Article by Elisenda Estanyol, Lecturer at the Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona-Spain): photo, right

Billed as the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications, The 57^th Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival was held in France last month. Over 24.000 entries from all over the world were showcased and judged at the Festival.

Winning companies received the highly coveted Lion trophy, honouring the most creative film, film craft, print, outdoor, interactive, radio, design, sales promotion & activation and integrated advertising, as well as the best media, direct marketing, PR and Titanium ideas.

In its second year the PR category received 571 entries, up 32% from last year. Due to the high increase in entries, the jury decided that it was necessary to award Gold and Silver Lions, rather than only PR Lions, which is normal for a new category. The PR jury, chaired by Paul Taaffe, Global Chairman and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, awarded 11 Gold Lions – to Germany (three), Italy (two), Sweden (two), US (two), Belgium (one) and Finland (one)- and 32 Silver Lions from an initial shortlist of 87.

Paul Taaffe has called on the Cannes Lions festival organisers to change its name to recognise the wide variety of marketing disciplines represented at the festival, now in its 57th year.

Taaffe challenged the PR industry to raise its game after the number of advertising agencies entering and winning PR Lions continued to eclipse PR agencies.

A campaign from Gatorade that saw a rematch between two rival high school American football teams 15 years after an historic showdown has won the top awards for both for PR and Promo and Activation at Cannes Lions 2010.

The drink brand had the ingenious idea of tracking down the players for a playoff 15 years after they drew in their final senior year game. Gatorade’s campaign, called ‘Replay’, brought back the original players (now in their mid 30s) from two 1993 high school football teams to replay their rivalry game that ended in a 7-7 tie. The brand and TBWA\Chiat\Day created a five part online documentary series following the players’ journey.

The campaign went beyond advertising, creating a genuine news interest and generated US$3,415,255 worth of earned media (from just US$225K in paid media) making for 14,000% ROI. Named one of CNN’s Top Stories of 2009 the story was also picked up as a documentary television series by Fox Sports Net and aired nationally to 90 million households. As a result, regional Gatorade sales increased 63%.

The ‘Fight Cervical Cancer in Style’ campaign developed and funded by GlaxoSmithKline, executed by Weber Shandwick and its sister lifestyle boutique SLAM PR, on behalf of GSK in association with Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, won a Silver Lion, the only winner in the healthcare category. The national campaign was developed to educate girls and women about cervical cancer so they could better understand their risk and how to reduce it.

Leo Burnett Sydney won a Silver Lion for Canon ‘Photochains’  and Three Drunk Monkeys Sydney wins another PR Silver Lion for The Cancer Council campaign ‘Sun Sound’.

Fleishman-Hillard brought home three awards from this year’s Cannes International Advertising Festival. The agency’s ‘Riding Shotgun With Papa John’ campaign won a Gold Lion in the Best Integrated Campaign Led by PR category, as well as a Silver Lion in the Retail and E-Commerce category. Work for the World Hepatitis Alliance brought home a Silver Lion in the Best International PR Campaign category.

The PR Lions has been the unexpected pleasant surprise for the Indian delegation at Cannes Lions. The one entry that made it to the shortlist has managed to win a Silver Lion. The award goes to BBDO India for the work done for Gillette, titled ‘Woman Against Lazy Stubbles (W.A.L.S.)’.

All the PR Lions winners along with their credits can be viewed online at www.canneslions.com/work

By: Elisenda Estanyol, Lecturer at the Open University of Catalonia (Barcelona-Spain)

eestanyol@uoc.edu