While cocktails, seaside lunches and late-night parties were not part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this year, the awarding of what many consider to be the industry’s top accolades returned during the virtual edition of the fete that ran all of this week.

The “#WombPainStories” campaign from Essity-owned Libresse and created out of AMV BBDO emerged as the big winner of the week, having nabbed the Titanium Grand Prix, arguably the festival’s most prestigious award, as well as both the Film and Film Craft Grand Prix and the Grand Prix for Good in Health. It continued a winning run of work from the agency and client, who previously had created bold campaigns such as “Blood Normal,” which earned the Glass Lions Grand Prix in 2018, as well as “Viva La Vulva,” which earned a Titanium Lion in 2019. 

Burger King’s “Stevenage Challenge” was another of the Festival’s most decorated campaigns. The campaign from David Madrid and David Miami saw Burger King sponsor fourth division soccer club Stevenage FC to get its sponsor jerseys into the FIFA 20 video game, pulling gamers into the conversation. It picked up three Grand Prix: one in the Brand Experience and Activation category, one for Direct and one in the Social, Influencer Lions. 

Company honors

On the final day of the festival, Cannes Lions unveiled the most awarded companies of the week. These accolades are decided by a point system based on awarded and short-listed work. 

The Agency of the Festival honor, not surprisingly, went to AMV BBDO, given its slew of wins for “#WombPainStories” among others.  Publicis Italy came in second for the honor, followed by FCB Chicago.

That “#WombPainStories” campaign also helped propel production company Chelsea Pictures to win the Palme D’Or. The shop’s director, Nisha Ganatra, helmed the effort’s main film. 

Wieden+Kennedy Portland also returned for a repeat win of the Independent Agency of the Year honor, followed by The Bloc in second and Canada’s Rethink in third. Among Wieden’s big wins were a Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness for its “Crazy Dreams” campaign fronted by Colin Kaepernick, which in 2019 had also earned Grand Prix in Outdoor as well as the inaugural Entertainment for Sport Grand Prix.  The awarding of the Effectiveness top winner comes much later, as entrants need to prove the campaign’s efficacy over time. Wieden also earned a Film Grand Prix for Nike’s “You Can’t Stop Us” ad, which through skillful editing spliced together scenes of athletes playing seemingly disparate sports to unity and persistence of all pushing forward during the pandemic.

First-time win

The Network of the Festival honor went to FCB for the first time, followed by Ogilvy in second and BBDO in third place. During a Cannes Lions debrief session, Susan Credle, global chief creative officer, noted that she believed what helped drive the win was that “we stopped focusing on awards” and focused more acutely on what the network could do for its clients. “We have to prove that creativity matters,” she said. Earlier in the week, FCB’s Area 23 was named Healthcare Agency of the Festival and its double Grand Prix wins for the “Sick Beats” campaign, a music vest that created an innovative alternative to therapy for patients with cystic fibrosis. FCB also earned a Grand Prix and Titanium honor for its Michelob Ultra campaign “Contract for Change” from its New York and Chicago Offices, which tied sales of its Ultra Gold extension to support for organic farmers. 

WPP reclaims top spot

WPP was named the Holding Company of the Festival, resuming the post it held for seven years before Omnicom won the honor in 2018 and 2019. Omnicom was No. 2 on the list, followed by IPG. Among WPP’s most honored efforts were Burger King's "Stevenage Challenge" from David and Dove’s “Courage Is Beautiful" from Ogilvy, which extended its “Real Beauty” idea to honor pandemic frontline workers. The campaign won Grand Prix in Print and Publishing as well as Industry Craft. 

Burger King's back-to-back win

Burger King pulled a repeat and won Creative Brand of the Festival, buoyed by the big wins from the “Stevenage Challenge” as well as nods for other campaigns, including an outdoor Grand Prix for “Moldy Whopper.” The company was the inaugural winner of the honor when it was introduced in 2019. Bodyform/Essity came in second while Dove followed in third.

During the final awards ceremony, Cannes Lions also gave a nod to Microsoft, its Creative Marketer of the Festival, which had been announced last month. 

Contributing: Alexandra Jardine