Entries for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity competition have reached an all-time high with a total of 37,427 submitted from a record 97 countries across 17 awards categories: Branded Content & Entertainment (1,178 entries), Creative Effectiveness (80), Cyber (3,660), Design (2,624) Direct (2,676), Film (2,838), Film Craft (2,073), Innovation (206), Media (3,127), Mobile (1,187), Outdoor (5,660), PR (1,850), Press (5,007), Product Design (194), Promo & Activation (3,241), Radio (1,448) and Titanium & Integrated Lions (378).
The top ten entrant countries are USA (6,213), Brazil (3,321), United Kingdom (2,757), Germany (2,376), France (1,838), Australia (1,543), Japan (1,146), Canada (995), India (976) and China (952). Countries that have entered for the very first time are Albania, Ghana and San Marino.
The work will be judged by 17 international juries made up of 327 top-level industry peers from 44 countries who will vote, deliberate and finally award the Lions.
“Overall entries are up close to five percent on last year, and we’re delighted with the response to the inaugural Product Design Lions category as we bring into the Cannes Lions mix a whole new sector,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals.
“Some interesting analysis from these entries figures include: the astonishing leap in Cyber Lions, now the third largest category at the festival (+39%) which we attribute to the restructure of the category to bring it in line with current digital trends to embrace Social, Branded Technology and Branded Games. PR Lions has also increased dramatically (+43%) as the category is embraced by agencies around the world as the definitive and much acclaimed honour for the PR industry. Other awards categories that have equally seen a significant growth are Branded Content & Entertainment now in its third year (+22%), Design (+11%), Mobile (+12%) and Promo & Activation (+9%).”
Interestingly entries into some of the traditional categories have dropped as the industry yet again evolves; Film (-9%), Press (-12%) and Radio (-7%). And for the first time ever, Outdoor entries have overtaken the number of Press submissions.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity takes place June 15-21.
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More