The Friday Five: #CannesLions #purpose special

Hello everyone, and welcome once again to our weekly shot of intrigue. We thought we’d tap into a different resource this week, and where better to start than the purpose-filled Cannes Lions awards. We heard there were some amazing, ambitious brands over there - and we weren’t at all disappointed. Here are some of our favourites:

1. Brothers in Arms

We often steer clear of charity hard-sellers on the high street; a problem Kiwi charity B.I.A. recognised. They deposited a series of $1 payments into top corporate bank accounts, requiring those companies to call the charity’s number to balance the books. Donations ensued.

2. Social Swipe

Scale is another problem with charity; either it’s the small change in your pocket, which might seem too little, or an ongoing subscription, which might seem too much of a commitment. The Social Swipe fuses engaging visuals with clever payment tech to allow easy, one-off on-the-spot card transactions.

3. Sweetie

Child sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry. Sweetie, a CGI girl from the Philippines, is designed to capture the data of offending watchers for police referral and crack down on the problem.

4. If only for a second

Testimony of cancer patients suggests that more than anything else, they often long for carefreeness. The Mimi foundation has solved that problem, if only for a second.

5. The Drinkable Book

Unsafe drinking water is the cause of millions of deaths worldwide each year, and a lack of education is not helping the situation. Brian Gartside, a designer from New York, has crafted a product that addresses both issues: a book water filter.

Some truly inspirational ideas, I think you’ll agree. We’d love to keep on going, but there’s only so much room on a page; so if you’d like to hear more, subscribe to our Folklore newsletter - or if you want to be inspired first-hand, sign up for our next Karma Dinner by emailing fleurie@wearefolk.com.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.

Folk