In recent years, the rise of technology has fundamentally changed Cannes Lions. From the programming to the awards, the Festival now reflects the fusion of technology and creativity with media and branding. For those of you who could not attend, we’ve extracted four key takeaways from winning work, and our thought leaders have provided unique points of view.

1. DIGITASLBI at
Cannes Lions International
Festival of Creativity 2016
TAKEAWAYS
&
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

2. ABOUT CANNES LIONS
The warm sandy beaches of the French Riviera were once again the backdrop for
the 63rd annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Spanning eight days, from June 18 – 25, 2016 was the biggest program in Cannes
Lions history.
• 15,000 marketers, advertisers, tech companies, and celebrities
• 100 countries represented
• 550+ high-profile speakers, including Anna Wintour, Usher, Rashida Jones, Will
Smith, Gwyneth Paltrow, Harvey Weinstein, and Channing Tatum
• Over 40,000 campaigns submitted across 23 categories
• 4 Lions: Cannes Lions, Lions Health, Lions Innovation, Lions Entertainment
FACTS + STATS

3. ABOUT CANNES LIONS
In recent years, the rise of technology has fundamentally changed Cannes Lions.
From the programming to the awards, the Festival now reflects the fusion of
technology and creativity with media and branding.
For those of you who could not attend, we’ve extracted four key takeaways from
winning work, and our thought leaders have provided unique points of view.
For best results, enjoy with a glass of rosé.
INSIGHT + INSPIRATION

4. Mobile & Lions Entertainment Grand Prix: NYT
VR, The Displaced, T Brand Studio
Titanium Grand Prix Promo & Activation Grand Prix: REI,
#OptOutside, Venables Bell & Partners, San Francisco
BE BRAVE & GET COMFORTABLE WITH DISCOMFORT
Glass Grand Prix: Hindustan Unilever, 6 Pack Band,
Mindshare, Mumbai
Gold Film + Film Craft: Shisedo
Click each
image to
watch the
case study
TAKEAWAYS FROM WINNING WORK

5. MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER, CLEANER + HEALTHIER PLACE
The First Braille Smartwatch, Dot, Serviceplan
Two Lions, Product Design / Innovation
Edible Six Pack Rings: Saltwater Brewery, We Believers
Gold - PR Lions
Lions Health Grand Prix for Good:
Macma, Manboobs, David, Buenos Aires
Lions Health Pharma: Philips, Breathless Choir,
Ogilvy & Mather London
TAKEAWAYS FROM WINNING WORK

6. Media Grand Prix and Print & Publishing Grand Prix:
Burger King, McWhopper, Y&R NZ
DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF A CHEEKY STUNT
Integrated Grand Prix: Netflix, FU 2016, BBH New York
Direct Grand Prix: Swedish Tourist Association, The
Swedish Number, Ingo
Outdoor Grand Prix:
Heineken New Zealand, Brewtroleum, Colenso BBDO
TAKEAWAYS FROM WINNING WORK

7. USE TECHNOLOGY TO SURPRISE + DELIGHT
Cyber Grand Prix and Creative Data, Lions Innovation:
ING, The Next Rembrandt, JWT Amsterdam
Cyber Grand Prix: Loterías Y Apuestas del Estado,
Justino, Leo Burnett Madrid
Lions Innovation Grand Prix: Google Deepmind
Alphago, Google Deepmind
Design Grand Prix:
Panasonic, Life Is Electric, Dentsu Inc
TAKEAWAYS FROM WINNING WORK

8. PIGEON AIR PATROL
DigitasLBi U.K. took home two bronze Cannes Lions in
the Mobile and Cyber categories for the Pigeon Air
Patrol project. It was a ground-breaking campaign
which saw the first ever flock of pollution-monitoring
pigeons launched across London.
Over the course of three days in March 2016, Plume
Labs and DigitasLBi released ten pigeons wearing
small pollution-monitoring backpacks. Lightweight
pollution sensors were stitched onto small fabric vests
which fitted comfortably on the pigeons and
measured levels of nitrogen dioxide and ozone.
The Pigeon Air Patrol monitored air quality in the
capital and reported back via Twitter. Londoners could
tweet their location to the handle @PigeonAir to
receive instant responses from one of the pigeons,
telling them about the level of pollution in their area.
Pigeon Air Patrol
Bronze - Mobile; Bronze - Cyber
OUR AWARDS

9. OUR AWARDS
Eleanor Howe and Lina Benmansour of DigitasLBi
France won the 2016 Young Lions Health Award with
UNICEF Brain Food.
To enter the competition, individuals or teams of two
were given the challenge of creating either a three
minute presentation film or eight image PDF that
answered a communications brief issued by UNICEF
and aimed at raising awareness among caregivers
about the importance of play in fostering children’s
cognitive, social, and emotional development in the
critical early years of life.
Their idea answered the brief with innovation, by using
everyday objects to stimulate play, and providing
creative ways for caregivers to interact with children.
It will be used as part of UNICEF’s overall
communication outreach on Early Childhood
Development.
UNICEF Brain Food
2016 Young Lions Health Award
UNICEF BRAIN FOOD

