Canadian agencies and their production partners are getting some looks for their technical skills at Cannes Lions this year, with almost two dozen nominations in the Festival’s four Craft categories.
In Film Craft, Bensimon Byrne’s “Day After Day” for White Ribbon earned all four of the Canadian nominations. The video, which dove into the rise in domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, was shortlisted for scriptwriting, the work of director Hubert Davis and its use of music and sound design. Sound design studio Berkeley and Untitled Films were among the production partners Bensimon Byrne enlisted for the campaign.
In the other craft categories, Performance Art also earned three nominations for its work on Black & Abroad’s “Black Elevation Map,” an online travel planning site that uses things like population data, historical markers, Black-owned businesses and social media activity, and visualizes it as points of interest on a dynamic, searchable elevation map for Black travellers. The campaign picked up two nomination in Digital Craft, as well as one in Design.
FCB Canada also earned three shortlist mentions. Two came in Design for its work on Lotto Max’s “Dream Drop,” which turned a capsule collection of merch into actual lottery tickets, while it also added one more to its nomination for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society’s “The Mindsets Paper” in Digital Craft.
Rethink was the only Canadian agency on the Industry Craft shortlists. One came for “Periods for Periods,” an effort with 140 designers to create a font made entirely out of periods to be used in tweets and letters to officials as a protest for accessibility to menstrual products. It also earned another mention for “Colours of Pride,” a campaign for Fondation Émergence that made a Pride flag out of close-up images 0f bruises and other signs of struggle in the ongoing fight for 2SLGBTQ+ rights, as well as for its rebrand of the National Magazine Awards.
Zulu Alpha Kilo added a pair of nominations in Design – another for Pfaff Harley-Davidson’s “Tough Turban,” and one for SingleCut Beersmith’s “Notes IPA.” Jam3 also earned two shortlist mentions in Digital Craft for its work promoting Adidas’ Ozworld collection of sneakers, which it did with a platform that allowed people to create highly stylized metaverse avatars decked out in the brand’s gear.
In Design, BBDO and Sid Lee also earned nominations, while a collaborative campaign between Grey Canada and Tank for Razom picked up a nomination in Digital Craft.
Lions in the Craft categories will be awarded during Tuesday’s gala alongside those in the Entertainment categories.
Design (10)
BBDO Canada
Canadian Paralympic Committee, “Para Expansion Pack”
Infant Products, Toys & Educational Product
FCB Canada
Lotto Max (OLG), “Dream Drop”
Lifestyle, Fashion, Leisure, Sports & Outdoor
Promotional Item Design
Partners: Mediacom, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Common Good, Cruel, Grayson Music, Mr. Saturday
Performance Art
Black & Abroad, “The Black Elevation Map”
Data Visualization
Partners: Initiative, Glossy PR, Kinesso, Meta, Reprise Media, Alfredo Films, Vocal Type Co., Alter Ego, TA2 Sound + Music
Rethink
Fondation Émergence, “Colours of Pride”
Special Editions & Bespoke Items
Partners: Grayson Music
National Magazine Awards, “National Magazine Awards”
Rebrand/Refresh of an Existing Brand
Purdy’s, “Purdy’s Holiday Braille Box”
Food
Partners: R+D Productions, Wave Production
Sid Lee
Ellen MacArthur Foundation, “Circular Design For Fashion”
Books
Partners: M&H, Seacourt Printing
Zulu Alpha Kilo
Pfaff Harley-Davidson, “The Tough Turban”
Special Editions & Bespoke Items
Partners: Zulubot, Select PR, Nelson Connects, Spark Innovations
SingleCut Beersmiths, “Notes IPA”
Drinks
Partners: Spark Innovations, Table of Content, Zulubot
Digital Craft (6)
FCB Canada
Canadian Down Syndrome Society, “The Mindsets Paper”
Data Storytelling
Partners: Fuel Content, Grayson Music, Radar Studios, Bliss Interactive
Jam3
Adidas, “Adidas Ozworld”
Experience Design: Multi-platform
New Realities
Performance Art
Black & Abroad, “The Black Elevation Map”
Curation of Data
Data Visualization
Partners: Initiative, Glossy PR, Kinesso, Meta, Reprise Media, Alfredo Films, Vocal Type Co., Alter Ego, TA2 Sound + Music
Grey Canada/Tank
Razom, “Feel What We Feel”
Real-time Contextual Content
Partners: Mindshare, Hill + Knowlton Strategies, Rodeo FX, Kffein
Film Craft (4)
Bensimon Byrne
White Ribbon, “Day After Day”
Direction
Script
Sound Design
Use of Original Music
Partners: Untitled Films, Alter Ego, Berkeley, Fort York VFX, Rooster Post Production, Jigsaw Casting
Industry Craft (2)
Rethink
Fondation Émergence, “Colours of Pride”
Print & Publishing
Partners: Grayson Music
Periods for Periods, “Periods for Periods”
Brand & Communications Design
