Weber Shandwick Earns 36 Lions across 14 Categories at 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 

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Weber Shandwick was awarded 36 Lions at the 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in partnership with its clients, including one Titanium Lion, two Grand Prix, seven Gold Lions, nine Silver Lions and 17 Bronze Lions. The agency was the most awarded PR agency this year, with wins across 14 total categories: Health & Wellness, Outdoor, Creative Strategy, Direct, PR, Social & Influencer, Media, Film Craft, Entertainment, Entertainment for Sport, Creative Business Transformation, Brand Experience & Activation, Sustainable Development Goals and Titanium. Overall, the agency was credited on 72 shortlists, including six as idea agency. This year’s wins bring Weber Shandwick’s cumulative total to over 135 Cannes Lions.

Weber Shandwick Earns 36 Lions across 14 Categories at 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Michelob ULTRA’s Contract for Change, led by FCB Chicago with 3PM Agency/Weber Shandwick leading PR, earned a coveted Titanium Lion, which recognizes provocative, breakthrough ideas that point to a new direction in the industry. The campaign offered help to farmers across Idaho, and later the U.S., who wanted to make the voluntary transition to growing organic crops as they face the financial burden and risk of the three-year certification process. Contract for Change was one of two Grand Prix-winning campaigns Weber Shandwick celebrated, winning a Grand Prix in PR in addition to a Gold and Silver Lion in Creative Business Transformation, a Gold Lion and Silver Lion in Direct, a Gold Lion in PR, a Bronze Lion in Creative Strategy and a Bronze Lion in Sustainable Development Goals.

 

The Bread Exam, led by McCann Paris with Spinneys and the Lebanese Breast Cancer Foundation, was also awarded a Grand Prix for PR, with Weber Shandwick credited as PR agency. The campaign broke through cultural taboos to teach women living in traditional communities in the Middle East to detect early signs of breast cancer. The Bread Exam earned a Gold Lion and Silver Lion in Health & Wellness, a Gold Lion and  Bronze Lion in Media, a Gold Lion and Bronze Lion in PR, a Silver Lion and Bronze Lion in Brand Experience & Activation and a Silver Lion in Social & Influencer.

 

Weber Shandwick earned an additional Gold Lion, nine Silver Lions and 17 Bronze Lions with clients for the following campaigns:

 

  • Seven Lions for Michelob ULTRA Courtside for Michelob ULTRA: Media (Gold and Bronze Lions), Brand Experience & Activation (Silver and Bronze Lions), Direct (Bronze Lion), Entertainment (Bronze Lion) and Entertainment for Sport (Bronze Lion) with FCB New York and 3PM Agency/Weber Shandwick
  • Five Lions for The OREO Doomsday Vault for OREO: Brand Experience & Activation (Silver and Bronze Lions), Outdoor (Silver Lion), Direct (Bronze Lion) and Social & Influencer (Bronze Lion) with the community and 360i
  • Two Lions for H for Handwashing for Unilever’s Lifebuoy: Health & Wellness (Bronze Lion) and Media (Bronze Lion) with MullenLowe Lintas Group, MullenLowe Singapore and MullenLowe salt
  • One Lion for Not All Heroes Wear Capes for Bud Light: Entertainment for Sport (Silver Lion) with draftLine and Wieden+Kennedy New York
  • One Lion for We Got You, Baby for Kimberly-Clark Huggies: Film Craft (Bronze Lion) with Droga5, Mindshare and VMLY&R
In this massively challenging time, our industry and our firm proved to be central to business and society as a whole, expertly weaving ideas into culture to solve complex and often urgent problems for businesses and for society. This centrality as well as the multi-dimensionality of PR is evident in the breadth of categories in which our work was recognized. I’m extraordinarily proud of this recognition, and of the inspiring and impactful work we’ve produced on behalf of our clients around the world.

Gail Heimann

Chief Executive Officer

Weber Shandwick Executives Participate across Three Juries

 

Heimann presided over the 2020/2021 PR Lions jury, evaluating work that spanned an unprecedented period of 18 months. A jury veteran of the Festival, she also served on the 2020/2021 Young Lions PR jury, the 2018 Titanium jury and on the inaugural Glass Lions jury in 2015, and was previously jury president of the PR Lions in 2012.

 

Additionally, four Weber Shandwick executives joined as jurors across categories this year: Charlotte Witte, executive vice president of brand transformation, served on the Creative Business Transformation jury; Hafida Abahai, CEO, Weber Shandwick Netherlands, and Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, chief client & growth officer in APAC, served as shortlist jury members in the PR category. Ciro Sarmiento, chief creative officer, Weber Shandwick New York, served on the Young Lions Print jury.

 

The Young Lions PR Competition gives young talent an opportunity compete against peers from around the world. This year, Weber Shandwick Associate Creative Director Louisa Hager and Art Director Andrea Corasanti represented the U.S. in the competition, earning second place honors.