Welcome to our weekly roundup of the latest and greatest from IAN members. If you’re reading this, odds are you’re gazing wistfully at the latest updates from your Cannesed colleagues and contemporaries. But fear not, entertainment and enlightenment await below.
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Atlantic New York’s Losers’ Dinner
First up, you’ve heard of the theoretical winner’s dinner, but what about everyone else? Atlantic New York, known for its irreverent Cannes stunts, is consoling the 96% of brand entrants that will leave Cannes Lionless with a Losers’ Dinner complete with menu items such as Tartare du Boeuf (“You lost, but you’re not cooked”) and Île Flottante (“Float above your defeat”), and a cheeky promise to turn this year’s humiliation into next year’s headline. After all, they might need a new agency.
Attendees will have the opportunity to sketch out their 2026 objectives and the potential for up to $50K off Atlantic’s agency fees. Find out how to get in.
Xpedition for Google
Xpedition powered Google’s biggest live marketing moment of the year with experiential excellence, virtual programming and personalized moments for attendees. And is that a popsicle?
Raindrop for Insulet
Who says medical advertising has to be formulaic and sterile? Raindrop and Insulet dropped a diabetes campaign that opens with “Nobody likes a prick” and closes with a Marvel superhero, Dyasonic, who has type 1 diabetes and battles the literal embodiment of despair in a full-fledged comic book.
Cactus for North Carolina Education Lottery
In another showdown for the ages, Cactus has three wrestlers working together in the ring to take down “The Mighty Money Bags.”
Stink Studios for Manors Golf Apparel
Stink Studios is abusing golf carts—setting them aflame, smashing them with trains, submerging another in a lake. As one does in the name of advertising.
Familiar Creatures for Virginia Public Media
FC’s “When, Then” campaign for VPM takes the staggering stat that 90% of a child’s brain develops by age five and turns it into something tender. The storybook visuals and soulful film shows how small moments can quietly shape a kid’s future.
BarkleyOKRP for Smoothie King
Smoothie King is the first-ever Official Smoothie of the NYC Marathon, and BarkleyOKRP is prepping the brand for the race while also celebrating Global Running Day by launching a “Run-Thru” window where joggers can literally sprint up and order post-workout treats on foot.
Lafayette American for Yellow Light Detroit Donuts & Coffee
Talk about multisensory experiences! Big idea. Lafayette has launched the world’s largest scratch ’n sniff billboard to give passers-by a whiff of what they’ll get at Yellow Light Detroit Donuts & Coffee.
Planet Propaganda for Duluth Trading Company
Duluth and Planet Propaganda helped dads out-dad all other dads for the brand’s Father’s Day sale.
Yes& for the Muscular Dystrophy Association
The MDA is celebrating its 75th anniversary with “Legacy. Impact. Momentum.”, a campaign that looks back on its long history, courtesy of Yes&.
Kyle wrote about it for MM+M, including showcasing its long-running Labor Day weekend telethon with comedian Jerry Lewis.
Duncan Channon for PG&E
Duncan Channon faced a steep challenge for PG&E, whose customer satisfaction was at close to an all-time low in its 120-year history following the California wildfires, and they overcame it with honesty, putting frontline workers front and center to read out and respond to some of the nastiest customer posts, including Reddit’s “PG&E Sucks” megathread. In other videos for the “Open Lines” campaign, they made videos with real disgruntled customers that also offered clarity and answered questions.
FUSE Create for Hilton
Don’t mind if we do! FUSE put together a “Gourmet on the Green” six-course, chef-prepared meal on the—well, the green, or the course, you might say—at the 9th hole of the RBC Canadian Open.
Giant Spoon for Google Play
Giant Spoon and Google Play cracked open the Diamond District on Roblox, a glitterbomb of loyalty perks where more than a million players have already scrambled through an obby with 4 billion possible layouts.
Mother for Amica Insurance and KFC UK & Ireland
In its work for Amica, Mother channels that feeling of relief you didn’t know you needed when the power goes out and you can’t make that work deadline you’ve been killing yourself to accomplish. We’ve all got to go play sometimes.
And on the sillier side, the agency has helped KFC UK & Ireland drop a gravy-themed luxury merch line.
The Many for NOS Energy
This action-packed, athlete-stuffed, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride of an ad for the beverage brand is sure to get anyone’s heart racing.
Zambezi for Liquid IV
Now this is my Roman Empire. Zambezi and Liquid I.V. turned 4PM into I.V. O’CLOCK, a Roman numeral pun turned national hydration ritual, complete with Times Square robots and Love Island product drops.
Day One Agency for Converse
The agency brand duo teamed up on an actual blind dating show dubbed Chuckmates. Start with Episode 1 here.
Mischief for Tinder
Mischief turned Tinder’s “one relationship every three seconds” stat into a snack attack with RelationChips, which are sweet and spicy chips that last about as long as it takes to fall in like with someone.
Tim Nudd wrote about it over at AdAge.
Pereira O’Dell for TA3
TA3 Swim’s first big campaign, The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Hotness, ditches hustle-core beauty standards for a cinch-and-slay ethos fronted by OnlyFans star Levi Coralynn and a female-led creative dream team.
ARGONAUT for RAM
ARGONAUT is celebrating RAM’s moment of “RAM-DEMPTION” with its return to NASCAR, the end of a 13-year absence.
MOCEAN for Disney
This is some hardcore millennial bait.
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Jess Zafarris is the author of two books, Once Upon a Word and Words from Hell, with a third forthcoming in 2025. She has contributed to three other books on topics such as social media and gaming. In the past year, she has been quoted in The New York Times and The Guardian, profiled in The Boston Globe, and interviewed on NPR and BBC World Service Radio. She speaks at conferences about writing careers and social media strategy. After 15 years in B2B and enthusiast media, she went independent to write and create content for organizations including Dictionary.com, PR Daily, Writer’s Digest, and Indie Agency News, as well as a host of communications and advertising agencies. Her podcast, Words Unravelled, has reached more than 2.5 million listeners, and her etymology videos are followed more than 100,000 word lovers.
