Three years ago, “Go Back to Africa” was a Canadian success story in Cannes, winning the Creative Data Lion Grand Prix. On Thursday night a follow-up campaign, “The Black Elevation Map,” won one Gold and one Silver Lion for Canada in the same category, and came close to another Grand Prix.
Created by Performance Art Toronto (which was spun out of FCB/Six last year), The Black Elevation Map is an interactive data visualization using Black culture data to create a searchable travel map of the U.S. that specifically lifts up the Black community. It also won a Silver Lion in Digital Craft earlier this week.
“The Black Elevation Map is an ambitious project by an ambitious team,” said Josh Budd, chief creative officer for Citizen Relations and a Creative Data judge. “It was beautifully executed and a jury favourite from day one, as evidenced by the four shortlist nods.”
The Gold came in the Data Integration category, and was a “fairly unanimous decision,” he said.
“We had a fairly honest conversation about how much time we/the public really spend today on these really deep and complex websites,” said Budd. “But all agreed that we’d really dwell and explore this one, as it invites you inside and around the data versus keeping it behind the curtain, so to speak.”
The Silver was for Data Visualization. It was an obvious winner and very nearly won Gold, he said. “The craft of execution is stunning… I think it came down to one or two votes.”
Canada won a total of nine Lions across six competitions on Thursday, taking the national tally to 41—two short of 2017’s record haul of 43*. With just one awards show remaining, Canada has five shortlisted entries still in contention for a Lion: two in Film, two in Glass, and one in Titanium.
Aside from the Performance Art wins, Rethink, Zulu Alpha Kilo, and FCB continued their winning ways Thursday night. See the full list of Canadian winners and review the Grand Prix submissions below.
Creative Data (1 Gold, 1 Silver)
In a competition that saw just 13 Lions awarded in total, Performance Art Toronto won one Gold and one Silver for Black & Abroad’s “The Black Elevation Map.”
Creative Data Lions had 328 submissions in total, and the Grand Prix was given to DDB Mexico and We Capital for “Data Tienda.”
“The Grand Prix came down to a passionate discussion between ‘Data Tienda’ and ‘The Black Elevation Map,'” said Budd.
Data Tienda won because it was a consumer product innovation that “made the impossible possible for millions of Mexican women,” said Budd.
“It was tremendously simple and powerful,” he said, and the jury loved “its tangible and quantifiable impact, it’s work to create more equity in the world, and the continued affect it will have as more and more women get the microfunding to develop their entrepreneurial businesses, potentially changing the face of the Mexican economy in the future.”
PR (1 Silver, 2 Bronze)
Canada won three PR Lions, with a Silver going to “Heinz Hot Dog Pact” from Rethink and Kraft Heinz, with Middle Child the PR agency on the project.
DDB Toronto also won its first Lion of the Festival, a Bronze for the Ontario Black History Society’s “Blacked Out History.”
And “Tough Turban” from Zulu Alpha Kilo for Pfaff Harley-Davidson also won a Bronze Lion, pushing its total for the week to one Gold and three Bronze.
There were 49 PR Lions awarded from 1,488 submissions, with the Grand Prix given to BBDO Belgium and Decathlon for “The Breakaway: The First E-cycling Team for Prisoners.”
Social & Influencer (1 Silver 1 Bronze)
Zulu Alpha Kilo and Black Business and Professional Association et al. won a Silver Lion for “The Micropedia of Microaggressions,” which also won a Bronze Lion earlier this week.
Rethink and Kraft Heinz also won Bronze for “Heinz Hot Dog Pact,” which, along with the PR Silver and another Silver earlier in the week, means three Lions in total.
There were 50 Social & Influencer Lions awarded from 1,642 submissions. The Grand Prix went to “Unfiltered history” by Vice Media and Dentsu India (Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Gurgaon).
Direct (1 Silver)
After winning one Silver and two Bronze earlier in the week, FCB Toronto and Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation added a Silver Direct Lion for “Dream Drop.”
The Grand Prix was given to Accenture Song and Coinbase for “Less Talk, More Bitcoin,” in a competition that saw 55 Lions awarded from 1,931 submissions (the second most popular competition after Film).
Media (1 Bronze)
Rethink and Kraft Heinz won Bronze for “Draw Ketchup,” to go along with two Golds earlier in the week.
The Media Lions saw 1,752 entries this year, with 57 Lions awarded. The Grand Prix was given to AMV BBDO London and Sheba Pet for “Hope Reef,” which won Grand Prix in Industry Craft.
Creative B2B
There were just 15 Canadian submissions to the Creative B2B Lions, which were new for 2022. None of the 15 made the shortlist.
The competition saw 415 entries in total, with 14 Lions awarded, and the first Creative B2B Grand Prix given to Wunderman Thompson Minneapolis and Sherwin Williams for “Speaking in colour.”
This story has been corrected. Canada was awarded 43 Lions in 2017, not 2021 as originally reported.
