Canada gets two Direct Lions shortlist mentions

Canada has two chances for a Lion in the Direct category at the 60th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, this bests last year’s performance when the country was not mentioned in the category. Canada had 64 entries in Direct this year, up from 47 in 2012. In total there are 247 entries on the shortlist, out of a total of 2,578 submissions this year.

McDonald’s Canada and Tribal DDB have a nomination under Websites, Banners and Microsites for “Our Food. Your Questions,” the campaign that opened up the QSR to queries from Canadians on anything about the company, from why its burgers look so different in ads versus real life to what’s in the Big Mac’s sauce. The campaign has been picking up awards in recent months, including the Grand Prix at last month’s AToMiC Awards.

Lowe Roche for Pfaff Porsche also have one shortlist mention under Cars and Automotive for “Instant DM,” where the agency printed images of the luxury auto in targeted Toronto neighbourhoods and put them in the mailboxes of homeowners. The campaign recently picked up an AToMiC Award for Best Niche Targeting.

The Direct Lions will be handed out along with Creative Effectiveness, PR and Promo and Activation on Monday night in Cannes. Trish Wheaton, CEO, Wunderman was the Canadian jury member on the Direct panel.

This is the third shortlist mention for Canada so far this year, with Teehan+Lax getting one for its Google Street View Hyperlapse experiment in the Innovation category. Jon Lax, partner at the agency presented the project, which includes a code that allowed them to stitch together images from a single source to create a time-lapsed video (in this case, Google Street View) to the Innovation jury on Saturday in Cannes. The first-annual Innovation Lions will be handed out on Tuesday night, along with Media, Mobile and Outdoor.

Also up for a Direct Lion is the “Real Beauty Sketches” campaign for Dove Unilever by Ogilvy Brazil. Dove created a Canadian execution with the sketch artist from the global campaign using Canadian moms and daughters. This year’s work originated from the “Real Beauty” project that went viral thanks to the “Evolution” YouTube video from Ogilvy’s Toronto office. That project won two Grand Prix awards at Cannes in 2007.