Anne De Gaulle wins Cannes Grand Prix For Good plus...4 more social purpose campaigns that leverage names creatively.

Anne De Gaulle | Fondation Anne de Gaulle | Havas | 2022

Rename Charles De Gaulle airport for a week to raise awareness about supporting people with disabilities. Havas Paris and Fondation Anne de Gaulle won the Grand Prix for Good at the Cannes Lions Festival 2023 for this wonderful campaign. In honour of International Day of Disabled Persons, Paris – Charles de Gaulle Airport was renamed Paris – Anne de Gaulle, after the French general's much-loved daughter who had Down syndrome. The airport's signage, road signs, screens, trolleys, and tickets were all updated with the new name. In addition, in-flight announcements were adjusted to welcome passengers to Paris – Anne de Gaulle Airport. As part of the campaign, residents from Fondation Anne de Gaulle visited the airport, sharing knowledge on improving accessibility. The campaign was praised by the Grand Prix for Good judges for its simplicity and effectiveness while highlighting the industry's ability to combine traditional media approaches with technological advancements.

Mijn Naam Is Peter | WOMEN Inc | Famiiy Amsterdam | 2022

Unite women in changing their name to Peter on LinkedIn to highlight inequality. In October 2020, a survey of the top 100 companies in the Netherlands revealed that there were more CEOs named Peter than there were female CEOs in total. Dutch organization WOMEN Inc. in collaboration with women branding agency BrandedU and Amsterdam based digital branding agency The Family, women wanted to raise awareness of this sad state of affairs. To do so, they encouraged Dutch women to change their first name to Peter on LinkedIn for one week during January. Over 500 women participated in the #MijnNaamIsPeter campaign, including prominent figures like Yeliz Çiçek, Vogue Nederland's editor-in-chief. The campaign coincided with a new Dutch law mandating increased female representation in senior leadership positions.

Fake Romani Experiment | Diaconia University | TBWA\ | 2019

Reveal that just having a Romani name is a barrier to getting a job. Pinpointing specific discrimination can be difficult. To highlight this, especially in regard to Romani people and employment, Diak conducted an experiment. Four Finns with impressive CVs applied for more than 50 jobs, changing only their names to a common Romani one. Not one person received a call-back. Despite having impressive experience, the experiment proved that a Romani name would be a barrier to a job. With concrete evidence that the barrier to these jobs was the Romani name alone, discussions erupted over the subject across the media. Those in denial finally understood the discriminatory problem directed at Romani people. Ultimately, Finland’s top employers discussed the possibility of blind recruitment going forwards.

Sons Of Solidarity | Parkinsonsamtoekin | Grey | 2019

Unite national team with Parkinson sufferers with 'special' football shirt leveraging a popular surname. Despite its size, in 2018 Iceland had the second-highest death rate for Parkinson’s disease in the world. Coincidentally, Parkinson’s contains a common Icelandic surname suffix. Harnessing the hype around being the least populated nation to qualify for the World Cup, the Sons of Solidarity campaign used the wordplay of ‘son’ being present in many Icelandic surnames to raise money to build Iceland’s first Parkinson’s Centre. During the last match before the World Cup, players wore football shirts with ‘Parkinson’ on the back to create solidarity between the team and Parkinson’s sufferers, who also accompanied them onto the pitch. During the World Cup itself, Icelandic players used their presence to draw attention to Parkinson’s and direct this to a microsite that outlined sufferers’ journeys. By selling the ‘Parkinson’ jerseys, they were also able to raise money.

True Name | Mastercard | McCann | 2020

Give transgender and non binary people a card displaying their true name to allow them to be themselves. Something as simple as a name on a bank card can cause members of the LGBTQIA+ community pain. Because that name doesn’t reflect who they truly are. Having a bank card with a different name or gender on it can cause humiliation, discrimination and even danger. Mastercard recognised this and worked to give LGBTQIA+ people a financial product that enabled them to be their true self and alleviate some of the worries they have. The brand showed that they wanted to give their support in a way that really did help the community by listening, working with and understanding real pain points they face, rather than just rolling out a rainbow card.