Cannes Day 1: Big Wins for Special New Zealand, VMLY&R Melbourne, and Colenso BBDO
Two New Zealand agencies and one Australian have won big on the first day of Cannes.
Cannes Lions kicked-off the 70th edition of the Festival last night with the first awards show of the week for the Pharma, Health & Wellness, Outdoor, Print & Publishing, and Radio & Audio Lions categories.
In the Health & Wellness Lions, honouring creativity for personal well-being, 1297 entries were received and 37 Lions awarded: six Gold, 13 Silver and 17 Bronze. The Grand Prix went to ‘The Last Performance’ By Special, Auckland, for Partners Life. This disruptive piece of work challenged Kiwis to rethink preconceptions around life insurance, encouraging New Zealanders to take action.
Radio & Audio Lions, celebrating creativity that is wired for sound, received 715 entries and 22 Lions were awarded: three Gold, seven Silver, and 11 Bronze Lions. The Grand Prix went to the 'Phone It In' campaign by Colenso BBDO, Auckland for telecommunications company Skinny, New Zealand.
Special founder and CEO, Tony Bradbourne, said: “To win at Cannes is one thing, but to walk away with a Grand Prix is truly humbling. Our name is a promise that everything that goes out the door must be ‘special’, and twelve months ag we challenged ourselves to create something so ‘special’ it would win a Cannes Grand Prix – proving once again that creativity from the edge of the world can shine on the world stage. Congratulations to everyone involved, especially our brave and adventurous clients for believing in the power of creativity.”
VMLY&R Melbourne won a Gold Lion in Outdoor for their campaign ‘FitChix’ The campaign also took home a Silver, Bronze and Shortlist in Outdoor – Market Disruption, Design for Promotional Items, and Ambient Outdoor, respectively.
Paul Nagy, chief creative officer for VMLY&R APAC said the campaign was: “One of the purest and most joyful ideas I’ve ever had the privilege to be involved with – I hope every egg in the future has the chicken’s happy lifestyle printed on the shell.”
Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “We’re delighted to honour our first Lion winners who are raising the creative bar on the global stage. Thank you to all of our exceptional Jurors who have given their time, dedication and expertise to define the creative benchmark for the Festival’s 70th edition.”
