Omnicom wins Cannes Lions Holding Company of the Year again

Omnicom was named Holding Company of the Year at the 66th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for the second consecutive year. The recognition was announced at the final awards ceremony Friday night. The company bested runners-up Interpublic Group of Cos. in second and WPP in third. Omnicom received the top honor last year as well, when it upset WPP's seven-year run as the Cannes Lions Holding Company of the Year. This year, Omnicom's DDB, BBDO and TBWA networks carried the holding company. DDB collected nearly 70 Lions including the Titanium from its Berlin office for "The Uncensored Playlist" for Reporters Without Border. DDB Chicago's Broadway show for Mars brand Skittles that debuted during this year's Super Bowl won 12 Lions. BBDO took home 68 Lions including two Grand Prix. Clemenger BBDO Melbourne's "The Lion's Share" for Mars won the Sustainable Development Goals Grand Prix and Impact BBDO, Dubai, received the Grand Prix in Print and Publishing for its blank edition of Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar—a response to political gridlock that left the country without a working government for several months. TBWA won 64 Lions this year, 11 of which were gold. TBWA/Chiat/Day New York's "Billie Jean King Your Shoes" for Adidas won five of the Gold Lions. Also, TBWA/Chiat/Day client Apple was awarded Creative Marketer of the Year at Cannes. Meanwhile, the festival also bestowed its first Creative Brand of the Year honor to Burger King, which was followed by Nike in second and Ikea in third. Unlike the Creative Marketer of the Year award, this prize is determined based on the points won by brands through their shortlisted and winning entries. The Cannes Lions Network of the Year went to Interpublic's McCann Worldgroup which beat DDB Worldwide in second and IPG sister network FCB in third. Earlier this week, McCann was named the Cannes Lions Health Network of the Year and Health Agency of the Year after its Shanghai group won the Pharma Grand Prix for GlaxoSmithKline for its app, "Breath of Life," that allows people to test whether they have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD. McCann Tel Aviv's “ThisAbles,” a suite of product adaptors that made client Ikea's furniture and goods accessible to people with disabilities, won the Health & Wellness Grand Prix. McCann New York took home the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Good for “Generation Lockdown,” a gun violence campaign for March for Our Lives; and the Grand Prix for Brand Experience & Activation for Microsoft's Adaptive Controller for the Xbox which enables disabled kids to play video games. McCann won a total of 73 Lions this year. "Given the complicated world in which we and our clients operate, it's gratifying to know that we are consistently performing at the highest level," Harris Diamond, chairman and chief executive of McCann Worldgroup, said in an internal memo obtained by Ad Age. Wieden & Kennedy received two top honors: both the Cannes Lions Agency of the Year and Independent Agency of the Year. In the first category, Wieden beat out McCann New York in second place and Droga5 in third. In the independent category, the agency beat out Droga5 in second and John x Hannes in third. (This is the last year Droga5 can win in the Independent category having been recently acquired by Accenture Interactive.) Wieden & Kennedy Portland's "Dream Crazy" work, featuring Colin Kaepernick, and "Dream Crazier" campaign narrated by Serena Williams for Nike picked up a significant amount of hardware at Cannes this year, as had been predicted. "Dream Crazy" picked up the inaugural Grand Prix in the new Entertainment for Sport Lions, as well as the top honor in the Cannes Outdoor category and six Gold Lions. “Each year we set out to make work that will have an impact on culture, and it’s always an honor to be recognized by our industry for it," Wieden & Kennedy Executive Creative Director Jason Bagley and Managing Director Karrelle Dixon said in a joint statement. "We couldn’t have done it without our long-standing friends and partners at Nike—it’s been great to see their incredible bravery pay off.” Park Pictures, the company that produced much of the Nike “Dream Crazy” work, earned the Palme d’Or, for the most awarded production company. Runners up were Hungry Man in second, Somesuch in third, Buck in fourth and Biscuit Filmworks in fifth place.

Omnicom wins Cannes Lions Holding Company of the Year again

Featured Stories