Accenture Interactive’s Rothco picked up the only Grand Prix in Creative Data at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Tuesday. “Saylists,” an effort by the consultancy’s Dublin-based agency for Warner Music Group, used pop songs as therapeutic tools for young people with speech impediments.

"The thing that it did moreso than anything was really show how at scale this is going to positively impact so many people around the world in so may ways," said Jury President Maurice Riley, chief data officer at Digitas, during the Cannes Lions Live debrief. "We know how music brings us together."

Children who practice difficult sounds, like “t”, “k,” “ch” and “f” improve their pronunciation, but the constant repetition of nonsensical phrases is dull. The “Saylists” initiative analyzed 70 million songs to find tunes that had the requisite repetition of sounds. When kids sing songs rather than practice phrases, they stick with it longer, because it’s fun.

For example, AJ Tracey's track "Dinner Guest" features the "t" sound 13 times in a single verse.

The jury also awarded five Bronze and four Silver Lions, as well as two Gold Lions. “Laugh Tracker,” for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development by VMLY&R, created an objective measurement for children’s enjoyment. And “For Seasons—Composed by Climate Data,” for NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra by Markenfilm Crossing in Germany, reimagined Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” in an age of climate change.

One point of contention on the jury was evaluating whether campaigns used consumer data ethically. "As consumer awareness around data ethics is growing and changing, as laws are changing on the books, people from around the globe—and the jury that was representative of many different countries around the world—have really different points of view around data ethics and compliant uses of data in terms of real-time targeting and personalization, Riley said.

He also addressed the jury's decision to award more campaigns created for nonprofit causes. "Data for good pushed the envelope a lot more. They were creative in the datasets they were using a lot more," Riley said. "It’s not just enough to say, 'Hey, we used data to fuel this campaign.' That's table stakes now. How are you using data differently? How are you thinking creatively when you put data into action? And we saw data for good over-index in that way versus the commercial work."