Ogilvy scooped 55 Lions in Cannes for work from 32 of its offices in 4 regions

Ogilvy was recognized at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for its ability to make brands matter across the world with 32 offices across 4 regions taking home prestigious Lions, including Ogilvy’s Puerto Rican office, De La Cruz & Associates, winning their first ever Lion.

Piyush Pandey, Chief Creative Officer, Worldwide, Ogilvy, said:

The work that we put forth at this year’s festival is a source of great pride and the breadth of our success is proof that creativity is flourishing across our entire global network. Thank you to all our clients for their continued partnership and to our talented teams around the world for their hard work and ingenuity.

On the festival’s final day, Ogilvy added a Gold and Silver Lion to its awards haul as DAVID Miami won two Lions in the Film category for ‘BK Bot’ — the Burger King campaign built by Artificial Intelligence. In addition, Ogilvy Bangkok and Ogilvy Colombia each won a Bronze in the Film category, bringing the network’s overall festival tally for 2019 to 55 Lions, including eight Gold, 17 Silver and 30 Bronze.

Ogilvy Colombia awarded Bronze in the Film category for ‘A World Without Borders.’ The campaign saw Aeromexico use the fact that 20% of American descendants of Mexico are unaware of their heritage to turn DNA test results into discounts. Taking advantage of the media coverage that President Trump’s government shutdown had, Aeromexico’s campaign promised American citizens that they would be given a flight discount which matched the percentage Mexican they were according to a DNA test; the more Mexican they were, the greater the discount. Aeromexico produced a social media video showing a variety of responses to the test results, resulting in a spike in engagement and an increase of 33.7% in ticket sales from the USA to Mexico.

Ogilvy Bangkok was awarded a Bronze Lion for ‘Mother Knows Best,’ a moving ad for Thai Life Insurance, depicting a mother attempting to encourage her son to put down his phone at the dinner table and eat. In his irritation at being asked “What do you know?”, the boy responds by quizzing her on her own knowledge; asking her about different technologies from blockchain, to quantum computers, IOT and Digital Twin. As the son falls silent, the mother contemplates the limits of her own knowledge, replying that whilst she may not understand specific technologies, she knows intimate details about her son’s history, health and fears. As she asks, “Can we eat now?”, the boy looks up. He quietly asks her for help removing the bones from his meat, and starts serving her rice in return. The closing text reads “Love for Life.”

Many of Ogilvy’s award-winning campaigns this year showcased the effectiveness of using creativity to drive cultural impact, including De La Cruz & Associates’ efforts to encourage charitable giving with ‘Giving Songs’, Ogilvy Chicago and Glade’s creation of the ‘Veiled Snapchat Lens’ to empower the women of Saudi Arabia, and the Gold winning ‘Wind Never Felt Better’ by DAVID Miami and Budweiser, which highlighted its pledge to continued sustainability.

John Seifert, Chief Executive, Worldwide, said:

Ogilvy’s focus on effectiveness through creativity remains core to what we do: making brands matter. I’m delighted with the impact we are having for our clients and proud of our global creative team led by Piyush Pandey. His creative energy and experience are an inspiration to us all.

(…) I was honored to be President of the Creative Effectiveness Jury this year. I have been impressed by the exceptionally high standards of the work, particularly those which have built powerful engagement between brand and audience.

Ogilvy led share of voice on Twitter as the top influencer compared to all other brands/agencies participating in #CannesLions. Ogilvy and its hashtag #OgilvyCannes dominated share of voice on social media at the festival for seven years in a row. The #OgilvyCannes hashtag earned over 70 million impressions on Twitter and was the most used hashtag outside of the official #CannesLions hashtag.

Ogilvy has been producing iconic, culture-changing marketing campaigns since the day its founder David Ogilvy opened up shop in 1948. Today, Ogilvy is an award-winning integrated creative network that makes brands matter for Fortune Global 500 companies as well as local businesses across 132 offices in 83 countries. The company creates experiences, design and communications that shape every aspect of a brand’s needs through six core capabilities: Brand Strategy, Advertising, Public Relations and Influence, Customer Engagement and Commerce, Digital Transformation, and Partnerships.