With delegates still flooding into Cannes and joining the long line to get their passes, the awards component of the International Festival of Creativity began in earnest Sunday morning with the release of the first shortlists. Nine Canadian entries made the lists in the Promo & Activation, Direct and Innovation competitions.
In the Promo & Activation categories, there are six Canadian entries in contention.
Lowe Roche‘s “The Living Piano” made the list twice for client Groupe Média TFO, along with the “Trial of Suzuki” by John St. for Cape Farewell, and “Pyramid Scheme the Rainbow” by BBDO Toronto for Wrigley Canada‘s oft-awarded Skittles brand.
Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto‘s “Surrender Your Say–Twitter Campaign” for the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada has already won big at the Media Innovation Awards and the Marketing Awards back home and now has a chance at a Lion, similarly Grey Toronto‘s work for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has garnered a lot of praise in Canada and the U.S. and now its “Skip Starbucks Saturday” effort could win the agency a Lion on Monday night when the awards are handed out.
While not listed as Canadian entries, Sid Lee‘s Paris office made the list three times, twice for “We Were There” for BNP Paribas and once for “Assassin’s Creed IV, Black Flag-Defy History” for Ubisoft EMEA.
Lisa Greenberg, senior vice-president and head of art for Leo Burnett Toronto is on the jury from Canada. Interest in the categories was up this year with 3,241 entries in total compared to 2,974 last year. Canadian contributions were down however with just 74 compared to 89 last year.
In the Direct competition where there were 48 Canadian entries (down from 64 last year), two submissions have a chance at a Lion: “Catnip DM” by Rethink Vancouver for The Bulk Cat Litter Warehouse as well as Grey’s “Skip Starbucks Saturday.” Sid Lee Paris duplicated its performance in the Promo & Activation getting three nominations, twice for BNP Paribas and once for Ubisoft.
In total there were 2,677 entries up from 2,578 last year (and just 1,441 in 2010).
Canada is represented on the jury by Roehl Sanchez, executive vice-president and chief creative officer of BIMM in Toronto.
It’s just year two for the Innovation Lions, created in 2013 to honour “breakthrough technology and innovation that may allow brands, technologists and creatives to communicate with their customers in a new way, or might stand alone as significant innovation in their own right.” This year there were just two Canadian entries, and one of them made the list: Bublcam‘s 360-degree camera. Brian Wong, founder of Kiip is on the jury from Canada.
The Innovation Lions will be awarded Saturday during the closing awards show gala.
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