Get to know the Entertainment Lions for Gaming
New for 2023
The Entertainment Lions for Gaming is part of the Entertainment Track, in partnership with ESL Faceit Group.
We are pleased to introduce the Entertainment Lions for Gaming: celebrating exceptional work that sits at the intersection of gaming and marketing.
In the fast-evolving gaming industry, we’ve seen an increase in the creative ways that gameplay has been utilised by brands to make a difference. To recognise the powerful impact of gaming and community, the Entertainment Lions for Gaming will open for entries for the first time in 2023.
This brand new Lion is your chance to set a new creative benchmark and show the world what success in gaming looks like. Entries will need to demonstrate how brands tapped into complex communities, seamlessly adding real value to the play experience while driving commercial success.
The jury will be presided over by Francine Li, Global Head of Marketing, Riot Games.
This new Lion is being introduced at a time when the gaming industry is truly reaching new heights. I believe that gaming is the future of entertainment, bringing together passionate global communities in shared immersive and interactive experiences.
Francine Li
Jury President of the Entertainment Lions for Gaming
Global Head of Marketing, Riot Games
Get Inspired
Take a look at two pieces of Lions-winning work that exemplify the kind of thinking the new Award will champion.
LOS SANTOS +3°C | 2022 | GREENPEACE | VMLY&R, SÃO PAULO
In a unique crossover of scientific data and entertainment, Greenpeace built a climate change simulator right into one of the most popular video games in the world: GTA Online.
Created by VMLY&R Sāo Paulo, the well-known GTA Los Santos map was transformed into an alarming prediction of what the world could look like if the planet continued to heat up by another 3ºC. Players could not only see the real effects of climate change, but interact with it in an unprecedented way — with new missions and challenges, custom artwork and NPCs, and even a petition which users could sign in-game.
The results? Players voluntarily livestreamed over 450 hours of content in the first week alone. The gaming community watched almost 8 million minutes of broadcasting. And without any Greenpeace investment, the project generated +340% in petition signatures, +40% in donations, and almost 30 million in earned media — not to mention 15 Cannes Lions Awards.
QUEST FOR DYSLEXIA | 2022 | SAMSUNG | CHEIL WORLDWIDE, BEIJING
Dyslexia affects over 15 million children in China, yet fewer than 5% are actually diagnosed. As a result, most kids do not get the help they need at a key time in their learning development.
Samsung wanted to change this. With Cheil Worldwide, Beijing, they hacked ‘Young Warrior’—the biggest adventure game in China. Using machine learning to track the players’ actions, gamers who consistently misread the quests were identified as potentially having dyslexia. Notifications were then sent to the parents, prompting them to seek further diagnosis.
The hacked game acted as an early detection tool. Over one million tests were conducted in the first month. Nearly 25,000 potential cases of dyslexia were identified. Best of all, parents could test their kids—just by letting them play the game
Start your Awards journey
Download the Entry Kits and start your entries into the 2023 Cannes Lions Awards. The final deadline is 13 April 2023 midnight. Reach our to our Awards experts for assistance with your entries awards@canneslions.com