Hasta La Motion!

Twitter has won the Grand Prix for traditional outdoor at Cannes Lions for its series of Twitter What’s Happening billboards. The campaign, run between October 2016 and early 2017, features hashtags and Twitter logos alongside images from news and pop culture, with no copy. The campaign began with a billboard near the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey, featuring Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, looking down over commuters. A set of further billboards addressed issues that were dominating the conversation in the lead up to the 2016 election. Issues were covered through single photographs with just a hashtag and the Twitter logo. Images referenced the legalisation of cannabis, gun laws, the role of Putin, gender-specific bathrooms, the Saturday Night Live take on Trump and Clinton, the continuing legacy of feminists such as Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes on the occasion of the Womens March, climate change (polar bears on melting ice caps), the refugee crisis, marriage equality, abortion (sonogram), ISIS and the Mexican border. Images in the What’s Happening Now campaign also referred to the 2016 deaths of Muhammad Ali, Prince, John Glenn and David Bowie.

Twitter explained the thinking behind the campaign on their blog:

“In the beginning of October, we brought the expression of Twitter out into the world. Twitter is what’s happening and what people are talking about. And right now, there’s no topic being more widely discussed than the U.S. presidential campaign.
The election is playing out live on Twitter where people can hear directly from the candidates, their supporters, the media, and everyone in between. Because Twitter is open, it’s the place for people to see and discuss the issues from every perspective. This campaign highlights the top issues being discussed on Twitter – it reflects different sides and doesn’t take sides. As they always do on Twitter, people will bring their own point of view to the images that can be seen today around NYC.”

Twitter What’s Happening Credits

The Twitter What’s Happening Now campaign was developed in-house at Twitter, San Francisco, led by global group creative director Jayanta Jenkins, chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, executive producer Matt Lundberg, VP global brand and strategy Joel Lunenfeld, consumer and growth marketing director Minesh Lad, head of planning Oliver Snoddy, brand and studio designer Derrit DeRouen, global brand strategy designer Joel Lunenfeld, visual designer Drew Herron, head of global brand activation Christina Thelin, director of brand marketing Lee Anne Ramsey Weldon, creatives Jon Lancaric and Jim Riswold, producers Britt Gardner and Julie Mastalerz.