It ain’t easy winning a Lion. So Canada should be proud of the hardware it took home from the Cannes ad festival: three Golds, two Silvers and three Bronzes.

Toronto-based Zig snagged the first Gold of the week, for its ‘Low Voice’ radio spot for Ikea Canada. The spot features a low, Darth Vaderesque female voice complaining about getting a terrible sleep. The iconic Ikea guy chimes in that she should get a better mattress from Ikea. The woman’s voice then declares she feels much better thanks to her new Ikea mattress. The twist? She still has the low voice. And Montreal-based Sid Lee received a Bronze Radio Lion for the spot ‘What’s New’ for antique dealer Jean Lacasse Antiquaire.

Toronto-based GJP took home a Gold in the inaugural Design category for its brochure for Toronto-based Gee Beauty’s waxing studio, Down Below. The jury was impressed by the simplicity of the brochure featuring diagrams of the personal grooming options the studio offers. ‘It’s one of those extremely sensitive subjects, a bit taboo, and they handled it with wit, elegance and humour,’ says juror Steff Geissbuhler, founding partner at New York-based C&G Partners. He says the jury was also struck by Taxi Canada’s 15 Below and its coats-for-the-homeless campaign, which won a silver in Design. ‘It was amazingly strong to talk so directly to a market of homeless people,’ says Geissbuhler. ‘The design was so appropriate. It didn’t try to be fancy. It was true to the subject matter.’

Toronto-based Taxi 2 scored a Gold Cyber Lion for its ‘Minimalism’ site for Mini. The site lets consumers decide how much info they want about the car by choosing the length of the pitch they listen to – which entailed a variety of different scripts. Canadian judge Dominique Trudeau, interactive & design CD at Taxi Montreal, says of the jury response: ‘No discussions, they just loved it, because it was the best use of media for that consumer insight.’

BBDO Toronto won a campaign silver in Film for its Diet 7-Up spots ‘Elevator Small Talk Tony’ and ‘Emoticon Susan’ for Pepsi-QTG Toronto. Halifax-based Extreme Group won a Bronze for its spot ‘Nail’ for Workers Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. DDB Vancouver scored a Bronze campaign Lion for its spots ‘Elevator’ and ‘Metal Shop’ for Pacific Blue Cross.

Canada turned up empty-handed in the Direct, Promo, Titanium, Outdoor, Media and Integrated categories. Canadian Promo judge Rico DiGiovanni, president/partner at Toronto-based Spider Marketing Solutions, says more Canadians should enter: ‘I’ve seen a lot of great Canadian work this year that wasn’t here.’