When Tuvalu loses its physical land, under current law it will lose all its rights.
The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, picked up the Grand Prix in the coveted Dan Wieden Titanium Lions category at Cannes on Friday for its work to help Tuvalu legally create a fully digital version of itself—so it can survive when rising sea levels inevitably wipe out the Pacific island nation’s physical presence.
The effort is intended to safeguard Tuvalu’s culture and sovereignty in the event of territory loss and displacement due to climate change.
“‘The First Digital Nation’ is a provocative response to a question no one wants to have to ask—What happens to a country without land?” Tara Ford, chief creative officer of The Monkeys, told Ad Age earlier this week. “It challenges our very understanding of what a nation is in the physical, emotional, political and personal sense. It will help Tuvalu adapt in the face of an ever-growing climate crisis, while at the same time putting pressure on world leaders to mitigate their impact on the planet. It will help save their sovereignty, and in years to come allow the spirit and soul of the nation of Tuvalu to live on when the land is no more.”
David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song and president of the Titanium jury (who abstained from final deliberations, as The Monkeys is an Accenture agency), said efforts like “The First Digital Nation” prove the worth of ad agencies as creative problem solvers, not just communicators.
“This is not a technology idea, as such,” Droga said at a press conference Friday. “This is not a storytelling idea. It’s not an idea about changing perception. This is about having their borders recognized digitally, so they can save their GDP as a nation. When they are dispersed, which is inevitable, wherever they end up, all their fishing rights remain so they will have income, they will have an economy.”
Three other Titanium Lions were awarded in the category. (Unlike most categories at Cannes, there are no Gold, Silver and Bronze in Titanium.) They went to:
• “Bring Home the Bud” for Budweiser by Wieden+Kennedy New York, Wieden+Kennedy Sao Paulo and Africa Creative DDB, Sao Paulo
• “Where to Settle” for Mastercard by McCann Warsaw
• “Corona Extra Lime” for Corona by Draftline Shanghai, David Bogotá and David New York
