A historic week at the Cannes Lions Festival for Canada has ended with a significant honour for Rethink, as the agency was named Independent Network of the Year and Independent Agency of the Year.
Rethink was named the top indie network for scoring the most points for shortlisted and awarded entries across Cannes Lions categories, among all independent entrants. Within the independent agency rankings at Cannes, Rethink finished atop the Classic, Engagement, Experience and Strategy tracks.
Rethink also finished second in the overall Agency of the Year rankings, behind Publicis Conseil Paris, while Ogilvy finished third. In the overall agency rankings, Rethink finished first in the Engagement and Strategy tracks.
The festival also named Ogilvy as the overall Network of the Year, WPP the top Creative Company of the Year, and Unilever the Creative Marketer of the Year.
“Our aim as an agency is to set the standard with our work and our values. Cannes Lions are an incredible celebration of that standard and we are thrilled to be recognized in this way, after a week of celebrating all the work we have done with our clients across all of our offices, amongst the incredible work from around the world,” Rethink global chief strategy officer and partner Sean McDonald tells strategy.
The big wins for Rethink comes as the Cannes Lions Festival closes with 66 Lions in total for Canadian agencies, the most the country has ever received in a single year.
The record-high Lion wins were capped off on Thursday night with two Grand Prix awards, recognizing Rethink for Heinz Ketchup’s “It Has to Be Heinz” campaign in the Creative Effectiveness category, and Klick Health for the “Voice 2 Diabetes” campaign with KVI Brave Fund in the Innovation category. The day was rounded out by another Gold Lion for Rethink, this time rewarding the “Coors Lights Out” campaign in Brand Activation & Experience, as well as Dentsu for SkipTheDishes’ “Inflation Cookbook” in Creative Strategy and Edelman for IKEA’s “SHT” campaign in Creative Commerce.
The country picked up four more lions on Friday in the Film and Sustainable Development categories. Klick Health picked up another Silver Lion, this time for Cafe Joyeux’s “47” campaign, while Bronze Lions were awarded to Critical Mass for its “Driving While Black” campaign with the Courageous Conversation Global Foundation, Angry Butterfly for “Next to Stok’d” with Stok’d Cannabis, and FCB for “Inployable” with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society.
Among Canada’s 66 awards in Cannes this year, Rethink has won the lion’s share, with 24 honours including a Grand Prix. The other most decorated Canadian agencies this year include Klick Health with eight awards, Dentsu with seven, FCB and Ogilvy with five and Edelman with four.
Lions Nominations and Wins (By Category)
Audio & Radio: 0 shortlists
Brand Experience & Activation: 1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze, 14 shortlists
Creative Business Transformation: 1 bronze, 3 shortlists
Creative B2B: 1 bronze, 1 shortlist
Creative Commerce: 1 gold, 1 bronze, 3 shortlists
Creative Data: 1 shortlist
Creative Effectiveness: 1 Grand Prix, 2 shortlists
Creative Strategy: 1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze, 12 shortlists
Design: 1 silver, 1 bronze 10 shortlists
Digital Craft: 2 silver, 3 shortlists
Direct: 1 gold, 3 bronze, 11 shortlists
Entertainment: 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze, 5 shortlists
Entertainment for Gaming: 0 shortlists.
Entertainment for Music: 1 bronze, 1 shortlist
Entertainment for Sport: 1 gold, 2 bronze, 8 shortlists
Film: 1 silver, 2 bronze, 13 shortlists
Film Craft: 1 silver, 1 bronze, 7 shortlists
Health & Wellness: 1 silver, 2 bronze, 7 shortlists
Industry Craft: 1 silver, 3 shortlists
Innovation: 1 Grand Prix
Luxury & Lifestyle: 1 shortlist
Media: 1 gold, 4 silver, 4 bronze, 21 shortlists
Outdoor: 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze, 11 shortlists
Pharma: 1 gold, 3 shortlists
PR: 1 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze, 14 shortlists
Print & Publishing: 0 shortlists
Social & Influencer: 1 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze, 9 shortlists
Sustainable Development Goals: 1 bronze, 3 shortlists
Lions Nominations & Wins (By Agency)
Rethink: 1 Grand Prix, 5 gold, 8 silver, 10 bronze, 44 shortlists
Klick Health: 1 Grand Prix, 2 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze, 15 shortlists
Dentsu: 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze, 9 shortlists
Edelman: 1 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze, 11 shortlists
FCB: 1 gold, 4 bronze, 18 shortlists
Ogilvy Toronto: 2 silver, 3 bronze, 11 shortlists
VML: 2 silver, 8 shortlists
Critical Mass: 1 silver, 1 bronze, 10 shortlists
Courage: 1 silver, 1 bronze, 5 shortlists
Broken Heart Love Affair: 1 silver, 2 shortlists
Leo Burnett: 1 silver, 1 shortlist
Angry Butterfly: 2 bronze, 5 shortlists
Bensimon Byrne: 1 bronze, 6 shortlists
Cossette: 1 bronze, 4 shortlists
LG2: 1 bronze, 4 shortlists
Sid Lee Montreal: 1 bronze, 2 shortlists
Kid Studio: 1 bronze, 1 shortlist
Zulu Alpha Kilo: 4 shortlists
No Fixed Address: 2 shortlists
Publicis: 2 shortlists
Citizen Relations: 1 shortlist
Lifelong Crush: 1 shortlist
Tank Worldwide: 1 shortlist
Country Lion totals
Grand Prix: 2
Gold: 11
Silver: 23
Bronze: 30
Shortlists: 166