A few months ago we saw a group of the world’s top PR and advertising players battle it out for the most coveted accolades celebrating creativity at its best,
The Cannes Lions Festival judges 40,000 submissions from 23 creative categories, including PR, making it one of the biggest and most distinguished global awards ceremonies.
Here’s a look at some of the truly inspiring short listed and winning campaigns from around the world, featured in the PR category:
- MANBOOBS | DAVID
Argentinian Breast Cancer Charity, MACMA, set out to challenge the issue of social media censorship after seeing time and again, photos being removed of women trying to raise awareness of breast cancer. Buenos Aires agency, DAVID, created the campaign #ManBoobs4Boobs and found boobs that aren’t censored…Henry’s.
The campaign sparked a global debate on social media censorship and in the first week, the video was viewed over 48 million times.
Video link for image – http://www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/entry/771877/manboobs
- EDIBLE SIX PACK RINGS |WE BELIEVERS
We Believers created a concept for Saltwater Brewery based in Florida, to make a replacement for plastic six pack rings as most end up in the ocean entrapping wildlife or being ingested and killing them. We Believers and Saltwater Brewery together created Edible Six Pack Rings made from bi-products made in the brewing process that feeds animals instead of killing them.
The completely biodegradable product quickly gained the attention of many including both media and consumers. With zero media dollars invested, Edible Six Pack Rings received over 105 Million views on social media, including 1.8 million shares on Facebook, pushing a small time brewery to the forefront of the industry.
Video link for image – http://www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/entry/770759/edible-six-pack-rings
- PAPER GLASSES | GREY MEXICO
Staggering statistics revealed that 75% of school dropouts in Mexico were due to visual impairment and a key contributor to the problem was the limited access and opportunity for eye examinations of children living in remote areas. Save the Children and Santillana, together with agency, Grey Mexico, developed a campaign to help raise awareness and provide a solution to the problem.
Paper Glasses allowed children to test their eyesight with a simple vision test using a pair of paper glasses included in every child’s Santillana school program. Paper Glasses used the stenopeic effect, an optical physical effect that allowed children to ask themselves or someone else if that is how they should actually see and giving them the ability to identify a problem.
Video link for image – http://www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/entry/771467/paper-glasses
- THE LAST MASK | J. WALTER THOMPSON COLOMBIA
Colombia is the country with the highest number of acid attacks against women. Suffering an acid attack that was caught on camera, Natalia Ponce de Leon made it her mission to fight for victims’ rights and was responsible for the introduction of harsher punishments for attackers. With attacks continuing and attackers not being pursued, Natalia made a move that resulted in a mass movement.
Recognisable to the public by the mask she wore, Natalia took it off for the first time and asked media to wear it. The campaign generated an incredible response from the media, consumers and even politicians who put on the mask, creating a powerful movement that received over 250 million impressions.
Video link for image – http://www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/entry/770757/the-last-mask
- MESSAGE FROM BARRACK | TBWA\PARIS
In a campaign developed for Action Against Hunger by French agency, TBWA, a video message recorded by a young Kenyan, aptly named Barrack Obama, sent a message on Twitter to six of the most powerful and influential people in the world.
Released 15 days before the opening of the United Nations Assembly, Barrack’s message aimed to persuade these world leaders to take action and create a special mandate to protect the thousands of aid workers and humanitarians who help millions of people survive. In just 24 hours, the video received 1,093,301 impressions and attracted global media attention.
Video link for image – http://www.canneslionsarchive.com/winners/entry/771017/message-from-barrack
