Five Canadian teams participated in this year’s Young Lions competitions in Cannes, putting their creative skills to the test on the international stage by answering a brief in under 24 or 48 hours, depending on the category.
The annual event, judged by members of the Cannes Lions jury, saw a total of 450 participants from 68 countries compete across seven categories. Canada was represented in Digital, Film, Marketers, Media and Print.
You can find the work produced by Canada’s team below, including that of McCann Montreal’s Mourad Bouaziz and Edouard-Jean Coune, which brought home the Silver in Print.
Film
The team: Caroline Friesen and Robbie Percy, John St.
The brief: “Create a 60-second video to empower millennials to further learn about the campaign #SheIsEqual and take action in support of [the United Nation’s] ‘Global Goal 5: Gender Equality’ on the Global Citizen app.”
Global Citizen is a movement of citizens looking to end extreme poverty by 2030. Through its platform, people can learn about the systemic causes of extreme poverty, take action on those issues, and earn rewards for their actions.
The work: The film captures some of women’s biggest contributions to society, including helping invent the computer (and thus the internet, as well as the many quirky things that exist on it) and the ice cream maker, without which there could be no ice cream – or fun, for matter. Each clip within the spot builds an argument for the campaign’s overriding message: “When you empower women, the world gains.”
[iframe_vimeo video = “276454054”]
Digital
The team: Charlie Glassman and James Pacitto, Leo Burnett Toronto
The brief: “Create a digital campaign that motivates millennials to download and donate through the ShareTheMeal app.”
ShareTheMeal, an app for the United Nations World Food Program, allows users to follow its fundraising efforts and share a meal with a child in need.
The work: Based on the insight that people are continuously horrified by news of crises around the world, while feeling helpless to affect real change, the campaign involved partnering with major news outlets to turn bad news into ads for the ShareTheMeal app. Breaking news of disasters around the world would be tied to ads calling on users to download the app and take action, turning ShareTheMeal into an “actionable news platform.”
Media
The team: Christian Kern and Feroze Shah, Initiative Canada
The brief: “Define the brand programs and media partnerships that will demonstrate to our target audience: When you use Firefox you make the internet a place for yourself and generations to come.”
The strategy: Starting from the insight that consumers know technology can be compromised but often don’t believe they will be personally affected, the team set out to show that the threat truly does exist. The idea was to create an owanable Firefox tool that could be activated through Twitter, allowing people to know if they are being tracked, turning the web browser into a “public authority on data protection.” Kern says, “As the response happens publicly, it raises education about just how many people are being tracked.”
Marketers
The team: Christian Alaimo and Jacob MacDonald, PepsiCo Canada
The brief: “Encourage Movember Foundation supporters to create their own social content and activate their followers to sign up too.”
The Movember Foundation is men’s health charity that raises awareness of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, and suicide prevention.
The work: To get men talking to each other, the team wanted to re-frame the charity from “the only global charity for men’s health” into “the world’s largest network of men supporting men,” says Alaimo. The idea was based on the insight that men often don’t want to discuss their feelings or personal issues. By printing phrases of love, support, and humour on different chips within each bag of Doritos Unleashed, the team hoped to empower men to show their emotions and show support for their male friends by tagging them in photos with the chips.
The team: Mourad Bouaziz and Edouard-Jean Coune, McCann Montreal
The brief: “Create a print ad which will attract individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to apply for jobs in the creative industry via Creative Spirit.”
Creative Spirit is a non-profit devoted to creating employment opportunities for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
The work: Working from the insight that people with disabilities want jobs that do more than pay the bills and want to feel they belong in the workplace, the team sought to replicate the humorous tone of a video created by Creative Spirit. They created tongue-and-cheek copy paired with photos from Getty Image’s archive to show that people with disabilities have “all the abilities” to thrive in the workplace.
