A copywriter compares the design categories at the Spikes and Cannes Lions.

Hello, I'm Danjo from Dentsu Inc.'s Creative Planning Division 2. I attended Spikes Asia held in Singapore this September. While I'm a copywriter, this time I'd like to report on what I saw and felt at Spikes from a design perspective, comparing it with Cannes Lions.

Design as Told by the White House Creative Director

First, I'd like to discuss "Designing for the White House." This seminar featured Ashleigh Axios, the White House Creative Director and Digital Strategist, who spoke about design through her own case studies. Held on the Inspiration Stage, the largest seminar venue at this year's Spikes, it was nearly full.

The first example introduced was the night the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in all states, when the White House was lit up in rainbow colors.

 

 

This single visual expressed American citizens' support for the LGBT community. The simple idea of combining two powerful symbols for sensitive issues conveyed the strength of communication without words. At this year's Cannes, companies and organizations that ran campaigns making you think "Did they really go that far?" stood out among the winners. It's equally impressive that this is being done by a large organization like the government. Not only LGBT individuals, but surely others would feel proud too. If I were an American citizen, I'd be a little happy.

They also discussed the online broadcast of the "STATE OF UNION" address. The team led by Ashleigh created the 117 slides displayed on screen during this speech.

 

 

Composed of photographs, graphs, and concise text, the slides explained the speech's content in an accessible way for ordinary citizens who may not be familiar with politics. This approach—not only streaming it online but also making its content understandable to everyone—communicates to the public that President Obama's politics are for all people.

Introducing these examples, Ashleigh stated, "What's crucial in design for brands isn't just beautiful visuals, but having a big concept that positively changes people's lives and society."

This is a crucial point for anyone wanting to engage with design work as a copywriter. If design were merely cool decorations born from an art director or designer's aesthetic sense, copywriters wouldn't be needed on the team. But if design requires a "big concept," then copywriters can certainly be valuable.

Design that communicates philosophy

The award-winning entries also demonstrate that design is not merely about beautiful visuals. "THE TOCHABLE INK" by J. Walter Thompson Bangkok, which won the Grand Prix not only in the Design category but also in the Innovation and Healthcare categories, is an ink developed by Samsung Electronics that enables standard home printers to print tactile Braille.

 

Braille printers are expensive, costing around $150, so many books aren't converted to Braille. While services exist that scan text with a smartphone camera and convert it to speech, this approach has limitations: it doesn't provide spelling information, and there's a clear difference in quality between "hearing" text with your ears and "reading" it by touching it with your hands. Converting text to Braille holds significant meaning. This ink enables anyone to create affordable, three-dimensional braille using only a home printer, a dryer, and a microwave, improving the lives of blind individuals. To explore the key points of this work's appeal, I analyzed the case video myself.

The video is structured into three main parts. The first part addresses the challenge, beginning with blind individuals expressing their dissatisfaction with the current situation. The second part introduces the solution. Here, Samsung's technological prowess is emphasized through scenes like a laboratory with rows of test tubes, staff in white coats, and microscopic views of ink particles swelling. The final part depicts people who found happiness using this ink. Personally, I believe the point that earned high praise this time is that it didn't simply end with "Braille is now easy to print, so it's convenient and makes people happy." Instead, it showed how the ink is used in "medical care, education, and expressions of affection between men and women." It conveyed Samsung's corporate philosophy: that the ability to read text, something we take for granted, is profoundly important to humanity. And that Samsung supports this through technology. The meaning lies not in the technology itself being the ultimate form of richness, but in how technology enriches someone's life.

Comparing Cannes Design and Spikes Design

Placing this year's Spikes and Cannes Grand Prix winners side by side revealed both differences and commonalities in their evaluation criteria. The Cannes Grand Prix went to Panasonic's "Life is electric" – coincidentally, another project from an electronics company. It conveyed the value of electricity by showcasing its charm and beauty through various ways of charging batteries in daily life.

 

Cannes valued the power of design that "makes people think," recognizing its ability to influence human emotions and alter the perceived value of objects. Spikes, on the other hand, selects innovative works that tangibly improve someone's life. This type of social good, like Volvo's "Life Paint" that was a hot topic at last year's Cannes, doesn't just raise awareness about an issue; it conveys the company's philosophy by providing a concrete solution (a product).

"Making people think" and "bringing about change" are different goals, but both represent challenges that create a richer outcome than mere "informing." Rooted in what Ashleigh calls a "big concept," they involve creating something new and convincing as an action of the brand. I believe there is meaning in copywriters participating in the design demanded by our times.