Cannes Lions and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation overwhelmed by quality of entries for ‘Tell The World’ global communications challenge

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CHIMERA_LOGO-FINAL.jpgOrganisers of a global communications challenge to find innovative new ways to tell the story of overseas aid said today they had been overwhelmed by the quality of creative ideas submitted. 

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who together launched the Aid is Working. Tell the World challenge in February 2012, received over 900 applications from 85 countries. The highest number of entries came from the USA, China, UK, India, Canada, South Africa, Romania, Australia, Brazil, Kenya and Nigeria.

The creative communications community contributed more than 30% of the entries; other participants included leading international development organisations and academic institutions.

Says Philip Thomas, Cannes Lions CEO: “The response to this first communications challenge has been overwhelming in terms of the creativity and the vision of the entries it’s prompted,

“The participation from the creative communications industry has exceeded our expectations, testament to the spirit of our community to put to good use the power of creativity to solve a global problem.”

The selection process to identify the ten finalists has now reached its final stages. The selection committee is made up of the Cannes Chimera winners of the 2011 Cannes Lions Grand Prix – as well as members of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s review board and a small group of experts. The ten finalists, due to be announced in November, will each receive $100,000 to develop their idea. They will also be invited to join the Cannes Chimera members at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus in Seattle, USA, where they will be mentored to hone their ideas, with a chance of winning up to $1,000,000 to put them into practice.

In order to build on the success of this first round of the challenge, the organisers today announced they would launch a follow-up call for submissions. Now live and running until 7 November, this call for ideas will present four specific submission categories for grant seekers. 

These are:

  • Ideas that can be implemented via mobile telecommunications
  • Ideas involving new ways to communicate data on aid
  • Ideas that engage young audiences
  • Ideas that demonstrate the progress of aid

Says Tom Scott, director, Global Brand and Innovation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: “We had such a rich variety of entrants to our first communications challenge; we now want to go deeper into areas that have the potential to bring some exciting new approaches.

“We hope this new challenge will ignite new ideas and unique responses from the global community and value the creativity people will bring to this topic. It’s imperative that we communicate these life-changing stories to the world so we can help build greater international support for on-going investment that will continue to improve the lives of poor people.” 

The communications challenge – Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2) – is open to everyone. The idea has to be submitted on two sides of A4 paper between now and 7 November. All ideas will be judged anonymously, solely on their merit. As with the first round, applicants will be eligible for $100,000 seed funding, and the chance to win $1,000,000 to bring ideas to fruition.

The finalists of the newly launched communications challenge will be invited back to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in 2013 to present their idea to the rest of the global advertising and communications community and the difference it has made. The new Cannes Chimera members, who will advise on the programme, review submissions, and mentor the winners as they develop their projects are:  Alexander Schill, Worldwide chief creative officer and partner, Serviceplan Group, Munich

Winner of the Design Grand Prix: ‘The Solar Annual Report 2011’, Austria Solar

Carlo Cavallone, Creative Director, Fabrica, Amsterdam

Winner of the Press Grand Prix: ‘Unhate’ Campaign, United Colors of Benetton

Drew Ungvarsky, Owner and Creative Director, Grow Interactive, Norfolk USA

Winner of the Mobile Grand Prix: ‘Hilltop Reimagined for Coca-Cola’, Google

Graham Fink, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy, Shanghai

Winner of an Outdoor Grand Prix: ‘#Cokehands’, The Coca Cola Company

Jaime Rosado, Vice President and Regional Creative Director, JWT San Juan, Puerto Rico

Winner of the PR Grand Prix: ‘The Most Popular Song’, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico

Jonathan Bottomley, Head of Strategy, BBH London

Winner of the Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix: ‘Axe Excite – Returning to Universal Truths to Create Global Hits’, Unilever

Jesse Coulter, Co-Chief Creative Officer, CAA Marketing, Los Angeles and

Todd Hunter, Creative Executive, CAA Marketing, Los Angeles

Winners of both the Film and Branded Content Grands Prix: ‘Back to the Start / Cultivate Campaign’, Chipotle

Joao Livi, Executive Creative Director, Talent, São Paulo

Winner of the Radio Grand Prix: ‘Repellent Radio’, Go Outside Magazine

Jonathan Fowles, Executive Director and Head of Strategy, Manning Gottlieb OMD, London

Winner of the Media Grand Prix: ‘Google Voice Search’, Google

Nick Law, Executive Vice President and Chief Creative Officer, R/GA New York

Winner of both a Cyber Grand Prix and the Titanium and Integrated Grand Prix: ‘Nike+ Fuelband’, Nike+

Patrick Kampmann, Creative Director, Volontaire, Stockholm

Winner of a Cyber Grand Prix: ‘Curators of Sweden’, Swedish Institute/Visit Sweden

Rob Reilly, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder and

Angel Anderson, Experience Director, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Boulder, USA

Winners of both the Direct and Promo & Activation Grands Prix: ‘Small Business Gets an Official Day’, American Express

Stephane Xiberras, Chief Creative Officer, BETC Paris

Winner of the Film Craft Grand Prix: ‘Bear’, Canal+

Ted Royer, Executive Creative Director, Droga5, New York

Winner of the Grand Prix for Good: ‘Help I Want to Save a Life’, Help Remedies

Thimoteus Wagner, Chief Creative Officer, Jung von Matt, Hamburg

Winner of an Outdoor Grand Prix: ‘The Invisible Drive’, Daimler  Members of the first Cannes Chimera will remain part of the Cannes Chimera consultancy board, which will grow year on year.