Young marketers importance recognised; 13 Australian agencies shortlisted in first Lions list; three new Lions to be awarded.

The 58th Cannes Lions Festival has begun. This year marks a shift for the festival, dropping the 'Advertising Festival' strapline and taking on the loftier 'International Festival of Creativity'.

It also sees a number of new Lions join the award lineup: 'Lion of St Mark', 'Creative Effectiveness' and 'Holding Company of the Year'.

The 'Lion of St. Mark' has been added to recognise an individual for their "lifelong, inspiring and game-changing contribution to creativity in communications." The first 'St. Mark' has been awarded to Sir John Hegarty, worldwide creative director and founder of Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH).

In spite of the change in strap line, this year sees the first Lion for 'Creative Effectiveness' – an addition to the lineup in deference to the increasingly ROI-judged valuation of creative. In order to maintain the creative integrity of entries, only those campaigns that took home a 2010 Lion (in any category) can be entered into the 'Creative Effectiveness' category.

The final new Lion, 'Holding Company of the Year', is judged through points garnered across all sections and categories. The points are collected only by agencies owned 20 percent or more by a holding company.

2011 also sees the launch of the Cannes 'Creative Academy for Young Marketers' – a weeklong course of structured programs for young marketers.

A final, and unignorable, addition this year is the development of an unofficial Gutter Bar app, tracking your time spent at the historical venue, the Carlton Terrace or the Cannt Bar (London) and automatically generating leader boards for the most, ahem, committed to networking.

The shortlists for the Direct Lions and the Promo and Activations Lions have been released, with 13 different Australian agencies making the cut.

 

Direct Lions Shortlist

WhybinTBWA Sydney for MARS Petcare with 'Dog-A-Like App'

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for SENSIS with 'Hidden Pizza Restaurant'

JWT Melbourne for Melbourne Writers Festival with 'Stories from the Street'

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Carlton United Breweries with 'Sausage'

Publicis MOJO Sydney for The Communications Council with 'Ian's Getting Ready'

RAPP Melbourne for the Australian Centre for the Moving Image with 'ACMI Pie Bag'

WhybinTBWA Sydney for NRMA with 'My Car is Your Car'

The Hallway for ServCorp with 'The World's Smallest Multinational'

 

The Best Integrated Campaign led by Direct Marketing section of the Direction Lions category was dominated by Australian entries:

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Carlton United Breweries with 'Snake'

BMF Sydney for Schweppes with 'SOLO Lucky Undies'

WhybinTBWA Sydney for NRMA with 'My Car is Your Car'

Publicis MOJO Sydney for The Communications Council with 'Ian's Getting Ready'

 

Promos and Activations Shortlist

Leo Burnett Sydney for DIAGEO Australia with 'Water Mark'

Momentum Worldwide Pyrmont for Lion Nathan with 'Greatest Cup Never Run'

Host Sydney for Vodafone Hutchison Australia with 'The 3rd Drive'

M&C Saatchi/MARK Sydney for Pizza Hut with 'Feed a Friend'

DDB Melbourne for PZ Cussons with 'Dirty Dishes'

Happy Soldiers Sydney (now defunct) for Pacific Brands with 'Dated Pillow'

Leo Burnett Sydney for Subaru with 'XV Rescue'

JWT Melbourne for Melbourne Writers Festival with 'Stories from the Street'

M&C Saatchin/MARK Sydney for Optus with 'Give Whales a Voice'

BMF Sydney for Meat and Livestock Australia with 'Lambassador'

 

Act Responsible, a non-profit utilizing the skills of advertising creatives, is showing creative executions from various social marketing initiatives at the Palais this year, with a pavilion dedicated solely to some powerful work around the Japanese tsunami and nuclear disaster. A selection follows: