Friday night saw the final awards show of Cannes Lions 2019 take place with the Communication and Good Track winners announced as well as special awards, celebrating the industry's best performing companies across the five-day event, as well as industry personalities that inspire and lead the way.
In the Film Lions, the Grand Prix was awarded to Droga5 New York for the New York Times The Truth Is Worth It campaign – Rigor, Perseverance, Resolve, Courage, Fearlessness – which also won the Film Craft Grand Prix earlier in the week.
In Glass, the Lion for Change, which commends ideas intended to change the world that address gender inequality or prejudice, VMLY&R POLAND Warsaw collected the Grand Prix for The Last Ever Issue for Gazeta.pl/Mastercard/BNP Paribas, which saw the agency team up with its clients to buy one of Poland’s longest running and most read adult magazines to then close it down.
In the Sustainable Development Goals Lions, celebrating creative problem solving, solutions or other initiatives that harness creativity and seek to positively impact the world, the Grand Prix was won by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Mars Australia’s The Lion’s Share.
The wildlife conservation initiative was backed by the United Nations to raise funds by asking advertisers to contribute 0.5 per cent of their media spend every time animal imagery is used in an advertisement.
The Titanium Grand Prix was awarded to Grand Prix was award to FCB New York for Burger King’s ‘The Whopper Detour’, an app that geofenced McDonald’s restaurants so that the 1-cent Whopper promotion unlocked only when people were physically within 600 feet of Burger King’s biggest competitor, McDonald’s. This was the third Grand Prix of the week for the work, having already won in Mobile and Direct.
Agency of the Year in 2019 went to Wieden+Kennedy Portland, with McCann New York in second place and Droga5 New York in third. Network of the Year was won by McCann Worldgroup, with DDB Worldwide in second and FCB third. Independent Agency of the Year went to Wieden+Kennedy Portland, with Droga5 New York in second place and JOHN X HANNES New York third.
Holding Company of the Year was presented to Omnicom, followed by Interpublic Group in second and WPP third. The Palme d’Or, presented to the most awarded production company, went to Park Pictures (US). Runners up were Hungry Man (US) in second, Somesuch (UK) in third, Buck (US) in fourth and Biscuit Filmworks (US) in fifth.
The first Creative Brand of the Year, celebrating brave and forward-thinking brands was awarded to Burger King. Nike was second and IKEA third.
Honorary awards also presented at the final awards show of Cannes Lions 2019 saw Apple named Creative Marketer of the Year in honour of its sustained world-class creative communications and marketing initiatives across multiple platforms and collaborations between partners and agencies.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations under-secretary-general and executive director of UN Women, was presented with the 2019 Cannes LionHeart in recognition of her advocacy for women, human rights and social justice throughout the world and for her leadership of the industry-wide diversity initiative, The Unstereotype Alliance.
In honour of their outstanding contribution to the creative industry, Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein, founders of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, were presented with the Lion of St Mark Award.
The Grand Prix for Good, selected by the Titanium jury from across all the non-profit and charitable Gold Lions (except Health & Wellness and Pharma) ineligible to win a Grand Prix, was awarded to McCann New York for Generation Lockdown, created for March For Our Lives.
