FRANCE – Kissing skeletons, buckets of ice, 20 years worth of profile pics and a kickboxing supermodel are all on the shortlst for a Mobile, Press, Direct and Product & Activations Lions at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Mobile
A total of 109 campaigns from 24 countries are on the shortlist, led by agencies and brands from the United States with 43 entries – 18 of them all coming from R/GA New York.
The agency’s campaigns has consistently secured multiple spots in the Mobile shortlist, which include Owlet Baby Care, The Pursuit of Equinox, and Hammerhead Navigation with 5 slots each.
The Mobile category sifted through 1246 entries from 57 countries this year, a 5% percent increase from 1187 entries from 2014.
ASIA PACIFIC PERFORMANCE
21 entries from the Asia Pacific are shortlisted for the Mobile category.
Australia leads the region with 8 finalists with M&C Saatchi taking 4 out of the 8 slots for its campaign, ‘Cleverbuoy’ for Optus and ‘Where’s My Wallet’ for Commonwealth Bank.
South Korea closely follows with 6 finalists with Cheil Worldwide taking 3 slots for its campaign ‘Look at Me’ for Samsung Electronics and 2 for ‘South Korean North Korean Translator’ for Dream Touch for All.
Singapore, Hong Kong and New Zealand scored two spots each while Japan is vying with one.
Here is the full shortlist:
Press
With 72 entries, Brazil has the most number of Press Lions shortlists this 2015, with a notable 25 campaigns all coming from AlmapBBDO from São Paulo.
One of the most memorable work from the São Paulo-based agency that made it through the final round is “20 year’s of Getty Images,” which shows the changing face of high profile personalities over the past 20 years, featuring former U.S. president Bill Clinton, tennis player Serena Williams, actress Scarlett Johansson and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.
This year, the Press Lions has shortlisted 518 entries from a pool of 4470 entries from 75 countries – a 10.7% decrease from the 5007 entries Cannes Lions 2014 received in this category.
ASIA PACIFIC PERFORMANCE
China leads with 26 finalists with Y&R Beijing taking a lion share of 20 slots for its campaigns for Baidu, Peta Asia and The Samaritans Hong Kong.
India is not far behind with 18 finalists with McCann Worldgroup India and Cheil India Gurgaon each taking 5 slots for their respective campaigns for Dabur and Samsung India.
Thailand follows with 16 finalists. Leo Burnett Group Thailand and Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok which are tied with 5 spots each leads the country.
Meanwhile, Singapore takes 12 slots and New Zealand takes 11.
Direct
A total of 277 campaigns made it through the final round out of 2813 entries submitted this year from 71 countries, which is a turnout 5% percent higher from 2014.
US takes the lion’s share with 50 entries from a diverse set of 18 agencies, which includes Droga 5 for its “I Will What I Want” campaign for Under Armour.
Also making an appearance in the shortlist bucket are the viral campaigns “The Ice Bucket Challenge” from non-profit ALS Association and “Unskippable” from Geico via The Martin Agency.
ASIA PACIFIC PERFORMANCE
For the Direct Category, Asia Pacific took 47 slots out of 276.
Australia, again, leads the region with 14 finalists with the slots evenly distributed among the country’s agencies with the exception of McCann Melbourne that scored 2 slots for its ‘Infrequent Flyers Club’ campaign for Tiger Air; DDB Sydney for its campaign ‘#MACITBETTER” for McDonald’s ; and Leo Burnett Sydney that took 2 slots for Samsung ‘LifeLive’ and one for Canon ‘Shine’.
Nine finalists are from New Zealand while 8 are from Japan. Singapore follows with 7 while China took 5, South Korea 2 and India 1.
Promo & Activation
The US dominates again with 50 entries out of a total of 300 campaigns shortlisted in the Promo and Activations category.
This year, the Promo and Activations Lions sifted through a pool of 3196 entries from 73 countries, just down 45 entries gathered from Cannes Lions 2014.
Some of the memorable campaigns that were recognized are “Love has no Labels” from R/GA New York and Dove’s Choose Beautiful via Ogilvy & Mather Chicago.
ASIA PACIFIC PERFORMANCE
For the third time, Australia leads the 52 Asia Pacific contenders for Promo & Activation Lions with 19 finalists. M&C Saatchi Sydney’s ‘Where’s My Wallet?’ for Commonwealth Bank, DDB Sydney’s ‘#MACITBETTER’ are again shortlisted for this category.
New Zealand took 11 slots while Japan is now a close third with 9 finalists.
Promo and Activation Shortlist
The awards ceremony for these categories will be held tomorrow, 7:00pm (UTC+01).
