Though Canadian work showed up on the Design shortlist 13 times, Leo Burnett was the only agency to walk away with a Design Lion Tuesday night at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
After being shortlisted twice for Printed by Somerset, the Toronto agency walked away with a Silver Lion in Website Design.
While it won’t go down as an official Canadian win because it was entered by a U.S.-based agency, Canada Goose’s “Out There” won a Gold Lion in the Video/Moving Images category. The sweeping, cinematic, five-minute film was developed by Canada’s Goose’s creative agency CAA and directed by Canadian director Paul Haggis.
In total seven Canadian agencies made the shortlist. In addition to Leo Burnett, LG2 and DDB also earned two nominations apiece.
“The competition is very fierce and the jury was ruthless,” said jury member and LG2 partner Claude Achu. Some Canadian work was considered for a Lion, but got left at the shortlist by the demanding judges, he said.
Grand Prix went to Dentsu Tokyo for Panasonic’s “Life is Electric.” To celebrate the 10th anniversary of its eneloop battery, the agency and the Tokyo-based electronics company charged 21 eneloop batteries with energy created in daily life —from a hamster running on a wheel to a weight-lifting session. The batteries got their own custom-designed package, catalogue and a video about how it was charged.
“We wanted to give a Grand Prix to a big brand that was brave — because we’re also awarding the client not only an agency — and we wanted something that had been applied to many touchpoints, not just a single activation,” said jury president Tristan Macherel, executive creative director at Landor, during a press conference announcing the winners Tuesday morning.
He said Panasonic’s piece was particularly impressive because it changed consumers’ perception of a commodity product “by bringing storytelling into every space of where this brand is in contact with the consumer.”
Winners in the Product Design competition were also announced during the Tuesday evening awards show, but no Canadian entries made the shortlist.
Amina Horozic, jury president and lead industrial designer at Fuseproject, said a majority of the entries were purpose-driven, attempting to solve some of the problems the world faces today.
Winning Grand Prix was a touch-sensitive fabric from Google ATAP’s Project Jaquard. According to its website, Project Jacquard “makes it possible to weave touch and gesture interactivity into any textile using standard, industrial looms.
Everyday objects such as clothes and furniture can be transformed into interactive surfaces.”
“It can enable us to make a better world, a safe world and a world we want to live in… And we hope will encourage the product design community to challenge the status quo and to build a better world for everyone,” she said.
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