An annual advertising festival is held in French Cannes. But this is not just a video and photo presentation contest. This is a real creative extravaganza, representing the masterpieces of the best advertising authors from around the world. Geniuses of creative thought bring to the Cannes Lions festival their most original, most successful, and sometimes even the most ironic works. Winners become a model of marketing and a role model for many years.
History of the Advertising Festival
It has long been established that actors and directors are awarded for their films, and musicians for their music. The former have an Oscar, the latter have a Grammy. But after all, no less talented people work in the advertising business industry. They are the same creative and ambitious personalities as the artists. And if so, why is there not a single prestigious international award in this direction? It was this idea that came to the head of a group of advertisers. At that time, they were selling time before films in cinemas, which prompted them to think about creating an award from marketing. And enthusiasts inspired by this idea decided to found it for their colleagues. They were inspired by the example of the famous Cannes Film Festival, which by then had already been successfully held for 14 years, and already in 1954 the world saw the first festival for creators of advertising. Initially, it was held not only in Cannes, but also in Venice, and in 1977 the competition found its permanent refuge and began to be held exclusively in French Cannes.
Golden Lions Festival
The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival has its coveted prizes. And it is not surprising that the treasured figurines are made in the form of proud predators - lions. These figures are the most coveted prize for all marketing industry workers worldwide. Naturally, the most prestigious are the golden lions. This is a kind of first place in the advertising championship. But “silver” and “bronze” enjoy no less honor and respect from colleagues and spectators, because from the huge number of competitive applications the jury selects only a few really worthy.
The number of nominations is increasing every year. Today at the festival "Cannes Lions" are presented and television, and interactive, and outdoor, and even radio advertising.
Holding an international advertising festival
Every year in June, a holiday comes to French Cannes - here for seven days the Cannes Lions advertising festival takes place. Every time about 10 thousand representatives of the marketing industry and the advertising business come here. This is not only a competition, but also a platform for the exchange of experience and solving pressing problems.
More than 16 thousand works, ideas and presentations are brought to Cannes, which form an exhibition within the framework of the festival. In addition, seminars are held by reputable representatives of the advertising industry. And, of course, the competition itself takes place, during which an impartial jury selects the best in each category.
Nominations of the festival competition program
As part of the competition days, the jury selects the winners in the following categories:
- Film.
- Press and Outdoor.
- Cyber Lions.
- Media Lions.
- Direct Lions.
- Promo Lions.
- Titanium Lions.
In addition to these categories, there is a competition for aspiring advertisers, the winners of which are also awarded festival prizes. This competition is held as part of the youth program and also includes a gala evening for young contestants. In addition, the awards are awarded at the festival "Network of the Year", "Agency of the Year" and "Palm Branch" (for the best production studios). All this is the competition of commercials "Cannes Lions".
Composition of international delegations and jury
Representatives of the marketing industry from all over the world come to the Cannes Lions festival. From each participating country, 2 participants are declared: copywriter and creative director. As for the jury, everything here is no less strict. It annually includes the most respected and well-known advertising and marketing professionals from twenty countries. Interestingly, becoming a jury representative is possible only once. This criterion, coupled with a very serious, truly meticulous selection of the participants' works, makes the festival prize such a prestigious award. For example, if a company was able to get the Cannes Lion, it’s not worth mentioning any of its other achievements: the main prize of the competition is already a guarantor of the laureate’s professionalism.
Russian companies at an advertising festival
Every year Russian works take part in the competition program of the festival. And our compatriots have more than once been awarded a prestigious prize. For example, in 2013, a social project of the Voskhod agency called “Make Politicians Work” in 2013 collected a whole set of awards: bronze, silver, and as many as five golden lions.
A year earlier, Leo Burnett Moscow agency also received "gold" for the video "Little Ring for Happiness, " created for the McDonald's company. And in 2011, the same team won the Golden Lion in the category of outdoor advertising. Thus, the recognition of Russian creators at the international level is not uncommon.
After the end of the festival, the contestants bring their work back to Russia and make presentations in different cities, where you can see not only the ads of our compatriots, but also the winning projects of the Cannes Lions contest. Moscow, along with St. Petersburg and other major cities, is the place where such shows are constantly held.
Outdoor advertising at the 2015 festival
One of the most spectacular and creative nominations is outdoor advertising. These are banners and posters placed around the city. Their main task is to attract attention. And perhaps the most extraordinary and creative of all advertisers are working in this category.
This year was no exception for the festival and again presented the most unusual and catchy works in the nomination Outdoor.
The winner in the outdoor advertising category was Apple with its World Gallery idea on the value of photos taken with smartphones. This campaign has been successful in 25 countries. All the amateur footage made for this project can be seen on the Internet or Apple’s television spots.
An advertisement for round-the-clock bike rental in Buenos Aires was another winner in the nomination. The main idea of billboards is the strongest natural traction.
Bright nominees for this year:
- Unicef Children's Fund, an advertisement in support of the fight against bullying on the Internet;
- Ecofill advertising, which turned out to be the brightest of those presented and representing the life cycle of a print cartridge;
- an advertisement for a Honda dealer - Alghanim Motors, which showed a visual irony to the intricate prompts of local residents to lost motorists;
- Look At Me campaign urging women not to endure domestic violence, and others.
Advertising Festival "Cannes Lions 2015". Winners
In 2015, Cannes Lions received gold campaigns that reveal acute social and social problems. Among them is social advertising directed against female circumcision; Convergence project from Coca Cola; advertising for the Museum of the Great Patriotic War in the town of Mo; advertising cream to prevent the risk of developing breast cancer.
In addition to the acute sore problems of society, simply creative projects were noted at the festival. For example, the ironic campaign of the Smart brand, aimed at the nearest competitors. Or a beautiful idea from Air Asia, showing the waterfalls and other beauties of Thailand under the influx of tourists. Or a charming Mars ad showing food packages for animals that have been torn by cats.
Well, or a very caustic work of a beer producer, in which there is a clear hint at last year's Mundial final.
