GoDaddy at Cannes Lions: Possibly the Best B2B Customer Case Study You'll Ever See
GoDaddy’s campaign is more than a moment—it’s a model.
If you're a marketing exec and not freshly home from France, you’re likely experiencing major FOMO. Social feeds were blowing up with Cannes Lions content, including B2B tech heavyweights:
LinkedIn transformed the Carlton Hotel into a vibrant “LinkedIn Studio,” hosting a full B2B Marketing Summit alongside Cannes Lions events.
Microsoft staged a “Beach House” on the Croisette with conversational AI showcases, client sessions, happy hours, and its own “Brand Agents.”
Meta launched 11 AI-powered ad tools, including virtual try-ons and image-to-video features tailored for SMEs.
Adobe ran a “Living Gallery” at Hotel Majestic, featuring live art, creator quizzes, and merch to spotlight its creative tools.
The Female Quotient hosted career-focused panels at Hotel Martinez, with sponsors like Adobe, Snowflake, Cisco, Microsoft, and Deloitte.
All this was activity surrounding the main event, Cannes Lions, the Super Bowl of creative marketing, which has only recently (2024) started spotlighting B2B campaigns.
And the real headlines this year? For me, it wasn’t the conference itself (so don’t worry if you didn’t attend), it was the award-winning B2B campaigns that stole the show.
The Goggins & GoDaddy Campaign
Let’s go back in time: it's mid-January 2024, and HBO officially reveals the cast for The White Lotus Season 3. Fans are buzzing as it's been over a year since Season 2 wrapped, and anticipation is reaching fever pitch. Among the new cast is Walton Goggins, already celebrated for roles as Shane Vendrell in The Shield and Boyd Crowder in Justified.
With the world watching, GoDaddy had a brilliant idea. CMO Fara Howard, Director of Brand Marketing Rachael Powell, Executive Creative Director Adam Nowak, and their teams, alongside agency Quality Meats, got to work.
Fast forward to November 2024: Goggins launches Goggins Goggles, a real, buyable eyewear line complete with an e-commerce site built entirely using GoDaddy Airo: domain, site, logo, order emails, everything. The launch perfectly leveraged the growing buzz around his White Lotus role. Goggins Goggles were mentioned on every late-night show, in every magazine article, and every press interview, making GoDaddy the center of the largest series launch of the year.
Then came the centerpiece of it all: a Super Bowl ad titled “Act Like You Know”, aired on February 9, 2025. In the spot, Goggins plays multiple comedic personas before revealing he used GoDaddy Airo to launch his eyewear business. It's a brilliant celebrity-anchored B2B case study delivering marketing authenticity at his career’s peak.
And the accolades followed swiftly: at Cannes Lions 2025, GoDaddy won the Creative B2B Lions Grand Prix, the top prize. The jury praised its “boldness, confident execution, and pure B2B creativity,” calling out how it used humor and real results to prove AI tools not just work, but thrive in a B2B context.
Why This Campaign Should Be Required B2B Viewing
Marketing Real Business: Goggins isn’t just a celeb, he really launched a brand powered by the sponsor.
Flawless Timing: Pre-season buzz → product launch → White Lotus Season 3 → Super Bowl → Cannes crescendo.
Humor Meets ROI: B2B, meet entertainment and measurable business impact.
Award-Winning Execution: Almost a year-long campaign resulting in well-deserved accolades.
Going Even Deeper with B2B Marketing
Yes, this wasn’t the only B2B gem at Cannes; others were impressive too. However, many are consumer brands that push B2C-style creative, rather than pure B2B narratives, as seen here.
My recommendation? Don’t just scroll through the list of submissions, as there are 415 entries. Instead, gather your team to watch and dissect the Goggins campaign.
And while you’re at it, check out LinkedIn’s Bronze-winning entry celebrating B2B’s Cannes debut in 2024, which includes B2B marketing gems from great CMOs, including Carilu’s and my friend, Jennifer Johnson from CrowdStrike.
Then ask:
How can your B2B storytelling be more bold, human, and timed to cultural moments?
What would an “Act Like You Know” moment look like for your company?
This is how you make Cannes and B2B Marketing, even without a flight to France, truly unforgettable.
This guest post was written by my friend, the amazing Maria Pergolino. For more than two decades, Maria has built and led go-to-market teams in B2B SaaS and, more recently, AI, combining operational rigor with creative strategy to fuel growth, differentiation, and category leadership. Currently, Maria is the lead operational advisor for Scale Venture Partners. Previously, Maria served as Chief Marketing Officer at ActiveCampaign, Anaplan, and Conga, and held marketing leadership roles at Marketo and Shunra Software.
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Meanwhile, GD’s stock has been on a downward slide ever since.