mouth is, converting its marketing budget into points that it gives away. Expect this campaign to be both cited and copied heavily in the next few years.

Rob Belgiovane, group chief creative officer, BWM Dentsu:

Results do matter and this genius work nailed it big time. All earned media. Phenomenal engagement and a lot of fun for Virgin Airlines. This ticks all the boxes for social engagement. It will win big in Cannes