On the 70th edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the following Lions were bestowed at the penultimate Awards Show: Brand Experience & Activation, Creative Business Transformation, Creative Commerce, Creative Effectiveness, Creative Strategy Lions, Innovation and Mobile Lions. The Regional Network of the Year awards were also announced. 

Lions CEO Simon Cook said, “It’s inspiring to see new countries enter and win Lions to raise the creative bar on the global stage. Saudi Arabia won its first Grand Prix in Creative Commerce, and there were also wins for Germany, Mexico, Japan and China in the Creative Business Transformation Lions for the first time. Congratulations to all of our Lion winners, and those shortlisted, who are driving progress for people, businesses and society.” 

Microsoft’s “ADLaM--An Alphabet to Preserve a Culture” from McCann New York won its second Grand Prix of the Week--this time in the Creative Business Transformation Lions competition, which honors the creativity that drives businesses forward. Back on Tuesday (6/20) “ADLaM” took the Design Lions Grand Prix. The work celebrates ADLaM Display, an evolution of the West African Pulaar alphabet, being made available on Microsoft 365 suite, desktop, and mobile platforms; preserving an ancient culture.

Creative Business Transformation Lions jury president, Justin Peyton, chief transformation officer, Wunderman Thompson, APAC, said that the ADLaM initiative “challenges us to think about the impact not just on the brand’s business, but on all of the stakeholders and communities with whom they engage. The work created new opportunities for an otherwise marginalized people and in so doing provided access to a whole new audience, while also creating a blueprint that could be replicated to reach other similar groups.”

In the Creative Business Transformation Lions, 251 entries were received and 10 Lions were awarded by the Jury: 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 4 Bronze. 

In the Brand Experience & Activation Lions, honoring creative, comprehensive brand building through experience design, activation, immersive, retail and 360° customer engagement, 2,226 entries were received and 69 Lions awarded by the jury: 11 Gold, 25 Silver and 32 Bronze and the Grand Prix was awarded to “FIFA 23 X TED LASSO” for EA Sports & Apple, by Apple, Cupertino/EA Sports, Redwood City, Calif.

Brand Experience & Activation Lions jury president Ari Weiss, global chief creative officer, DDB Worldwide, said, “Provide enough value and consumers will go out of their way to spend time with your brand. This idea transcended advertising and became intellectual property. Never mind 6 seconds, fans went out of their way to play with this idea 90 minutes at a time. It also touched on the power of collaboration. Two brands, both genius at doing what they do, came together to create an experience better than either of them could have created alone.”

In the Innovation Lions, celebrating groundbreaking innovation, technology and problem solving, 152 entries were received and 6 Lions were awarded: 1 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze and the Grand Prix went to “MouthPad” for Augmental, by Wunderman Thompson, Lima/Augmental, San Francisco. This innovative tongue-controlled device opens up a new way for people with disabilities to interact with the world. 

Innovation Lions jury president Grace Francis, global chief creative and design officer, WONGDOODY, global, commented, “As a jury we spoke about the concept of ‘not going back’; innovations so significant that the world is changed enough that future generations will find it hard to imagine returning to the time before. Assistive technology is often reduced to essentials—MouthPad^ goes far beyond that, enabling a paralyzed person to operate a wheelchair, play a video game, send a text privately (rather than using voice activation), perform a computer-based job, operate a sex toy and hundreds of other things able bodied people take for granted.”

In the Mobile Lions, celebrating device-driven creativity, from 348 entries received 12 Lions were awarded by the jury: 2 Gold, 3 Silver and 6 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to “World Cup Delivery” for PedidosYa, by GUT, Buenos Aires. The work reached football-mad Argentinians by using real time data to track the flight that brought the World Cup Trophy 2022 back to Argentina, and became the #1 trending topic. 

Honoring the measurable impact of creative work, the Creative Effectiveness Lions received 289 entries and the jury awarded 16 Lions: 3 Gold, 5 Silver and 7 Bronze. The Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix went to “Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad” for Mondelez, by Ogilvy, Mumbai, India. The work lent a hand to small businesses struggling during the pandemic with a data-driven campaign using machine learning to create advertisements for thousands of local businesses, as well as its product, Cadbury Celebrations, and boosted sales as a result.

In the Creative Strategy Lions, 774 entries were received and 25 Lions were awarded by the jury: 4 Gold, 8 Silver and 12 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to “Renault - Plug-Inn” for Renault, by Publicis Conseil, Paris, a peer-to-peer app that connects electric car drivers to home charger owners. Like an Airbnb for charging spots, this new business model solves the problem of driving long distances through remote places with zero charging stations.

Creative Strategy Lions jury president Amrita Randhawa, CEO, Publicis Groupe, Singapore & Southeast Asia, added, “There is creative strategy that results in the movement of consumer, culture, and business results. And then there is creative strategy that redefines the product category, opens entirely new revenue models for brands, delivers real value for consumers, solves infrastructural problems and is globally scalable--that is our Grand Prix winner. An obvious contender from the get-go, it became our North Star for the very definition of the future of creative strategy and its ability to deliver transformational brand building.”

In the Creative Commerce Lions, honoring the innovative and creative approach to online and offline commerce, payment solutions and transactional journeys, 467 entries were received and 17 Lions were awarded by the jury: 4 Gold, 4 Silver and 8 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to “The Subconscious Order” for HungerStation, by Wunderman Thompson, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, a food delivery service that allows users to order food online by harnessing the power of their subconscious mind.

Creative Commerce Lions jury president Nancy Crimi-Lamanna, chief creative officer, FCB, Canada, added, “Some work brilliantly showed us what is possible today in creative commerce, but this idea showed us what is possible tomorrow. It sets a new standard for commerce and shows the way forward in how brands can remove pain points in a moment of purchase while adding meaningful value to it. We hope that this work shows what can happen when brands get the value exchange right for their customers and use fresh creativity to drive engagement.”

Regional Network of the Year Awards 

Regional Network of the Year- Asia 
1. DENTSU

Regional Network of the Year - Europe
1. DDB WORLDWIDE

Regional Network of the Year - MENA
1. BBDO WORLDWIDE

Regional Network of the Year - Latin America
1. GUT

Regional Network of the Year - North America
1. FCB

Regional Network of the Year - Pacific 
1. BBDO WORLDWIDE
 

 
Regional Network of the Year - Sub-Saharan Africa
1. OGILVY