Ogilvy Toronto wins Cannes Grand Prix for Dove campaign -

The first Cannes Lions awards show in two years took place (virtually) on Monday morning, with Canada claiming a Grand Prix.

“Courage is Beautiful” won the top award in the Print & Publishing competition, along with a Gold Lion and a campaign Silver Lion.

Created in the early days of the pandemic, the striking ads paid tribute to the contributions of health care workers with portraits of exhausted doctors and nurses.

Ogilvy created something that was “insightful, beautiful and smart, that was true to their brand—not just doing it to do it—and lived beyond our industry,” said Print & Publishing jury president Liz Taylor, global chief creative officer for Leo Burnett, and chief creative officer for Publicis Communications, North America.

Speaking with The Message earlier this month after “Courage is Beautiful” was nominated in the prestigious Titanium Lions, Ogilvy Canada president and CEO John Killam said the campaign was a true joint effort between the Toronto and London offices.

“At Ogilvy our goal is to inspire brands and people to impact the world. We often accomplish that through what we call ‘borderless creativity,’ and that’s very much the case of Courage,” he said.

“Courage is Beautiful” was the lone Canadian winner in the Print & Publishing competition, but Lions were also handed out in Outdoor, Design, Pharma, and Health & Wellness.

Today marks the official return of the biggest industry awards show in the world after it was cancelled due to the pandemic in 2020. Work going back to 2019 that would have been entered last year is eligible. There were 907 Canadian entries this year, compared to 904 entries in 2019. There were 29,074 entries in total this year, down slightly from 30,953 two years ago.

Outdoor

“Courage is Beautiful” also won a Gold Lion in the Outdoor competition and a Silver campaign Lion. While No Fixed Address won a Bronze Lion for SickKids Foundation’s “SickKids AirBnB.”

The jury awarded three Grands Prix: Three executions from Burger King’s “Moldy Whopper” campaign by David Miami and Ingo Stockholm were awarded a campaign Grand Prix, while Publicis Milan won for Heineken’s “Shutter Ads,” and Publicis Paris won for Renault’s “Village Electrique” (see them both below).

Design

Canada won a Gold and four Bronze Lions, with Gold going to Rethink for Kraft Heinz Canada’s “Pour Perfectly.”

Bronze Lions were awarded to:

Leo Burnett Toronto and J.M. Smucker for “Robin Hood Flour”;
Rethink and Kraft Heinz Canada for “Heinz Ketchup Puzzle“;
Rethink and East West Market’s “Embarrassing Plastic Bags”; and
No Fixed Address for the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s “Lolli: The Exhibit Nobody Wants to Talk About.”

Two Grands Prix were awarded: AKQA Stockholm for H&M’s “H&M Looop” an in-store recycling system that turns old garments into new items (below), and to Superunion London and Notpla Limited for “Notpla,” a revolutionary material which aims to make plastic disappear.

Health & Wellness

FCB Canada, working with Google, won a Bronze for the Canadian Down Syndrome Society’s “Project Understood,” while Cossette Toronto and SickKids Foundation won Bronze for “SickKids Moms vs. Hard Days.”

There were two Grands Prix awards: AMV BBDO, London, for Essity’s “#WomenPainStories” and TBWA\London Beco’s “Beco. #StealOurStaff” (both below).

Pharma

There were no Canadian winners in the Pharma competition. The Grand Prix was given to FCB Health Network Company in New York, which won for Woojer’s “Sick Beats,” a music-powered airway clearance vest for cystic fibrosis (below).

Grand Prix winners

Outdoor: Publicis Paris and Renault for “Village Electrique”