It took a while (two awards shows, six competitions and seven press conferences, actually), but Canada struck gold in Cannes on Wednesday, winning three Gold Lions in Design and another in Cyber on the fourth day of the 58th International Festival of Creativity in the sunny south of France.
The big winner was Cossette with Cossette Media Montreal winning two of the Design Golds for two different clients: Theatre Du Nouveau Monde for “Cenakovski” (pictured, right) and Enablis for “I Am One Thousand.” The third Design Gold went to Sid Lee Architecture for Bota Bota‘s “Spa-on-Water.” Cossette Communication in Toronto also landed a Bronze Lion for Fiocca Studio. (Click here for the Cyber story.)
At the morning press conference to announce the winners, Design jury president Luciano Deos, director and president of GAD in Brazil, said the jury was looking for design work that contributed to the development of the brands.
Enablis is a non-profit dedicated to giving financial and professional support to entrepreneurs in West and South Africa, and in 2010 Enablis supported roughly 1,000 member entrepreneurs in Africa. To mark the accomplishment, Cossette created a series of papers with graphic styles that, as the agency said, “communicate a positive portrayal of Africa.”
Sid Lee partner and Design judge HĂ©lène Godin said at first pass some of the judges didn’t fully appreciate the work, but as they spent time with it they warmed up to it more and more. “Every year Enablis is a great product,” she said. “They’re really well crafted. The design is an experience itself on every page, from the choice of the typeface to the layout. This [year’s] project, though, is really special. They really raised the bar.”
The Theatre Du Nouveau Monde’s annual Cena benefit dinner had a Russian theme in 2010, so Cossette created “Cenakovski” including a menu that was actually a series of posters portraying a Russian doll, a bottle of vodka and a space shuttle for attendees to take home as a souvenir.
Aside from the Bronze for Fiocca Studio, Cossette Media was also shortlisted for the Espace Pour La Vie (Space for Life) identity for Montreal’s Biodome. Asked about the agency’s strong showing on the shortlist, which was released Tuesday, Cossette chief creative officer Antoine Becotte, himself a Cannes judge in the Direct competition, gave special credit to Barbara Jacques, head of the agency’s design department, but also cited extra effort across the agency to offer more integrated solutions to clients.
“Each and all of our team members have the necessary knowledge, skills and experience required to enable Cossette to offer its clients a totally integrated creative product over all platforms,” he said.
“We really work all together as an integrated agency; this is a big part of why we came up strong this year.”
Sid Lee’s Gold was for turning a ferryboat into a spa for Bota Bota (pictured, right). “I think the jury really understood the project,” said Godin, who had to leave the judging room when it came time to discuss whether it would medal. “It’s not [as immersive] as the Grand Prix. For example, in Bota Bota, we don’t have embedded digital, it’s not that complicated.”
The Grand Prix went to “The Cosmopolitan Digital Experience” for the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas by Digital Kitchen. The goal for the new hotel, which opened last New Year’s Eve, was to stand out from the other themed hotels in Sin City by appealing to the ‘creative class.’
The solution was a hotel that is also a massive digital art gallery with more than 500 digital displays built right into the building. “The thing that most excited us is that it is completely kinetic,” said juror Conor Brady, chief creative officer at Organic New York. “They created a publishing platform for art.”
He also singled out Digital Kitchen for their attention to detail. “They really are craftsmen. It’s almost as if they considered every single pixel that goes into the work.”
“This Grand Prix was a message from the jury to see design as an asset in developing immersive brand experiences,” added Godin.
In all, 86 awards were handed out Wednesday night: 31 of them Gold from a shortlist of 146 and 1,774 total submissions.
