Have you ever imagined a world where advertising professionals win an Oscar for their creative work? This is already a reality, or rather, almost! The communicative version of the most famous golden statuette in the world is the Cannes Lion ( Cannes Lions ). Since 1953, the Cannes International Festival of Creativity has annually praised advertising and has become a landmark within the area, a golden lion stands for creativity, efficiency and respect.

But let's go in parts, you may have already heard that Cannes hosts another very famous event, right? Cannes Lions was inspired by the Cannes Film Festival , which in turn awards audiovisual works. Over the decades, the advertising festival has crowned several agencies around the world and Brazil, year after year, remains at the top of the winners, taking home dozens of statuettes. In 2021, the festival was expanded and now encompasses categories such as design, brand experience, sustainability and even public relations cases within its almost 30 categories.

How to win a lion?

Being an important event that dictates trends and news in the advertising market, the award ceremony has award categories that are divided into: 

• grand prix,
• Golden Lion, 
• Silver Lion,
• Bronze Lion. 

Each category has a jury leader and a specific panel of judges, made up of advertisers from various countries. The judging criteria evaluate the change that advertising caused in the industry, business and also in the population. In addition, of course, to creative aspects.  

The first award won by Brazil was for an advertisement that could not have come from anyone other than the big name in Brazilian advertising, Washington Olivetto. In 1974, in the midst of a crisis of unemployment and prejudice, he launched '' Man Over 40 '' on Labor Day.

Cannes Lion in the pandemic 

Last year, the festival took place in a virtual format, but this time without the well-known awards, lectures, discussion groups and lots of networking that marked the edition, only three categories were honored for their legacy and for being the best of the decade. The 2021 edition remains 100% digital and takes place next month, between the 21st and 25th of June. You can follow the entire program through the official website. 

Striking advertisements

We have selected some iconic Brazilian advertisements that took home the trophy, so you can see the high level of commitment and professionalism that makes someone take home the trophy.

This Coke is Fanta. So what?

DAVID São Paulo Agency secured 7 lions in the 2018 edition with the advertisement for Coca-Cola Brasil that gives new meaning to a famous homophobic expression widely used in Brazil.

Price on Shirt

Walmart's campaign for its Hipermercado Bompreço brand also won 5 awards in the edition. In 2016, the DM9DDB had football players enter the field with the prices of products in the promotion, taking advantage of the number printed on their backs in the last two rounds of the Bahia Championship.

Foot in the Door 

AlmapBBDO an agency that always stands out at the Cannes Festival, was awarded in 2016 for the campaign for Volkswagen that announced a new feature for opening the trunk of its cars. To do this, they brought several scenes of people literally kicking doors and awakening different feelings in the viewer.

Did you get a taste of Cannes? We are sure that soon we will have one of the IDP graduate students taking the French stage towards their statuette.