Ad agency AKQA announced the winners of its ninth contest to recognize student creativity during the Cannes Lions Festival Wednesday. Among the winners was a way to turn your Apple iPhone into a piece of (RED) merchandise, a way to use Google Translate for sign languages and an ingenious way to enjoy ice cream at the perfect temperature.
See the Winners of the Future Lions, Awards for Student Creativity
This year, 1,760 students from 40 countries participated in the competition. "This year's Future Lions competition had the most forward-thinking and daring ideas to date," Rei Inamoto, VP-chief creative officer at AKQA, said in a statement. "We were blown away by the caliber of submissions and the winning teams rose to the challenge by providing concepts that not only inspire marketers, but help brands connect with their consumers in a way that has never been seen before."
The School of the Year trophy went to the Berghs School of Communication, with the highest number of shortlisted finalists.
Below, the five winners.
"Donate by Update," for Apple + Product (RED), created by Tim Blaney Davidson and Bastian Lievers from the Willem de Kooning Academy in the Netherlands, was a way to turn your iPhone into a piece of (RED) merchandise, using iOS7.
"Google Gesture," by David Svedenström and Ludwig Hallstensson of the Berghs School of Communication, used electromyography to measure how your muscles were moving while you communicated in sign language, then translated this into words.
"Do Zero for Climate Change," was a Ben & Jerry's idea by Fabian Lakander, Pia Hansson Näslund, Afshin Piran, Sebastian Sandberg and Linda of the Berghs School. Kraft Ice cream is best enjoyed at 0 degrees, but most New Yorkers keep their freezers much colder, wasting energy. So the group added thermometers to tubs of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.
"Heart Me" for the Children's Heart Foundation by Anne Walde and Nicole Schurz of the Miami Ad School of Europe was targeted at the one million kids around the world with heart abnormalities. It is a wearable tech "undershirt" that doubles as a mobile ECG that kids can wear. It measures the electrical signals of their hearts and sends the data to parents and medical research departments in hospitals. This aids research, and also lets parents of kids with these problems sleep a little more soundly.
The final winner was "Passion for Power," created for IBM by Adam Radi and Mathias Trads of the School of Communication Art 2.0 in London. The project used vibrational energy sheets placed on the floors of stadiums in Brazil during the World Cup. The floor mats generate energy from footsteps, can then be used to get power to the favelas in Rio de Janeiro.
Entries are judged by AKQA's Future Lions Council made up of Stephen Clements, Brendan DiBona, Duan Evans, James Hilton, Rei Inamoto, Ben Jones, Peter Lund, Rob McIntosh, Nick Turner and Johan Vakidis. Guest judges from Google also took part.
For more Cannes work highlights, tune into Creativity's "The Best of Cannes."