“Content that becomes culture” is what made the 28 Entertainment Lion-winning campaigns worthy of a medal, announced jury president Brent Anderson, global CCO at TBWA\Media Arts Lab, during a pre-awards show press conference Tuesday morning.

Almost every jury has some sort of guiding light mantra when deliberating work placed on their desks in Cannes. But it’s almost as though the two Canadian pieces – “Missing Matoaka” by BBDO and the “Unburnable Book” by Rethink – were the flip of that.

They both took cultural icons (or relics, depending on how you look at Pocahontas) and reimagined them through content.

First, BBDO – which took home a Silver Lion – created an entirely new alternative audio track for Pocahonatas that told the story of Matoaka, the historical character’s real name, in an effort to counter the harmful representation portrayed in the Disney film. It’s an incredibly strong and elaborately complicated case that is getting shortlist nods across the board, even winning a Gold on the first night in Cannes, and a Silver in Digital Craft this evening. However, in speaking with juror Leo Macias, global VP of marketing and activation at Amazon, the campaign fell short of jumping from Silver to Gold in Entertainment because the jury felt the application of the tech was slightly lacking.

Second, Rethink, which took home a Bronze, re-designed Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale from Penguin Random House to be fireproof. The idea was to make an “Unburnable Book” that took a stand against censorship of the book, which is currently banned in U.S. schools and libraries. The film shows Atwood attempting to burn the special edition with a flamethrower, to no avail, and also came with a caveat when it came to where it placed in Cannes – Macias told strategy that it felt more like a PR idea, versus an Entertainment piece, but that it was remarkable enough to be worthy of a medal.

Of the other shortlisted entertainment categories, Canada did not win in Entertainment for Gaming, where it had one nominee, “Chatham Plays On” for OLG by The Hive. There were no Canadian nominees in the Entertainment for Music and Sport categories.

THE WORK

Entertainment (2)

Silver

“Missing Matoaka”
Muskrat Magazine
BBDO Toronto

Bronze

“The Unburnable Book”
Penguin Books Random House
Rethink Toronto