The United States, United Kingdom and Australia were 3 of the countries competing for the Lions award for achievement in advertising and brand communication at last week’s 61st annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The week-long event handed out Grand Prix, Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies to companies and professionals across 18 creative communications categories that include: Cyber, Innovation, Creative Effectiveness, Direct, Film, Outdoor, PR, Press, Product Design, Promo and Activation, Titanium and Integration, Branded Content and Entertainment, and Radio.

Although the Brits didn’t total as many trophies as the Yanks, 126 and 184 respectively, they did win the most Grand Prix Lions which is the highly sought-after award of the Festival. The Brits walked away with 5 Grand Prix, including the coveted Titanium and Integration category which was a shared win with Japan. The U.K. won the highest number of Grand Prix lions at Cannes this year, surpassing creative power players like Sweden, the Netherlands and Brazil. Australia and the U.S. each collected 2 Grand Prix awards for Creative Effectiveness, Outdoor, Cyber and PR.

The Harvey Nichols department store Christmas ad campaign, “Sorry I Spent It on Myself,” which encourages shoppers to spend on themselves as opposed to family and friends, was named the best TV ad in the world, and garnered 4 out of 5 Grand Prix for Britain in the Titanium and Integration, Press, Film, and Promo and Activation categories. The creative work was the output of London-based agency adam&eveDDB, which was also named Agency of the Year after winning 22 awards. “This year has seen a resurgence of U.K. creativity in Cannes,” said James Murphy, chief executive of adam&eveDDB.

This Christmas gift giving ad campaign was the gift that kept on giving for Britain at Cannes.

Designed to create responsive action and build brand relationship, this British Airways Ad, The Magic of Flying, also garnered a Grand Prix for Britain in the Direct category. To raise awareness of the scope in BA’s routes and destinations, creatives at OgilvyOne implemented a billboard to react to BA planes flying overhead.

The 61st annual Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity received a total of 37,427 creative entries from 97 countries, including Ghana, Albania and San Marino who were all first time participants at Cannes. -pep boy

Mandarin Hotel Group's "He's a Fan/She's a Fan" Ad campaign is an idea that is globally translatable and can be adapted to all forms of media. It's one of those campaign that identifies a brand and its identity (the fan) and implement an idea that is simple and extremely effective on a global platform. Recognizable fans of Mandarin Oriental include: Morgan Freeman, Caterina Murino, Sa DingDing, and Liam Neeson.  It's nice to see these celebrities, who are adored by millions of fans worldwide, in turn become a fan themselves. -pep boy.

Capital one's latest ads hit the bulls-eye of good advertising: simple and easy to understand without over-thinking it    -pep boy

Cannes Lions entries have reached an all-time high with a total of 37,427 entries submitted from a record 97 countries across 17 awards categories – Branded Content & Entertainment (1,179 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). -pep boy

A simple public interest concept from Israel that gets the point across, however, I would love to see how this could develop from a 360 angle, and even in a digital space. -pep boy







REGION: Israel         
AGENCY: Gitam BBDO       
COPYWRITER: Ran Allon    
ART DIRECTOR: Tamar Dvir