Cannes Lions 2017: Wieden+Kennedy's Da Da Ding brings final Gold for India

Cannes Lions closed its 64th Festival with an awards show yesterday to honour the winners of the Film, Titanium and Integrated Lions, alongside this year’s remaining special awards. From India, only Wieden+Kennedy’s campaign ‘Da Da Ding’ for Nike won a Gold Lion in Film category. Going beyond expectations this year, India has put up its best ever performance with 40 Lions as compared to the last maximum score of 34 lions in 2013.

India had four shortlists in the film category. Taproot Dentsu had two shortlists for the campaign ‘Adidas Odds’ for Adidas. While BBDO India also had a shortlist for the ‘#ReleaseThePressure’ campaign for PepsiCo’s Mirinda.

There were no winner in the Titanium and Integrated category. Taproot Dentsu was the only Indian agency to be shortlisted in the Titanium category. There was no shortlist in the integrated category.

In Film, 2609 entries were received and 85 Lions awarded: 14 Gold, 28 Silver and 42 Bronze and the Grand Prix went to ‘We’re the Superhumans’ by Blink Productions, London / 4creative, London for Channel 4. Jury President Pete Favat, Chief Creative Officer, Deutsch North America, USA, said his jury looked for work that was bold, provocative and moving and pushed the industry forward. Favat described the winning work as a piece that started a new conversation on the representation of disability and confronted diversity. “It makes us feel a range of emotions; it makes us happy, it makes us think and it’s extremely provocative. It pushes humanity forwards,” he added.

From 240 entries in Integrated, 11 Lions were awarded: 2 Gold, 5 Silver and 3 Bronze and a second Grand Prix was won by ‘Boost Your Voice’ 180LA, Santa Monica for Boost Mobile, which also took the top award in Promo & Activation. Jury President Tham Khai Meng, Worldwide Co-Chairman & Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy, said he and his jury “felt strongly that true integration is about work that cuts through, transcends media and integrates into culture and society,” and described ‘Boost Your Voice’ as an “incredible piece of work.”

In Titanium, 217 entries resulted in 4 Lions, 3 Titanium Lions and the fourth Grand Prix of the week, for ‘Fearless Girl’ by McCann New York for State Street Global Advisors. Jury President Tham Khai Meng said the work was “disruptive, irreverent and broke the mold. It’s beyond anything we’ve ever done. The bronze statue stands defiantly as a permanent icon,” adds Khai Meng, “It’s the zeitgeist and culture is ready to embrace it. The Titanium jury loved it wholeheartedly.”

During the show, special awards were also announced and David Droga, Founder & Creative Chairman of Droga5, collected the Lion of St. Mark in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the industry. David has won over 70 Gold Lions, as well as 16 Grands Prix and Titanium Lions in his career to date. At this year’s Festival, Droga5 picked up 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 6 Bronze Lions, along with a Grand Prix in Cyber for the boldly original work ‘Did you Mean Mailchimp?’

And Burger King was named Creative Marketer of the Year to honour the brand for embracing and encouraging creativity across their brand communications and for the inspiring global marketing of their products. Axel Schwan, Chief Marketing Officer of Burger King, and Fernando Machado, Head of Brand Marketing at Burger King, collected the award on behalf of Burger King.

Screen Writer, Director, Campaigner & Co-Founder of Red Nose Day, Richard Curtis, collected the LionHeart Award for his continued and significant involvement in charitable initiatives, including Comic Relief, Red Nose Day, Live 8 and the Make Poverty History campaign.

The Grand Prix for Good was awarded to The Refugee Nation by Ogilvy New York for Amnesty International. Jury President, Tham Khai Meng, who judged the award, said, "There are more than 65 million displaced people without a nation or a symbol to stand behind. What started as a passion project for a small creative team has grown into a global movement to raise awareness for the international refugee crisis. We are proud of the Refugee Nation campaign, our work with Amnesty International and most importantly, the collaboration with Yara Said and Moutaz Arian that started it all.”

Further awards presented this evening were:
Network of the Year went to BBDO Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather were second and McCann Worldgroup third.
Agency of the Year went to Clemenger BBDO Melbourne second place to AlmapBBDO, Sao Paulo and third to McCann New York.
Independent Agency of the Year went to Droga5 New York second to Wieden+Kennedy, Portland and 4creative, London in third.
Holding Company of the Year was given to WPP second place to Omnicom and third to Interpublic Group.

Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of WPP, said, “As ever, this award simply reflects the achievements of our wonderfully talented people all around the world, and of course the support of our clients. In the year of our seventh successive win, the industry appears to be experiencing a collective seven-year itch in terms of its relationship with Cannes. The importance of recognising the outstanding creativity of our people and the work they do for clients is not in doubt. The question is whether the festival does that in the most effective way, and we look forward to playing our part in finding the best solution.”

John O’Keeffe, Worldwide Creative Director of WPP, said, “Cannes Lions 2017 draws to an end tinged a little with sadness. I’m personally sorry that so many good friends from Publicis won’t be at the awards next year. The festival is the poorer for their absence." 

“My congratulations of course go to my friends and colleagues throughout WPP, but also to all the winners, and indeed to every great client who bought all the brilliant work on show this week. Over the past ten days I’ve seen, writ large across the categories, the myriad ways now at our disposal to create fame for our clients. But equally I’ve seen proof of what I said last year: no matter what the platform, The Big Idea will always be The Big Winner.”

The Palme d’Or, given to the most awarded production company, went to MJZ, USA in first place, second to Smuggler, USA and third to The Mill, USA.

After eight days of networking, celebration and trail-blazing content across the stages, the programme drew to a close with a panel of industry leaders discussing new work in Titanium.

The Festival's most coveted, forward-thinking accolade, the Panel who asked 'what can be learned from the work honoured in Titanium' were: Tham Khai Meng - Co-Chairman & Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy & Mather, and the 2017 Titanium and Integrated Jury President; Gustavo Lauria - Co-Founder and CCO at We Believers and Chairman of the US Hispanic Creative Circle; Jaime Robinson - Co-Founder and CCO, Joan; Chloe Gottlieb - CCO R/GA USA and Tim Nudd, Creative Editor at AdWeek.

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