The 66th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity came to a close this evening (6/21) with the last Awards Show. It honored the final winners from the Communication Track, alongside the Good Track, as well as special awards, celebrating the industries’ best performing companies across the five-day event.
Taking the Cannes Lions Film Grand Prix was Droga5, New York, for The New York Times’ “The Truth Is Worth It” campaign–”Rigor,” “Perseverance,” “Resolve,” “Courage” and “Fearlessness”–which also won the Film Craft Grand Prix earlier in the week. The campaign brings to light the danger, bravery, perseverance and determination that it takes to be a New York Times journalist and ultimately how that helps people to better understand the world. Daniel Lindsay and TJ Martin of production house Furlined directed The New York Times campaign spots, which were edited by Jim Helton of Final Cut.
Film Lions jury chair Margaret Johnson, chief creative officer and partner, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, said, “As a jury, we looked for a brilliant idea that had to be combined with a brilliant execution. And this was the best example. The typography is very simple, but extremely powerful. There’s an honesty to it and a simplicity to it. It’s the Naked Truth. And that’s the power of it.”
In the Film Lions (Communication Track) competition celebrating creativity of the moving image, 2,793 entries were submitted, of which 77 were awarded Lions: 1 Grand Prix, 11 Gold, 28 Silver and 37 Bronze.
While The New York Times’ Grand Prix tally was two, Burger King’s “Whopper Detour” from FCB New York scored three, the latest being in the Titanium Lions category. Earlier taking Grand Prix honors in Mobile and Direct, “Whopper Detour” is an app that geofenced McDonald’s restaurants so that a 1-cent Whopper promotion unlocked only when people were physically within 600 feet of Burger King’s biggest competitor, McDonald’s.
Titanium Lions jury president David Lubars, worldwide chief creative officer and North America chairman of BBDO, said, “This is an amazing use of technology to get consumers out of a rival store and into their own store. It’s a future-facing tech hack, with great sales results, we hadn’t seen before. The work ticks all the boxes. It’s flawlessly executed, and I can assure you, it is so incredibly difficult to do, but it looks effortless. It’s fun and human and delighting.”
Of the 171 entries competing in the Titanium Lions (Communication Track), celebrating game-changing work, the jury awarded 1 Titanium Grand Prix and 5 Titanium Lions.
Taking the Glass: The Lion for Change Grand Prix honor was VMLY&R Poland, Warsaw, for “The Last Ever Issue” for Gazeta.pl/Mastercard/BNP Paribas, which saw the agency team up with their clients to buy one of Poland’s longest running and most read adult magazines in order to then close it down.
Jury president Jaime Robinson, chief creative officer, Joan Creative, said: “When I look at this Grand Prix, I see culture-shifting creativity in spades. It’s a lightning bolt idea. Every single one of us in the jury room prays for ideas like this every day. The work is transgressive. It takes the system and uses the system to make change against itself. And that is such a joy. And I just love that it takes an object of degradation and it turns it into something beautiful. And then says goodbye to it forever.”
Glass: The Lion for Change (Good Track), which commends ideas intended to change the world that address gender inequality or prejudice, drew 193 entries, with the jury awarding 8 Lions: 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze.
And while Droga5 topped the Film Lions, that agency’s founder and creative chairman, David Droga, presided over the Sustainable Development Goals Lions jury, which presented the Grand Prix to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Mars Australia’s “The Lion’s Share,” a wildlife conservation initiative backed by the United Nations, to raise funds by asking advertisers to contribute 0.5 per cent of their media spend every time animal imagery is used in an advertisement.
Droga said of “The Lion’s Share,” “Animals are a fundamental part of our world, our culture, our society, and our language, even our filmmaking and marketing. In fact, images of animals appear in approximately 20% of all advertisements. Yet, despite this, animals do not always receive the support that they deserve. Until now. The money raised will be dispersed across the world to save species from extinction, preserve wildlife habitats, and look after animal welfare.
“It was a program that was instigated and backed by a big brand, supported and put together by an incredible creative collective. They didn’t just make a good film about what they wanted to do, they actually set up a sustainable program that has already started reaping rewards. And that, for us, is what’s important.”
Of the 834 entries in the Sustainable Development Goals Lions (Good Track)–celebrating creative problem solving, solutions or other initiatives that harness creativity and seek to positively impact the world–22 Lions were awarded: 1 Grand Prix, 3 Gold, 7 Silver and 11 Bronze.
Palme d’Or, special honors
The Palme d’Or, presented to the most awarded production company, went to Park Pictures (USA). Runners up are: Hungry Man (USA) in second; Somesuch (UK) in third; Buck (USA) in fourth; and Biscuit Filmworks (USA) in fifth.
Helping to power Park’s win was Nike’s Colin Kaepernick-starring, multiple Lion-winning “Dream Crazy”–directed by Lance Acord, Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki and Christian Weber–from Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., which leads us to Cannes Lions Agency of the Year and Independent Agency of the Year honors, which both went to W+K, Portland.
Finishing behind W+K for Agency of the Year were McCann New York, in second place, and Droga5, NY, in third.
Droga5, NY, was second in the running for Independent Agency of the Year, with third place going to JohnXHannes, NY.
Network of the Year was won by: McCann Worldgroup; ranked second, DDB Worldwide; and in third, FCB.
Holding Company of the Year was presented to Omnicom; followed by Interpublic Group in second; and in third place, WPP.
And new for this year, Creative Brand of the Year, celebrating brave and forward-thinking brands was awarded to Burger King. Nike finished second with IKEA in third.
Honorary awards also presented this evening at the final Awards Show of Cannes Lions 2019 were:
Apple was named Creative Marketer of the Year in honor of its sustained world-class creative communications and marketing initiatives across multiple platforms and collaborations between partners and agencies. This highly coveted award was presented to Tor Myhren, Apple’s VP of marketing communications.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and executive director of UN Women, was presented with the 2019 Cannes LionHeart in recognition of her advocacy for women, human rights, and social justice throughout the world, and for her leadership of the industry-wide diversity initiative, The Unstereotype Alliance.
In honor of their outstanding contribution to the creative industry, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, founders of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, were presented with the Lion of St. Mark Award.
The Grand Prix for Good, selected by the Titanium jury from across all the non-profit and charitable Gold Lions (except Health & Wellness and Pharma) ineligible to win a Grand Prix, was awarded to McCann New York, for “Generation Lockdown,” created for March For Our Lives. The public service announcement shows the reality of how active shooter drills have become part of America’s schools’ routine. It also picked up a further three Film Lions (1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze); a Gold Lion in the Social & Influencer category and one Silver in PR.
Reflecting on Cannes Lions 2019, managing director Simon Cook, said: “It has been an exceptional five days–a truly global celebration of the best work that will be the start of an amazing journey for many. It’s also been a coming together of the most brilliant and forward-thinking minds from across a wide spectrum of industries–creative, content creation, entertainment, media, tech, et al.
“From the conversations and themes emerging, it’s clear we’re in the midst of exciting changes–sustainability, cultural connections, gender equality, brand values, evolution of storytelling, responsible consumerism all are hot topics. As we bring this Festival to a close, we very much look forward to continuing these conversations over the next year and seeing the progress when we meet again in 2020.”
