The Cannes Lions Festival on June 21 named WPP as holding company of the year for the fourth year running.
Cannes Lions recognizes the world’s best examples of creativity in a commercial setting. The holding company award is based on the total number of points won by each group’s agencies during the week of the festival. Agencies from 47 different countries contributed points to WPP’s total. WPP finished first ahead of Omnicom and Publicis respectively.
Ogilvy & Mather was crowned Network of the Year for the third year in a row. BBDO came in second place, and DDB came in third place.
On the same night, Adam & Eve DDB in London was named Agency of the Year, followed by Dentsu Tokyo in second place and Almap BBDO, Sao Paulo in third place. Forsman & Bodenfors Gothenburg was named Independent Agency of the Year. McDonald’s Steve Easterbrook was named Creative Marketer of the Year. MJZ, USA received the Palme d’Or, which honors the best film production company with entries in Film, Film Craft and Branded Content & Entertainment.
Winning work from WPP agencies included: Ogilvy & Mather Brazil’s “Bald Cartoons” for GRAACC, the children’s cancer institute; “Unload your 401k” by Grey New York; OgilvyOne London’s “Magic of Flying” for BA; “Turning Packaging into Education” from Y&R Yangon/Red Fuse for Colgate Palmolive, bringing Myanmar its first ever Lion; Ogilvy South Africa’s “Give Me Strength” for Lucozade; “The Autocomplete Truth” for UN Women by Memac Ogilvy; Y&R Beijing’s campaign for Penguin China; and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” box set release by Interlude New York for Sony Music.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, said: “We normally describe Cannes as our Oscars but this year it’s the World Cup of advertising and marketing. We’re thrilled to lift it for the fourth year in a row. Over the last 12 months there have been a few distractions for some in the industry, so it’s good to focus on the core of our business: brilliant work for clients. Huge thanks and congratulations to all our winning people, agencies and networks.”
John O’Keeffe, Worldwide Creative Director of WPP, said: “A tough contest has come to a gratifying conclusion for WPP here in Cannes. The closeness of the result is testament not only to our own strength, but that of our competitors as well, who I know will be just as hard to beat next year. Congratulations to everyone whose work has made Cannes 2014 such an amazing showcase for our industry.”
