P&G Reimagines Creativity to Reinvent Advertising Through Innovative New Creative Partnerships

P&G debuts bold partnerships with John Legend and Arianna
Huffington’s Thrive Global, breakthrough creative work, and new
technology-enabled consumer experiences at the 2019 Cannes Lions
International Festival of Creativity

CANNES, France–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Procter
& Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) today announced a series of
innovative new creative partnerships with John Legend, Arianna
Huffington’s Thrive Global, and others that reimagine creativity to
reinvent advertising at a time when change is needed.

Meeting growing consumer demand for authentic stories and experiences
that positively impact society and humanity, these partnerships embrace
the convergence of advertising, journalism, filmmaking, music, comedy,
and technology. They also bring together creative innovators who embrace
equality and inclusion to create more inspiring creativity that people
want to experience time and time again.

“For too long, the ad world has been in its own world – separate from
other creative industries and becoming less relevant to consumers. It’s
time to reimagine creativity to reinvent advertising,” said Marc
Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer, Procter & Gamble. “There are vast
sources of creativity available, and today P&G is taking action to merge
the ad world with other creative worlds though partnerships that embrace
humanity and broaden our view of what advertising could be.”

This week at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, P&G
is calling on the industry to lead disruption by joining forces with
other creative worlds, and is announcing several new partnerships:

A creative partnership with John Legend that integrates multiple
genres to explore various aspects of humanity and the human experience –
such as parenthood, modern masculinity, music and social justice – with
P&G and its Pampers, Gillette and SK-II brands.

A humanity-based partnership with Arianna Huffington’s Thrive Global, which
embeds “micro-step habit stacking” into P&G brands such as Oral-B and
Crest, Pampers, Venus, Secret and Pantene, blending cognitive and
behavioral science with life science to help consumers reduce stress and
improve daily health.

A courageous partnership with Saturday Morning, a
ground-breaking, socially conscious creative collective who, together
with P&G, will preview a new short film called “THE LOOK” that tackles
head on the issue of racial bias, building on the success of “The Talk”
which won several Lions, including a Grand Prix.

A collective partnership to relaunch Free the Bid into Free the Work,
a curated talent discovery service founded by award-winning filmmaker
Alma Har’el, designed for women and underrepresented creators to develop
new-to-the-world stories never experienced before – because creativity
loves diversity.

A creative partnership with GLAAD to celebrate all aspects of
human inclusion and expression, including a new film from Pantene that
updates the brand’s iconic “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful”
campaign.

Technology partnerships that embed cutting-edge technology into
brands to create superior consumer experiences. The interactive P&G
LifeLab will open at Cannes featuring new P&G products and experiences
like Oral-B Sense, Olay Skin Advisor, SK-II FutureX Smart Store, My
Black is Beautiful, and an immersive virtual reality experience from
Verizon Media supported by content from HuffPost.

“Now more than ever, it’s critical that those of us with influence use
it to make a positive impact on the world. I’m committed to connecting
people, opening their hearts and minds and helping them see each other’s
concerns and aspirations,” said singer, song-writer, actor, activist and
producer John Legend. “We can change the game when we talk about
justice, community, family and how brands can create products and foster
conversations that make the world better. I’m happy to partner with a
company that strives to be a force for good in the world and develops
thought-provoking creative work that will drive change.”

“Great brands are habits for their consumers – and P&G’s brands are
daily habits for up to 5 billion consumers around the world,” said
Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global. “Thrive’s
innovative partnership with P&G is focused on leveraging the daily habit
moments associated with P&G products – like brushing your teeth or
changing diapers – as a springboard for Thrive’s Microsteps,
scientifically-backed ways to reduce stress, improve health and increase
performance. Behavioral science shows that habit-stacking – attaching a
new habit to an existing habit so that it becomes a sustainable routine
– is the fastest way to build a new habit and make it stick. At a time
of unprecedented stress and burnout and a mental health epidemic, our
partnership represents a new and important way to deliver on our
missions of improving consumers’ lives and helping people lead
healthier, more fulfilled lives through the brands and products they
love and use every day.”

These partnerships build from the foundation P&G established last year
at Cannes:

A Katie Couric Media partnership, which has produced compelling
programs through humanity in journalism – including profiles of
accomplished women sponsored by P&G’s Olay, Secret and Pantene brands, a
short film about expectations of women with SK-II, a recent project with
Gillette on raising boys, and a smart daily newsletter, Wake-Up Call,
offering insights and commentary on the day’s top stories and lifestyle
features.

Last year P&G also introduced The Queen Collective with Queen
Latifah, Tribeca Studios and United Talent Agency to accelerate gender
and racial equality behind the camera by creating and distributing films
produced by multicultural women directors, starting with B’Monet’s Ballet
After Dark and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s If There is Light –
short documentaries that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

And P&G is partnering with National Geographic and Global
Citizen to develop ACTIVATE, a documentary series that raises
awareness around extreme poverty, inequality and environmental
sustainability to mobilize global citizens to drive lasting change.

“When we partner with creative people who believe in the importance of
equality and inclusion, we can create stories like we’ve never
experienced before – because creativity loves diversity,” Pritchard
said. “And when we embrace creativity through humanity, we can literally
change the world by using our voices not only as a force for growth, but
as a force for good.”

About the P&G LifeLab

Visit the P&G Life Lab at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity June
17-21, 9:30-17:30 in Palais II. Originally debuted at the Consumer
Electronics Show in January 2019, the P&G LifeLab is an immersive
exhibit that showcases how we are combining breakthrough science and
technologies with deep consumer understanding to deliver connected
innovations and experiences that transform people’s lives.

About P&G

P&G serves consumers around the world with one of the strongest
portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Always®,
Ambi Pur®, Ariel®, Bounty®, Charmin®, Crest®, Dawn®, Downy®, Fairy®,
Febreze®, Gain®, Gillette®, Head & Shoulders®, Lenor®, Olay®, Oral-B®,
Pampers®, Pantene®, SK-II®, Tide®, Vicks®, and Whisper®. The P&G
community includes operations in approximately 70 countries worldwide.
Please visit http://www.pg.com
for the latest news and information about P&G and its brands.

Digital Press Kit
https://news.pg.com/cannes-2019-press-kit

Contacts

Media:
Andrea Schoff
P&G Global Communications
schoff.ar@pg.com
+1-513-238-4154

Becky East
H&K Global Strategies
becky.east@hkstrategies.com
+44
207 413 3093