A slew of Australian agencies have been recognised on the shortlist at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity: The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, Ogilvy, M&C Saatchi, DDB Sydney, TBWA\Melbourne, The Hallway, and Howatson+Company.
A total of 26,753 submissions were received.
The Monkeys, part of Accenture Song, has been shortlisted for its Play It Safe campaign for the Sydney Opera House 50th Anniversary featuring Tim Minchin, in the Direction, Use of Original Music, Achievement in Production, Fiction Film: Up To 5 Minutes, Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight, and Use of Original Composition categories.
The ad was produced by Sydney-based production company, Revolver x Somesuch and features original musical and lyrics by Minchin.
Tim Minchin in ‘Play it Safe’ by The Monkeys for The Sydney Opera House has been shortlisted for Cannes Lions
The agency was also shortlisted for the Hello Christmas campaign for Telstra in the Use of Audio and Radio as a Medium and Small-scale Media categories.
England Bitter for Victoria Bitter was shortlisted in Use of Humour and Use of Events & Stunts categories, while a campaign for Tab, Sport is Our Sport, was shortlisted for Direction.
Howatson+Company was recognised for its Mastercard Touch work in the Use of Audio & Radio as a Medium category, as well as Sound Design and Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility.
The agency’s work for Modibodi’s Period Underwear, I’m Dying Inside, was shortlisted in the OTC Products category under the Health and Wellness section, as well as the Social Film Series category.
DDB Sydney’s Volkswagen Roobadge was shortlisted in the Technology, Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility, and Product Innovation categories.
The agency’s The Original Mouthful for McDonald’s Big Mac was also shortlisted in the Single-market Campaign and Innovative Engagement of Community categories.
Ogilvy’s ‘Til It’s Done for Football Australia’s Matilda’s was shortlisted in Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight, Copywriting: Print & Publishing, Brand Storytelling, and Fan Engagement/Distribution Strategy.
The agency, and its counterpart in London, were also nominated for the 10 vs 10 campaign for Dove in the Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility, and Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight categories.
TBWA\Melbourne and Eleven Melbourne were also recognised for Winnie-The-Pooh: The Deforestation Edition for toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap in the Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight, Challenger Brand, and Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility categories.
M&C Saatchi Sydney, Collider, Resolution, and UNXPCTD in Paris made the shortlist for several categories for Minderoo Foundation’s The Plastic Forecast. These categories include Real-Time Contextual Content, Real-Time Usage & Targeting, Use of Real-Time Data, Not-For-Profit/Charity/Government, Real-Time Response, and Research, Data & Analytics.
M&C Saatchi Sydney was also recognised in the Non-Profit/Foundation-Led Education & Awareness category for its anti-vaping campaign, We Are The Warning, also for Minderoo Foundation.
The Hallway Sydney made the Cannes Lions shortlist in Special Editions & Bespoke Items for its work on The Cardboard Cake with the Wholegreen Bakery.
Winnie-The-Pooh: The Deforestation Edition for toilet paper brand Who Gives a Crap
Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS, said: “As a barometer for the global industry, this is when we see interesting shifts across the global landscape – we’ve seen continued growth in the Creative Effectiveness Lions, which has received the highest number of submissions since its launch in 2011, demonstrating that there’s a strong commitment to creativity as a growth driver.
“The shift in the makeup of companies is also interesting, with the number of brand submissions rising 6% and media owners are up a significant 31%, demonstrating the breadth of investment in creativity across the full spectrum of branded communications.
“Our juries are already curating a body of Lion-worthy work and we look forward to seeing the work that will set the benchmark for another year and show us the way forward.”