The U.S. Hispanic market won 16 awards at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, driven by the eight Lions won by Omnicom's Alma for three very different brands and four Lions awarded to We Believers' "Edible Six Pack Rings" for Saltwater Brewery.

New York-based startup We Believers picked up gold Lions in PR and Innovation, silver in PR and bronze in the Promo & Activation category.

"Edible Six-Pack Rings" is an answer to the discarded plastic rings that hold together six-packs of beer and are then discarded and end up in the ocean. Wildlife can be strangled by the rings, or eat the plastic and then starve to death as their digestive systems are clogged.

What if those six-pack rings were edible? Working with Saltwater Brewery, a Florida craft beer brand targeting surfers, fishermen and ocean lovers, We Believers developed edible six-pack rings, made from wheat and barley. They are safe for wildlife to eat, and sturdy enough to support the weight and handling of the cans. An initial small batch of edible and biodegradable six-pack rings was introduced to consumers in April on Saltwater's main brand IPA at local events and venues, including the Saltwater Brewery Beer Garden and nearby points of purchase.

We Believers co-founders Gustavo Lauria and Marco Vega were walking around the Cannes festival last week with a small stack of the first mass-produced edible six-pack rings, which can now be manufactured affordably enough for it to be financially feasible to widely replace the plastic rings used in beer packaging.

The other gold Lion, in the Outdoor category, went to Grey's U.S. Hispanic shop Wing for a campaign supporting #Improudtobemexican. Each of three outdoor ads juxtaposes an infamous Donald Trump quote vilifying Mexicans with an image of American tourists behaving foolishly while on vacation in Mexico.

In "Wall," a young American man in a bathing suit is seen at the beach chugging something, presumably alcohol, from a funnel under the Trump quote "The only thing that will stop them from coming here are walls. We can't let them in." Each ad has the tagline: "We don't judge you when you are in Mexico. Don't judge us."

Miami-based Alma won six Radio awards, traditionally a strong category for the U.S. Hispanic market. The agency picked up a silver and a bronze Radio Lion for Clorox bleach, a silver for a Walmart spot, and three bronze Lions for Tobacco Free Florida for a campaign that used the fast pace of an auction ("Auctioneer") and a race track ("Tobacco Downs") to illustrate how quickly tobacco destroys a young smoker's health. Tobacco Free Florida won another bronze Lion in the Health and Wellness competition.

Alma also won a bronze Promo & Activation Lion thanks to senior copywriter Gabriel Ferrer's annoyance at Kanye West's Twitter rant about being $53 million in debt and asking for donations. Kanye's money-seeking tweets included "You'd rather open up one school in Africa like you really helped the country." That inspired Mr. Ferrer to create the #HelpKenyaNotKanye site, encouraging fans to donate to more worthy causes and providing links to relevant charities. In the Cannes entry, the case study voiceover is done by a rapper.

Following their 2015 Grand Prix-winning campaign, Miami-based The Community and BICI (the City of Buenos Aires Public Bike System) won two silver Print Lions for another whimsical print campaign, "Don't Act Like a Pedestrian When You're on Wheels," cautioning cyclists to behave more like bikers while on the road. As the number of cyclists in Buenos Aires has skyrocketed with the popularity of the city bike program, more riders have been getting lax about safety and aren't changing their pedestrian-like behavior when they hop on a bicycle.

So to illustrate this idea, The Community created three different characters, essentially, walkers on wheels -- the dog walker, the coffee drinker and the music listener. Copy cautions against familiar dangerous habits with lines like "Don't turn without signaling" and "Don't go against traffic."

A bronze Film Lion was awarded for a spot called "Devices" for United Communities of San Antonio, entered by the production company Shooters Films; the agency, San Antonio-based Bromley Communications, closed in August.