Some of Canada’s top agencies better start packing their bags now. They’ll need to ensure they have enough space for all the Lions they’ll be taking home at the end of the week.
On Wednesday evening in Cannes, it rained Gold, Silver and Bronze (not to forget a Grand Prix in Direct) for Canada in the Social & Influencer, PR, Creative Data and Media categories.
The agencies included FCB, Rethink, Ogilvy, Angry Butterfly, Edelman, Dentsu Creative and The Kitchen, all of which picked up trophies in popular categories that ended up being vary picky about how many Lions they awarded. The shops picked up seven of 49 Social & Influencer Lions; four of 52 PR Lions; two of 60 Media Lions; and one of 15 Creative Data Lions.
That’s a total of 14 Lions – 5 Golds, 4 Silvers and 5 Bronzes. That’s not including the Direct Lions – a Grand Prix, plus two Bronzes – that were also won this evening in Cannes, bringing Canada’s total takeaway to 17.
Rethink led the way with the most wins, with five in total. The agency was awarded a Gold, a Silver and three Bronze for work for Decathlon, IKEA, Heinz Ketchup and Penguin Books. Meanwhile, FCB led the pack when it came to the most Golds, with one for BMO and one for Adidas. FCB also left with two Silvers and one Bronze for work for Voila by Sobeys and Adidas. Dove’s “Cost of Beauty” by Ogilvy won its second Gold for 2023, while Angry Butterfly picked up its first-ever Gold for Jane/Finch Community Centre’s “Bill it to Bezos” (the rest of the night’s winners can be seen below).
Speaking with Edelman’s Andrew Simon, who served as a PR juror, as well as Angry Butterfly’s Brent Choi, a Social & Influencer juror, following the press conference, both told strategy that there tends to be an overlap of work within the categories they judged.
“Everyone just enters integrated case studies… So they show everything: TV, PR, OOH. And then there’s 15 seconds on social, so we end up having to look [the social work up],” said Choi, noting that judges have to put the work through a fine-tooth comb, which comes with a lot time and rigour. “They made it so hard for us to love it because there are so many other mediums.”
Simon also talked about FCB’s “Runner 321,” which was in contention for a PR Grand Prix, having made it into the final discussions. According to PR jury president Jo-ann Robertson, CEO of global markets at Ketchum, the campaign fell just short of the criteria the panel used to assess the work. While it was earned at the core, embedded into culture, and had strong business and social impact, the case, lacked context behind any long-standing commitment the brand has to the Down syndrome community.
For context, the “Runner 321” campaign got hundreds of major marathons to hold the “321” runner’s spot for a person with Down syndrome. The number is from the chromosome that causes Down syndrome, and by calling on major running events to participate, they can help athletes with Down syndrome to see themselves in mainstream sports.
“If we saw a deeper commitment than just, ‘Let’s secure the [321] position or encourage other marathons to open this position,’ [maybe it would have won the Grand Prix],” said Simon. “It doesn’t have to be financial, it just felt like the company could have done more work to support the issue. Or [if they did], at least bring it to our attention [in the case study]. But it did get a Gold. I wouldn’t complain about that.”
The Work
Social & Influencer (7)
Gold
“Next LVL”
Bank of Montreal
FCB
Called NXT LVL, BMO’s platform educates and informs gamers about personal finances through live gaming. To put its money where it’s mouth is, the financial institution found a new job for one of its own, personal banker Sean Frame. He is the bank’s gaming relations specialist (GRS), a position that 50 employees were vying for and what many people would probably consider a dream job.
Gold
“Cost of Beauty”
Dove
Ogilvy Toronto
Gold
“Bill it to Bezos”
Jane/Finch Community Centre
Angry Butterfly
Silver
“#KeepTheGrey”
Dove
Edelman
Silver
“Trending 2 Table”
Voila by Sobeys
FCB
Silver
“Heinz A.I. Ketchup”
Heinz Ketchup
Rethink
Bronze
“Runner 321”
Adidas
FCB
PR (4)
Gold
Silver
“Runner 321”
Adidas
FCB
Bronze
“The Unburnable Book”
Penguin Books Random House
Rethink
Bronze
“#FindTheKetchupBoatGuy”
Heinz Ketchup
The Kitchen
HEINZ #FindTheKetchupBoatGuy – Case Video from Sean Kinton on Vimeo.
Media (2)
Gold
“Ability Signs”
Decathlon
Rethink
Bronze
“IKEA Window Shopping”
IKEA
Rethink
Creative Data (1)
Bronze
“Inflation Cookbook”
SkipTheDishes
Dentsu Creative
With inflation at an all-time high and many families turning to food banks to feed their families, SkipTheDishes and Dentsu sought to create an “inflation-fighting grocery shopping tool” that would help Canadians “take inflation out of their cart.” An algorithm was created to monitor major grocery stores and changing food prices to determine a national average pricing trend. Users of the “Inflation Cookbook” app could see where prices were up or down for different food ingredients. The app then sent a weekly grocery list of affordable items for them to purchase. Users could also personalize their profile to pull ingredients that would cater to their family’s size and needs. They could then buy their weekly grocery items through the Skip Express lane, the company’s 25-minutes-or-less grocery delivery service.
