”Fearless Girl” stood tall at the 64th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, scoring three Grand Prix honors this evening (6/19)–in the PR, Outdoor and Glass: The Lion for Change competitions. The statue of a young girl staring down Wall Street’s famed “Charging Bull” has become popular worldwide, created by McCann New York for client State Street Global Advisors.
The statue of a four-foot-tall lass in a windblown dress came from artist Kristen Visbal, and stands in the path of the famous 11-foot-tall bull, an iconic symbol of commerce. “Fearless Girl” was installed in lower Manhattan to highlight the dearth of women on corporate boards.
The message is perfectly in line with the Glass Lions which was launched three years ago as a platform for honoring creative work which rejects gender stereotypes and confronts prejudice and inequality by representing people in a progressive or socially conscious manner.
Glass Lion jury president Wendy Clark, president/CEO of DDB Worldwide, North America, said that “Fearless Girl” had both “inspired the world and transformed the world,” adding that it, “transcended both geography and culture and would inspire the world for years to come.”
Glass: The Lion for Change received 203 entries and the jury awarded 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 5 Bronze Lions, along with the Grand Prix. The proceeds from Glass, 137,765 Euro (equivalent to some $153,000), will be donated equally between UN Women and the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Click here for a rundown of Glass Lion winners.
A second Grand Prix was also awarded in Outdoor to Twitter, San Francisco, for its campaign comprising 10 executions: “Cannabis,” “Gloria Steinem & Dorothy Pitman Hughes,” “Guns,” “Muhammad Ali,” “Putin,” “Sonogram,” “Prince,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Hands Up,” “Eyes: Hillary Clinton & Donald Trump.” Jury president Bruno Bertelli, global chief creative officer, Publicis, said it was a “beautiful campaign” that was both “simple and engaging." The jury also awarded 20 Gold, 30 Silver and 58 Bronze Lions from 4,716 entries. Click here for a list of Outdoor winners.
Karen van Bergen, CEO, Omnicom Public Relations Group, led the PR Lions jury and said her jury had found its Grand Prix winner, “Fearless Girl,” to be a “perfect example of doing well by doing good.” In total 2,208 entries were received and the jury awarded 17 Gold, 32 Silver and 50 Bronze Lions.
Awards night also included the Print & Publishing and Promo & Activation competitions. From 3,432 entries received in Promo & Activation, 102 Lions were awarded: 15 Gold, 37 Silver and 49 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to “Boost Your Voice,” 180LA, Santa Monica, for Boost Mobile. Jury president Stéphane Xiberras, president & chief creative officer, BETC, France, explained that the campaign “took a brand, already at the heart of communities, and gave it a way to get involved in the U.S. election campaign. It didn’t just create an audience, but involved an audience in the democratic process.”
From 3,275 entries in Print & Publishing, 14 Gold, 31 Silver and 43 Bronze were awarded. The Print & Publishing Grand Prix went to Burger King’s “Oregon,” “Pennsylvania” and “Aviano” from DAVID, Miami. The work was selected for Burger King’s brave, playful, tongue-in-cheek humor. Jury president Fran Luckin, chief creative officer, Grey Africa, South Africa, also highlighted a trend towards work that uses details of physical making, from sculpture to drawing, even against the backdrop of our highly digitized world.
The red carpet awards show for PR, Outdoor, Glass, Print & Publishing and the Promo & Activation Lions opened with an electric performance by The 6 Pack Band, the transgender group who scored the Glass Grand Prix for Mindshare Mumbai at least year’s Festival.
