Gustavo Lauría: This category taught me how to be a creative activist

For this edition of Cannes Lions, Gustavo Lauría, co-founder and CCO of We Believers, was a juror of the new Sustainable Development Goals category. The ads accepted in this category were ones that somehow advanced the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

“Though last year’s Titanium Lions was an amazing category because being surrounded by agency people from around the world taught me a lot, something I loved about this year was not only voting for advertising that can have a real impact on the ecosystem and people’s lives, but also to learn from other jurors that I wouldn’t normally get to meet,” he said. “The truth is that if each one of us doesn’t do things right, between 2030 and 2050, we’re going to be really messed up. So I think companies, creatives, and anyone who inhabits this planet has to make some sort of commitment. And it’s the creative’s role to be disruptive, not just to sell canned tomatoes. There has to be more dedication all the time.”
 
Lauria said the lesson to be learned at this edition of Cannes was to do increasingly better, more powerful work because it’s not so easy to win a Lion anymore. “So ads created just to win, won’t win,” he said. “Specifically, the category in which I was a juror taught me to be a creative activist and to renew my commitment on a daily basis.”
 
 The Sustainable Development Goals Grand Prix went to Palau Pledge by the Host/ Havas agency in Sydney.