Among the new wrinkles at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year is the inaugural Glass Lion: The Lion for Change. Launched with the support of Leanin.Org, the Glass Lion recognizes work that breaks through unconscious gender bias and shatters stereotypical portrayals of men and women. Cindy Gallop, founder/CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld/MakeLoveNotPorn, will preside over the Glass Lion jury, a diverse group of industry artisans. Among those to serve on this inaugural jury is Susan Credle, U.S. chief creative officer for Leo Burnett, who hearkened back to an earlier tour of jury duty in order to bring perspective to the potential of the Glass Lion.
“A few years ago,” recalled Credle, “I had the privilege of being on the Cannes Titanium jury with Dan Wieden. As we were all discussing, perhaps even slightly arguing about, what we thought defined Titanium work, Dan quietly said, ‘Well, when we decided to create the Titanium Lion, I can tell you what the intent was.’ The room became quiet. Clearly and simply, he stated that Titanium work is work that shines a light on where the industry is headed. This inaugural Glass Lion jury has the opportunity to clearly and simply define why this award exists. What an incredible opportunity and responsibility.”
Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals, said, “We believe that marketing actively shapes culture, and the Glass Lion is part of our commitment to having a positive impact on this. The introduction of a new Lion is an opportunity to define both the category and what we hope the communications landscape might look like.”
Nick Bailey, CEO/executive creative director of U.K. digital marketing agency Isobar, noted, “It’s no secret that one gender and one viewpoint is over-represented in our industry, which means inevitably a certain viewpoint is over-represented. The Glass Lion seeks to redress that by recognizing work that holds a mirror up to the world as it really is, rather than just as a minority of people see it. That’s why it’s particularly exciting to see not just a truly international mix in the jury, but also a mix of viewpoints from both within and from outside our industry.”
The introduction of the Glass Lion: The Lion for Change follows on from the 2014 launch of Cannes’ See It Be It initiative, created to address the industry’s gender imbalance by accelerating creative women’s careers in advertising. The three-day program for 12 creative women is returning to Cannes Lions this year and nominations are now open. Successful candidates will receive airfares to Nice, a Classic Pass to the Festival and accommodation for the duration of the program (June 21-24, 2015).
Film Jury
Tor Myhren, Grey’s worldwide chief creative officer, has served on the Film jury at Cannes twice before. This year marks his first as president of that storied jury. While the Glass Lion is debuting, the Film competition has been a perennial mainstay of the Festival–yet both share the bond of being extremely relevant to the industry at large.
“Even though Film is one of the oldest categories at Cannes, I still think it’s more relevant than ever before,” affirmed Myhren. “Video is the fastest growing dynamic online. The power of film has never been more important than it is today. Film is showing up in a lot of different places and platforms. As media have changed, the industry has changed, as digital has become such a driving force, it makes me happy to see that film and storytelling–with a beginning, middle and end–continue to play a prominent creative role. I’ve always loved film. I got into this industry because I wanted to make film. My passion is in film.
That’s why for me it’s such a huge honor to be asked to head the Film jury at Cannes.”]
As for his responsibilities as jury president, Myhren said, “I see it simply as making sure everything is fair and that we are focused on the right things. Anytime you get into a room with 22 people who are top creatives–wherever they’re from–there’s a lot of egos. I’ve been on juries where one or two very outspoken people dominate the conversation and sway the jury. I will not let that happen as jury president. It’s important that everyone has an equal voice.”
The workload is considerable, with Film judges looking at some 4,000 entries. Invariably, though, said Myhren, even with all those submissions, you can generally count on “less than 10 truly great ones that resonate with everybody in the room. And usually it’s the simple ideas that cut across all cultures. The best ideas are undeniable no matter where you’re from or who you are.”
Myhren is going into this year’s proceedings with an open mind. “When I saw Volvo’s ‘Epic Split’ piece with Jean Claude Van Damme early last year, I pretty much knew no film would be better than that. The same could be said in some previous years with work such as Nike’s ‘Write the Future’; you just knew that had Grand Prix written all over it. This year, though, things appear more wide open with room for some ‘happy discoveries.’ There are fewer preconceived notions going in as to what work will emerge as the best–and I think that’s healthy.”
Myhren has found his prior experience judging at Cannes invaluable, “As a jury member you see what ideas and executions work. The judging experience crystallizes the understanding of what makes for a universally loved idea–by all cultures, which is very hard to accomplish. As a judge, you can see the common elements of successful work and you can bring those insights back to your agency. My hope this year is that we’ll see work that takes the craft to an even higher level, that pushes into an area that hasn’t yet been explored. I’m excited over the possibility of seeing storytelling on film being taken into areas we could not have imagined four or five years ago. That’s what makes Cannes so fascinating–that along with the globalization that’s represented there. Globalization is one of the big changes in our industry–and there’s no place you see that more than at Cannes. That’s why Cannes sets the creative bar for our industry every year.”
Helping to set that bar with her assessments on the Film jury will be Kerry Keenan, chief creative officer of Deutsch New York. She’s looking forward to the opportunity to serve as a Cannes judge. “It’s a chance for me to participate with a group of peers, to get to know creative people from other countries. And when looking at the work, you become aware of people out there who you might not have known before, adding to your knowledge of the talent pool.”
She also quipped that Cannes is an ideal place to find “a better way to do a case study film.”
Keenan noted that beyond being a celebration of the best creative, the Festival has become a place where more agencies are bringing brands, clients, chief marketing officers in order to “open them up to this world of being brave creatively, and showing how doing great work can translate into success for them. Clients are coming away excited and committed to being involved in the best work possible.”
Branded Content & Entertainment
David Lubars, worldwide chief creative officer of BBDO, is a Cannes veteran, presiding over both the Film and Press juries in 2009 and the Titanium Lions jury in 2006. This year he’s back as a jury president, overseeing Branded Content & Entertainment.
“I believe this is the category of the future,” Lubars related. “The world is always on, requiring a constant flow of video and interesting content that has to be entertaining, and beyond just a 30-second film. Look at what a campaign is today. It’s often TV production surrounded by a constant flow of video across different platforms. It’s seemingly unending but at the same time has to be affordable. We’re looking for new ways to produce work that makes its way to social media. BBDO has been doing a lot of this from the get-go–long form for GE, for AT&T, Lowe’s Vines. But we’re constantly exploring. You can’t rest on your laurels. And Cannes is a great place for this exploration, to see what’s being done around the world. That’s why this is an exciting time. The cement never hardens today in media. It’s fluid, there are new opportunities, different platforms for different content.”
Lubars has also been involved in groundbreaking work prior to his lengthy BBDO tenure. Back when he was at Fallon Minneapolis, he had a lead hand in the breakthrough BMW Films which won the first-ever Titanium Lion awarded at Cannes. Lubars was president of Fallon Worldwide and executive creative director of Fallon North America.
For Lubars the constant at Cannes is the “brilliant big idea that touches and connects with people. That’s timeless going back to pictures on cave walls. What’s different today is how stories are told, how you develop a story and how you enable the viewer to engage with that story or become a part of it. That’s part of what we’ll be judging at Cannes this year in the Branded Content & Entertainment competition.”
