Stratos, Dumb Ways to Die, The Beauty Inside, My Blood is Red & Black: Malcolm Poynton, chief creative officer Europe at SapientNitro's Cannes Contenders

With its assortment of lovable animated characters being maimed and killed in spectacularly stupid ways to the catchy ditty sung by Emily Lubitz, it’s not surprising that this is the most shared public service campaign in history. Its inherent silliness and wit transformed a boring safety message into an engaging piece of global popular culture. It’s also given birth to a karaoke edition and iPhone game not to mention countless parodies such as Dumb Ways to Die in Video Games, Dumb Ways to Die in Real Life, Dumb Ways to Die Minecraft edition and many more that all boast around a million hits or more.

Toshiba and Intel ‘The Beauty Inside’ by Pereira & O’Dell

These episodic films follow the story of a man who wakes up looking like a different person every day whilst still being the same on the inside - a bit like Quantum Leap, but with a lot more depth. Toshiba’s range of laptops delivers the best expression of Intel Inside I’ve ever seen. It’s also a peek into the future as the story features consumers as it evolves, thanks to the ever-changing appearance of the lead character. This beautifully produced series, which ruminates on the transience of love and life, stands out as one of the freshest big contenders this year.

Red Cross ‘Singapore Rapid Rescue’, by JWT Singapore

Here is one entry that is going to be hard to beat. This app saves lives. Using location-based software, users in need of first aid can send out an alert to Singapore’s 12,000 registered first aiders within a two-kilometer radius. Once the Red Cross trained volunteer accepts the call, the app maps out the fastest possible route to the person in need. There were 97 such responses in the first month alone. It’s a simple idea that makes the Red Cross meaningful in everyday life and it’s brilliantly executed. (no pun intended).

Oreo ‘Daily Twist’

Oreo cleverly kept the focus on great storytelling with this campaign and massively boosted its number of engaged fans in the process. To mark its 100th birthday, for 100 days straight, the brand posted an image that gave a visual twist to the iconic Oreo cookie, inspired by a cultural event of that day. It captured the popular imagination, and helped make Oreo one of the smartest cookies around when it comes to social media.

Red Bull ‘Stratos’

This campaign needs no introduction. Felix Baumgartner’s record-breaking free-fall broke the sound barrier and upturned conventional approaches to advertising. Sure it cost a reputed $10-15m, however none of that went to a broadcaster to merely rent eyeballs, and the result was infinitely greater reach (and engagement) than Murdoch and Co. could ever dream of. The film setviewing records and, if entered, will no doubt collect an impressive number of Cannes Lions this year.

Hemoba Foundation, ‘My Blood is Red and Black’ by Leo Burnett Sao Paulo

Hemoda, the Brazilian blood foundation, managed to turn people’s passion for their local football club into much-needed blood donations with this inspired campaign. For it, the club changed the stripes of the players’ jerseys from red to white, replacing the red on the jersey as the donations rose. 11 human donation graphs ran out on the pitch each week and gave a live dashboard to a huge TV audience all at once. And not a media dollar spent.