Cannes 2015: DDB, LG2 and Grey make the Press shortlist, Canada shut out of Mobile

DDB Vancouver, LG2 and Grey Canada all have a shot at Press Lions, while Canada was shut out of the Mobile competition, as the International Festival of Creativity got underway early Sunday morning.

The two shortlists were among the first official events of the Festival, following the Health Lions Thursday and Friday, with the Promo & Activation and Direct Lions shortlists also released this morning.

DDB Vancouver appears on the Press shortlist three times for Netflix ads, “Life of Pi,” “Ghostbusters” and “Fargo,” while LG2 has two executions, “Spouse” and “Soccer” for beer client Farnham Ale and Lager on the list. Farnham was named Client of the Year at the recent Marketing Awards thanks to the strong creative output from LG2.

Finally, Grey’s recent record of strong work for U.S. non-profit Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America continued with its “Ice Cream” making it onto the Press shortlist.

Canadian entries to the competition were down more than 13% this year (63 compared to 73 in 2014) while overall entries were down almost 11%.

Conversely, entries to the Mobile competition were up almost 5% (1,246 from 1,187) while Canadian entries were still down with just 21 submissions compared to 34 last year.

Aside from the first shortlists, the Festival’s jam-packed schedule of speakers also gets underway today with the first awards show and opening gala taking place Monday for the four competitions with shortlists out today: Press, Mobile, Direct and Promo & Activation.

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