Cannes Lions has only just begun for 2022, and several Canadian agencies already have their eyes on the festival’s top prizes.
The first batch of shortlists on Sunday and Monday mornings brought 45 shortlist mentions for Canadian agencies. Combined with the early shortlists released last week, that gives them 49 chances to win before the first award ceremony of this year’s festival.
On Friday, Cannes Lions released the entry numbers for 2022, showing 25,464 entries were made from 87 countries. That’s down compared to the double-cohort last year, which also allowed entries that would have been submitted in the cancelled 2020 Lions, when there were 29,074 entries. It’s also down compared to the last pre-pandemic Lions in 2019, when there were 30,953 entries.
Canadian agencies submitted 842 entries this year, down slightly from 904 in 2019, with entries across every category. The most popular category was Health & Wellness with 74, followed by Media with 63, after the festival updated the criteria and weighting structure for this year. Other popular categories were Design (61), Direct (59), Experience (53) and PR (52).
There were also 15 Canadian entries for the new Creative B2B Lions, as well as 17 in the revamped Commerce Lions.
The first Lions gala of 2022 takes place Monday afternoon (beginning at 7 p.m. in Cannes, and 1 p.m. EDT), where the Outdoor, Print, Radio, Pharma and Health & Wellness Lions will be awarded.
Canadian Lion wins (by category)
Design: 10 Shortlists
Digital Craft: 6 Shortlists
Entertainment: 1 Shortlist
Entertainment for Music: 1 Shortlist
Entertainment for Sport: 1 Shortlist
Film Craft: 4 Shortlists
Glass: 2 Shortlists
Health & Wellness: 10 Shortlists
Industry Craft: 2 Shortlists
Innovation: 1 Shortlist
Outdoor: 6 Shortlists
Pharma: 0 Shortlists
Radio & Audio: 0 Shortlists
Print & Publishing: 5 Shortlists
Titanium: 1 Shortlist
