What's new for Cannes Lions 2020/2021

Cannes Lions has always been developed in partnership with the creative communications community. Our Awards Team carefully review and update our Lions and categories in line with industry developments. For 2021, we have refreshed our Creative Effectiveness Lions and introduced a new ‘Market Disruption’ category within the Culture & Context section across 10 Lions. You can explore these changes below, including a reminder of the updates and new Lion introduced in 2020.

For full details of the new categories, download Entry Kit 1: The Lions and Categories.

If you’d like a member of the team to take you through the changes in more detail, just drop us a line. awards@canneslions.com

Refresh to Creative Effectiveness Lions

The Creative Effectiveness Lions celebrate the measurable impact of creative work. In close collaboration with the industry, our updates for 2021 ensure that the Award accurately reflects the new language of effectiveness, variety of measurable results and breadth of work driving business impact and commercial success.We have also taken principles from the Creative Effectiveness ladder created by Cannes Lions and WARC to embed the shared language for effectiveness measurement and about creativity and how it drives effectiveness. More information about the Creative Effectiveness ladder can be found here.

Work eligible for the Creative Effectiveness Lions must have won or been shortlisted at Cannes Lions 2017, 2018 or 2019. Creative Effectiveness winning work demonstrates the enduring business impact of creativity.

The Creative Effectiveness Lions categories have been completely rethought and are grouped into three sections to more accurately reflect current and future working practices, Creative Effectiveness: Sectors, Market and Brand Challenges & Opportunities.

The Entry Paper has evolved into an online written submission with expanded questions and opportunities to provide different types of results. Entrants can now also add additional supporting materials to craft a comprehensive case for creative effectiveness. You can find full information here.

Expanded Culture & Context section

Found across 10 Lions, the Culture & Context section celebrates work with a specific focus on local campaigns and cultural insights, challenger brands and breakthroughs on a budget.

In 2020, we expanded the section with two separate categories for Social Behaviour and Cultural Insight and replaced the CSR sector category with Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility to reflect the development of work in this area.

For 2021, the Culture & Context section includes the new category ‘Market Disruption’.This new category will celebrate work that has creatively embraced an ‘adapt & adopt’ approach to their work in response to local / regional / global issues, embracing new ways of delivering their brand while showing consideration for the consumer.

New Lion: Creative Business Transformation Lion

The Creative Business Transformation Lions celebrate the creativity that drives businesses forward – creative thinking that changes how brands organise themselves, how people work and how customers engage with them.

This Lion recognises the ingenuity that leads to the creation of new products and services, and the reinvention of operations and customer experiences in companies of all sizes that drives transformative change.

Entries should demonstrate how creative change has been achieved across core business functions and has delivered a positive impact and growth for business, staff or customers. Including, but not limited to, the creation of new products and services, the use of technology and business design, and the reinvention of operations and customer experiences in order to drive transformative change. You can find full information here.

Refresh to PR Lions

The PR Lions have also been refreshed for 2020, to ensure the Award accurately reflects the current PR industry, and recognises the breadth of work that PR and communications specialists and now excel in including driving earned media at scale.

The new Social Engagement & Influencer Marketing section has been reimagined from the old digital and social section. It now incorporates content creation, amplification and production plus social and community engagement and influencer marketing.

The sections - Excellence: PR Craft and PR Techniques – ensure this Lion celebrates PR as a craft. An expanded Culture & Context section recognises that PR specialists are delivering culturally nuanced work at the highest level. It also honours excellence in work focused in the corporate purpose and social responsibility arena.

Update to the Film Craft Lion

There are two new sections Production and Post-Production, plus a new category for Colour Correction / Grading.

Rule to note

The 6 Lion Limit + Titanium rule is not new but still important to note.

Each piece of work can be entered in up to six Lions* regardless of the Track (e.g. Reach, Comms, Craft, etc.), plus Titanium as the only seventh Lion.

** You are still able to enter multiple times within each Lion (see the Entry Kit for individual Lion limits).*

Live Briefings

The Awards are now open for entries, earlier than usual this year to give you more time to prepare your work. Over the coming weeks, Awards Experts Nic Lobo and Gamaal Serugo-Lugo will present a mini-series of online Live Briefings – your guide to all things Awards for 2020/2021. Sign up here.