Germany took the Lions Direct Grand Prix yesterday at the 52nd International Advertising Festival in the French resort of Cannes, beating Cannes Lions winners from 18 countries.
Nordpol Hamburg Agentur Fur Kommunikation took the top Lions Direct honor for client Renault Nissan Deutschland's Renault Modus campaign. Germany agencies went home with one Grand Prix, one gold, two silver and three bronze Lions Direct awards.
The United States won three awards out of a total of 49 Lions Direct handed out at Cannes' Palais des Festivals venue. This is half of what the nation won last year: three gold and three bronze. However, U.S.-owned and affiliated direct marketing networks worldwide walked away with almost half of all Lions Direct awarded yesterday.
BBDO and its Proximity arm won six Lions Direct awards, and Ogilvy & Mather and its OgilvyOne sibling took five. Wunderman, Rapp Collins and J. Walter Thompson each nabbed three. MRM Partners and Leo Burnett bagged one each.
Of this year's U.S. winners, Seattle agency WongDoody won a gold for client Alaska Airlines. Rodgers Townsend, St. Louis, took a bronze for dry cleaner client Pleats Finest Cleaners. Publicis, New York, won a bronze for a campaign pushing restaurant chain Denny's.
Overall, one Grand Prix, nine gold, 14 silver and 25 bronze Lions Direct were awarded to agencies worldwide. Britain won the most awards: one gold, three silver and four bronze. Germany came next with seven.
Not a single agency or country took home more than one gold Lions Direct. Sweden took one gold and four bronze. New Zealand won a gold, silver and bronze Lions Direct each. Austria and Singapore each won a gold and silver. Canada and Belgium each won a gold.
France failed to win a gold, instead going home only with two silver Lions Direct awards. Spain won a silver Lions Direct and two bronze, just like Switzerland. Australia nabbed a silver Lions Direct and three bronze.
China's Hong Kong territory won a silver Lions Direct. It was the only Asian representative among winners besides Singapore. Agencies from Poland, South Africa, Argentina and the Netherlands each were rewarded with a bronze Lions Direct for their work.
Europe took the most Lions Direct awards with 33. North America had four, Asia three and Australasia seven while Africa and Latin America each bagged one.
The Lions Direct category this year attracted 1,614 submissions, up 33.5 percent from last year's 1,209 and the fastest growth rate among all Cannes Lions awards by media channel.
U.S. agencies this year submitted 94 entries for Lions Direct, 418 for Cyber Lions and 43 integrated campaigns for the Titanium Cannes Lions. All awards honor creative and strategic excellent for direct or interactive work done by agencies on behalf of advertisers.
The Cyber Lions will be announced today.
Mickey Alam Khan covers Internet marketing campaigns and e-commerce, agency news as well as circulation for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
