SMALL ROOM
BIG CATEGORY
SPROUT SOCIAL — Creative strategy and direction
Cannes Lions was a key activation
in Sprout's Social Intelligence launch campaign targeting executive audiences. It presented a high-visibility stage to build a still-forming category claim in front of a global industry audience.
A CATEGORY PERCEPTION CHALLENGE
Audience research showed understanding of "Social Intelligence" topped out at "listening," with awareness of Sprout in the category even thinner. The task was to build real category association, on a small budget, with an audience that barely knew Sprout belonged in the conversation.
The answer wasn’t a smaller version of the same launch campaign.
It was translating the campaign system into something native to Cannes Lions, and meeting the audience where their understanding of social intelligence actually was. People came for the beach experience, and broadcasting a bigger message into that setting would have missed the room. Real conversation, calibrated to the place and the person, did more than a bigger stage could.
The format shifted from broadcasting to hosting scheduled 1:1 executive conversations in a small cabana within Canva's Creative Cabana. With no script or agenda, each conversation could calibrate to the guest's familiarity with social intelligence, instead of chasing booth volume. A co-branded coffee bar with Canva and bespoke, concept-driven gifting made the moment memorable without a large-scale build.
THE RESULTS:
Nearly 8,000 unique visitors
3,984 opt-in leads across the week
264 hand-raisers (110% of goal)
100% executive meeting show rate
CONTRIBUTORS:
Art direction: Susan Densa
Design: Arden Wilson, Patrick Olson
Web design: Justin Vinalon