WPP, the world's largest advertising group, was named the most creative company of the year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Ogilvy was awarded Network of the Year and took home a Titanium Lion together with Wavemaker for Shah Rukh Khan My Ad for Cadbury, a data-driven campaign that personalised ads for local businesses impacted by COVID-19.
VMLY&R won a Grand Prix for its I Will Always Be Me campaign for Dell and Intel, designed to make it easier for people with motor neurone disease to bank their voice by reading a story, and a Grand Prix for Maxx Flash’s The Killer Pack, which helps combat, through biodegradable packaging, deadly diseases like malaria and dengue caught outdoors in India.
Speaking in Color for Sherwin Williams by Wunderman Thompson won the Grand Prix for Creative B2B – in the inaugural year of this category – for its voice-activated colour-selection system.
A Grand Prix for Media Placement was also awarded to MediaCom’s Hope Reef for Mars Petcare (with AMV BBDO).
The Creative Company of the Year award is given to the company which earned the most points across its agencies. WPP was also the most awarded company in the Creative Business Transformation category, reflecting the company’s expertise in creating new and innovative products and services for clients, and reimagining customer experiences or business models.
Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said: “Creativity is the most important force in modern business. Being named the Creative Company of the Year is testament to WPP’s power to help our clients succeed, and to the incredible talent of our 109,000 people around the world. Thank you to them and to our clients who entrust us with their brands.”
Rob Reilly, global chief creative officer: “Creativity is the world’s most valuable asset. It has the potential to address the biggest challenges of our time in the most extreme circumstances.
"We have had to think differently for the last two years, and I feel this year's Cannes Lions has been a celebration of innovation for our industry. So, I couldn’t be prouder to be part of this amazing global team of the most creative people in our industry.”
The award comes at the end of a week when WPP also announced a pro bono partnership with the government of Ukraine on a global campaign to demonstrate that Ukraine is open for business, launched an initiative with IBM to tackle bias in advertising technology, and supported the industry’s global Ad Net Zero plan that follows the lead of WPP’s own net zero commitments announced last year.
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