10. POVs
From The Huffington Post to MediaPost, agency executives across
capabilities provided unique insights on what marketers need to
know coming out of Cannes Lions 2016.
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

11. LORENZO WOOD - THE HUFFINGTON POST
Want to Win an Innovation Lion? Get Real. Seriously.
ING’s "The Next Rembrandt”
Inspired by Rembrandt,
painted by a machine
For Lorenzo Wood (Global Chief
Innovation Officer), the big Innovation
winners at Cannes this year send a strong
message: this festival of creativity rewards
innovation that solves real problems
sustainably, at serious scale.
So what should brands look for? Problems
that are real, not contrived. Problems
where a solution can have large and
lasting impact. And problems where the
brand has something credible, beyond
money, to bring to the solution. How
should they respond? By thinking of
business models, not campaigns.
As Lorenzo puts it, “When machines are
active participants in the creative process
— when they surprise us — they expand
the horizons of human creativity.”
“Edible six pack rings”
Saltwater Brewery

12. Advertisers Get Happy
ANDREW CARLSON - THE HUFFINGTON POST
Design winner “Life is Electric” by Panasonic
Joy, fun, and happiness are typically under-
represented in awards.
Not so this year.
For Andrew Carlson (Experience Design
Practice Lead), this year’s winners of
Digital Craft and Design Lions are
celebrations. They delight and entertain,
not pulling at your heart-strings so much as
yanking away your frown lines. They
inspire, wink, and smile.
It’s not manipulation, it’s an expression of
joy to be shared that spans digital and
physical channels.
The takeaway for brands? Have fun. It’s
allowed, and you might just win something.

13. How Advertising Is Making The World A Better Place
According to Carlos Ricque (Creative Lead SF), who
served on the Health and Wellness jury of this year’s
Cannes Health Lions, good marketing can help cure
what’s ailing humanity. The sweet spot is when the
advertiser’s goals overlap with the needs of the
human being.
It can be as simple as talking to your customers in a
new way, as proven by the submission for French
grocery chain Intermarché.
They offered customers a “Sugar Detox” — six-packs
of reduced-sugar yogurts that step down the amount
of sugar a little bit per serving, doing a lot of good.
Whether the marketing component is overt or subtle,
as long as it’s transparent and handled honestly, great
things can happen.
CARLOS RICQUE - THE HUFFINGTON POST
“Sugar Detox” Intermarché

14. VR: Moving Us from Awe to Action
Guests at Samsung Presents:
a VR Creators Experience
This year’s Cannes Festival gave Dave Marsey (EVP/
Managing Director, SF) a new appreciation for Virtual
Reality and its ability to catalyze social change.
Take Charity: Water. They partnered with Vrse.works
and Samsung to create “The Source,” a VR film about
an Ethiopian girl, Selam, who gets fresh water for the
first time with her family from a well that workers have
drilled in the desert.
The funds raised by the film exceeded Charity: Water’s
goal. It dramatically demonstrates how VR can be
purposeful for charitable giving.
It’s the bridge towards empathy that moves us from
awe…to action.
DAVE MARSEY - THE HUFFINGTON POST
“The Source” charity:water / Vrse.works

15. Branded Conflict
“The Displaced” The New York Times Vrse.works
After two years without an award in the category,
“The Displaced” by The New York Times took home
the Entertainment Grand Prix (formerly Branded
Content & Entertainment).
According to Scott Donaton (Chief Content Officer),
who led this jury in 2013, “the work that rose above
didn’t shy away from conflict, tension and the
(gasp!) messy complexity of human emotions.
That’s a big breakthrough for an industry that often
paints the world in bright, happy new-and-improved
colors. It recognizes that if we want audiences to
seek brand stories out rather than swat them away,
those stories need to have the same elements that
draw people into the greatest films, books and TV
shows.”
The sooner brands become more comfortable with
conflict, the sooner they will be able to collaborate
with the world’s best writers and directors.
SCOTT DONATON - THE HUFFINGTON POST

16. The Next Wave of Big Data: Deep Intelligence
Doug Ryan, President, NA, reveals how short term
trends evident at Cannes and beyond draw clear
pointers towards what’s coming next in Big Data.
The advances of the future depend as much on the
quality of data as the quantity. As more reliable and
accurate data commands a premium, data budgets
will come to rival media budgets for CMOs.
And to make full use of the sheer amount of data
available and operate on a truly individual level, we’ll
need to use artificial intelligence and machine
learning, moving us from the Big Data Era to the Deep
Intelligence Era.
If the main components of winning in Big Data were
harvest and storage, the competition in Deep
Intelligence will be around processing and
distribution.
DOUG RYAN - MEDIAPOST