The Outdoor competition at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival awarded 90 prizewinners June 19 at Cannes. Entries included digital billboards and displays that included Bluetooth technology and a sundial.
The best-of-show outdoor Grand Prix went to South Africa’s Nedbank for its “Power to the People” billboard. The sign is equipped with 10 solar panels, each generating 135W, that are powering the kitchen of a nearby primary school.
BBC and agency BBDO won a U.S. Gold Lions for their giant billboard launching BBC World, a 24/7 CNN rival. The board encouraged people to text-message their reactions to news photos.
Procter & Gamble earned a U.S. Gold for Tide Ultra billboards that show a sea of white, tan or gray (represented by tiny images of football players, riot police or knights) around a spot of red, dark brown or white, which looked like food stains. The ads proclaimed that stains “didn’t stand a chance.”
Other outdoor entries included an outdoor, 60-ft. Apple ad that features digitally printed images of CDs and albums spurting out of an iPod at a busy Los Angeles intersection; Ikea ads reprised on NYC bus stops and transit areas; and Pepsi’s Bluetooth-enhanced posters at 120 bus shelters in six cities.