Ahead of this year’s festival kicking off on June 19, Cannes Lions has released the shortlists for three of its most competitive categories, with two Canadian agencies earning nominations.
The Glass Lion is meant to recognize “culture shifting creativity” and typically awards work that champions equity and diversity. Among the 21 entries shortlisted for a Glass Lion was BBDO Toronto’s “Missing Matoaka” campaign for Muskrat Magazine.
The campaign aimed to more accurately tell the story of Matoaka, the girl more commonly referred to in history and culture as Pocahontas. It involved creating an alternative audio track for the animated film that corrected romanticized depictions of Pocahontas that has shaped false narratives about Indigenous women and obstructed real-world events and harms, such as the Highway of Tears or the fact that Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than any other demographic group.
In the Innovation Lions, Angry Butterfly’s “Bill It To Bezos” was one of the 19 shortlisted campaigns.
Created for the Jane/Finch Community Centre, the campaign aimed to turn Amazon Prime members into donors. Members receive $3.50 every month to donate to their favourite personalities on Amazon-owned streaming service Twitch, but many – especially those who don’t regularly use Twitch – are either unaware of this fact or let their money go unused. To entice them into sending that money to a JFC Twitch account, Angry Butterfly framed it as a way to get one over on Jeff Bezos, complete with an AI-generated likeness of the Amazon owner explaining that sending $3.50 to JFC not only supports the community centre, but ensuring that money doesn’t go back into his own pocket.
There was no Canadian work among the 17 campaign shortlisted for a Titanium Lion, given to big ideas that deliver “game-changing” creativity.
The Innovation Lions will be awarded on Thursday, June 22. The Glass and Titanium Lions will be awarded on Friday, June 23.
Glass Lion
BBDO Toronto
Muskrat Magazine, “Missing Matoaka”
Partners: Flare BBDO, Glossy PR, Hype PR
Innovation Lions
Angry Butterfly
Jane/Finch Community Centre, “Bill It To Bezos”
Applied Innovation
Partners: Pirate Audio Production
