Over 900 applications from 85 countries for Cannes Chimera; Romania – among countries with most submissions

Cristina Blanaru Creativity

Cannes Lions 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, with the highest number of entries coming from US, China, UK, India, Canada, South Africa, Romania, Australia, Brazil, Kenya and Nigeria. The creative communications community contributed more than 30% of the entries, while the other participants came from leading international development organisations and academic institutions.

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.

Philip Thomas

Cannes Lions CEO.

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 (US), 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 announced they launch a follow-up call for submissions, live and running until 7 November, and presenting four specific submission categories for grant seekers, namely ideas that can be implemented via mobile telecommunications, ideas involving new ways to communicate data on aid, ideas that engage young audiences and ideas that demonstrate the progress of aid

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.

Tom Scott

Director, Global Brand and Innovation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

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 September 6th and November 7th. 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 proposal will be accepted on a dedicated website and more info on Cannes Chimera can be found here.

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 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 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.

The 60th edition of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will take place on June 16-22 2013. Founded in 1954, the Festival takes place every June in Cannes (France). As the most prestigious international annual advertising and communications awards, over 34,000 entries from all over the world are showcased and judged at the Festival. Winning companies receive the highly coveted Lion trophy honouring the most creative film, print, outdoor, interactive, radio, design, sales promotion & activation, film craft and integrated, branded content & entertainment advertising, as well as the best media, direct marketing, PR, titanium and creative effectiveness ideas. The Festival is also the only truly global meeting place for advertisers, advertising and communication professionals. Close to 11,00 delegates from 95 countries attend seven days of exhibitions, screenings, as well as high-profile seminars, workshops, forums and master classes presented by renowned worldwide industry leaders. As the networking and learning opportunity of the year, Cannes Lions is the must-attend event for anyone involved in brand communication.