BBDO emerged as the Asia Pacific Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions 2014 International Festival of Creativity, winning a total of 35 Lions across 10 categories. Following BBDO was Y&R with double its 2013 haul, while Dentsu came in third.
BBDO made history with BBDO Pakistan’s first ever Lion for the country – a Bronze in Direct for ‘Not a Bug Splat’ for Reprieve / Foundation for Fundamental Rights.
Meanwhile, BBDO Guerrero won the Philippines’ first Cyber Lion, a Bronze for the Pantene ‘Labels Against Women’ campaign.
Contributing to the wins were eight of BBDO’s APAC offices with work for 15 clients including Guinness, Samsung, M&Ms, Pantene, Olympus and Pedigree.
Their final tally amounted to 4 Gold, 13 Silver and 18 Bronze trophies.
“A highlight for me was BBDO Singapore’s Guinness Draught in a Bottle campaign, which won a Gold and Silver in Outdoor and a further 3 Silver Lions in Press,” said Chris Thomas, Chairman & CEO of BBDO Asia, Middle East & Africa and Chairman of Proximity Worldwide.
“This is a great achievement off the back of having already scored at the D&AD, the One Show and at AdFest, and made the agency the most awarded not only in Singapore but also across South-East Asia,” Thomas said, noting that critical to the region’s success were the Australia and New Zealand offices, particularly Clemenger BBDO Wellington’s 3 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze for their much-lauded NZTA work across Film and Film Craft for speeding and drunk driving.
Cannes Lions 2014: Mistakes, New Zealand Transport Agency (Clemenger BBDO Wellington) from MediaCat TV on Vimeo.
Notable wins also include Clemenger BBDO Melbourne’s eight Bronze Lions and two Silver Lions, for their ‘Remote Control Tourist’ campaign, as well as for Bonds, Mars and Australia Post.
Commenting on the success, Thomas said it boils down to having top talent and strong partnerships with our clients. “These partnerships generate trust and the small, tight teams on both client and agency side that allows us to do work that works,” he said.
Apart from this, he pointed to two other key factors in the network’s success:
“This is not ‘imposed creativity’. It is not driven by target setting by global or regional creative directors. It is driven by having more great creative leaders, in more offices focused on the same purpose.
And it is that purpose that shapes our culture – a passion across all our teams to deliver on a mission of ‘creating and delivering the most compelling commercial content’ – The Work , The Work , The Work.’
“So while I am proud that we were Cannes Regional Network of the Year – I am more proud that this week were the regional network of the year in the global Effie index and that we won more metal at the AMES than any other network. The objective is effectiveness; creativity is the strategy. So this has been an important week for BBDO in Asia Pacific,” Thomas concluded.
