17% of social media winners have influencer(s) at the core

Influencers are an important element of social media marketing. They go hand in hand – as it is manifested in the category name at Cannes Lions, too, the Social & Influencer Lions. This year the share of social winners with influencer at the core of the idea declined a little from last years 21%. Yet, we are way ahead the numbers in e.g. 2017 and 2018, when they were 6% and 11%, respectively. Also worth noting is that 58% of the 2022 social winners used influencers to some degree.

16% of social media winners are metaverserelated

Metaverse is all the rage now. According to the Marketer’s Toolkit 2022 by WARC, 52% of marketers will increase their spend on the metaverse this year. When it comes to world-class campaigns of the past year, 16% of the Cannes Lions winners with social at the core are metaverse-related. Mostly these campaigns tap into gaming or AR, but also things such as NFTs and the blockchain. Social is truly a gateway into the metaverse: when looking at the Social & Influencer Lions winners, the percentage is as high as 21%.

TikTok is the no. 1 in channel-specific social winners

Social media is such a ubiquitous thing that most of the social campaign leverage multiple channels. Such is the case for Cannes Lions winners too. But looking at channel-specific campaigns, TikTok reigns as the winner. Of all the winners using social, 6% are TikTok-first. Trailing right behind is Twitter (5%), followed by Instagram (3%), WhatsApp (2%) and YouTube (2%).