Atlantic New York Wins Gold at Cannes Lions

Independent agency Atlantic New York took home the Gold Media Lion for its Blockbuster 'Until The Bitter End' campaign at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The work also received two Bronze Lions, one in the Film/Breakthrough on a Budget category, and the other in the Direct/ Local Brand category.

The work launched in February 2023 when Atlantic partnered with the world’s last-remaining Blockbuster store, located in Bend, Oregon. Facing lagging sales and the rising costs of maintaining a brick-and-mortar location, the lone remnant of the once billion-dollar, 84,000-employee, 9,000-retail location Blockbuster franchise decided to take on the biggest advertising day of the year - the Super Bowl. But unlike the world’s biggest brands, which spent millions of dollars for their spots in the game, Atlantic and Blockbuster launched their Super Bowl commercial without a single media dollar. And did it on VHS, of course.

Blockbuster’s 'Until the Bitter End' was featured in more than 100 news outlets across the country, with the commercial airing dozens of times on local and national TV stations, reaching an audience 9x larger than that of the actual Super Bowl. In the weeks following the game, sales increased by 1700%. In fact, foot traffic, merchandise and rental orders increased so much that the store had to double its staff to fulfil orders on one of the busiest days in the store’s history.

“Winning a gold lion at this early stage in our agency feels very special, especially for a brand that we have so much love for,” said Atlantic co-founder João Coutinho.  “Blockbuster has a real business challenge, and using creativity to help them stay alive until the bitter end has not only been a lot of fun, but has also proved the importance of our business for any brand of any size,” added Atlantic co-founder Marco Pupo.