With the 60th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity getting underway in France, the first cluster of competition finalists has been revealed and Canadian agencies are in contention.
Canadian shops earned two finalist spots in the Direct Lions competition. “Our Food. Your Questions,” the Tribal DDB/DDB Canada integrated campaign for McDonald’s Canada landed the one spot. The campaign, which allowed customers to ask un-filtered questions of the QSR giant and receive answers back across a variety of media, won Best of Show at the Marketing Awards, and is expected to do well across a variety of Cannes Lions contests.
Lowe Roche‘s “Instant DM” for Pfaff Automotive grabbed the other Direct Lion nod. The DM program saw the automotive dealer taking photos of luxury automobiles in front of prospective clients’ homes, producing a highly customized direct mail piece that could be delivered instantly.
Canadian agencies upped their involvement in the Direct competition this year, submitting 64 campaigns for consideration – a 36% increase over last year. The two finalists are up against nearly 300 direct shortlisted entries – a culling of the 2,578 ideas submitted for consideration.
Trish Wheaton, global chief marketing officer at Wunderman and a managing partner at Y&R, is Canada’s representative on the 27-member Direct jury.
In Promo & Activation, four Canadian efforts made the shortlist. McDonald’s “Our Food. Your Questions” earned its second shot at a Lion in this competition’s Best use of Social Media Marketing in a Promotional Campaign category.
Labatt Breweries of Canada and Anomaly‘s “Budweiser Red Lights” – an arena-style goal light that flashed when a customer’s favourite hockey team scored – was named in the Best New Product Launch/Re-Launch or Multi-Product Promotion category and again in the Best Integrated Campaign Led by Promotion and Activation category. A second Labatt project – Kokanee’s full-length branded film, The Movie Out Here from Grip Ltd. – also get a shortlist nod in the Alcoholic Drinks category.
The “Chewmelier” concept for Maynards‘ wine gums product – a project designed by Toronto agency The Hive – shortlisted in Food & Non-Alcoholic Drinks. The idea put a “chewmelier” (i.e. a somalier for wine gums) at wine events to demnostrate the product to wine experts using the language and tone of fine wines.
John St.’s “The Inevitable News,” another Marketing Award winner, is in the running in the Public Health & Safety contest. The work for World Wildlife Fund Canada was based on the idea that an oil spill was an “inevitable” part of the Northern Gateway Pipeline, and reported this as news.
One Advertising senior vice-president and creative director Karen Howe represents Canada on the 31-person Promo jury.
The shortlist for the Innovation Lions contest had been released previously. Canada has one entry in contention – Teehan + Lax’s Google Street View Hyperlapse.
