Media Lions: Cannes 2023 Decoded

Ogilvy has scooped the Grand Prix and an additional Gold Lion in the Media category at Cannes Lions 2023 for its '#TurnYourBack' Dove campaign. This makes Ogilvy the second British creative agency to win the top prize at Cannes so far.

In March, the Unilever beauty brand Dove called on its global community to turn its back to the trending Bold Glamour filter - a harmful piece of AR tech that presented a concerning ideal of ‘beauty’. The influencer-led campaign asked people to stand together and physically turn their backs on the toxic form of digital distortion.

McCann London also won a Silver Lion in the Media category for its campaign for The Joshua Ribera Foundation.

The 'Depzman - Life Cut Short' work featured an emotional deepfake music video that told the tragic story of the death of rapper Depzman, aka Joshua Ribera. Brought back to life through music and state-of-the-art technology, the deepfake video brought the once rising star to life and hoped to ultimately combat knife crime in his name.

Adding to the list of British winners in the Media category is adam&eveDDB and its Bronze Lion for its 'Last Photo' campaign with Calm and ITV.

The work - which explored the seemingly happy behaviour of people who later took their own lives - hoped to reshape the UK’s understanding of suicide and equip the entire UK population with the capability to save lives.

British media companies PHD Worldwide and Global Media and Entertainment also collectively took home a Silver Media Lion for the British Heart Foundation campaign 'Heart Stopping'.

The work saw the charity interrupt the ads of seven well known UK brands on Heart's radio network, unexpectedly playing the sound of a beeping heart monitor that eventually flatlined. The British Heart Foundation's follow-up message detailed the impact of genetic cardiomyopathy and how the charity is funding research that hopes to prevent diseases from stopping hearts.

As for the remaining Gold Lions distributed, a further nine agencies took home the award for their campaigns. These included Special's 'The Last Performance' campaign for Partners Life; Mischief @ No Fixed Address' 'Interface Interruption' campaign for Tubi; FCB New York's 'Dreamcaster' campaign for Michelob Ultra; ALMAPBBDO's 'Guarded Bus Stop' campaign for Eletromidia; Rethink's 'Ability Signs' campaign for Decathlon Canada, Gut's 'World Cup Delivery' campaign for Pedidos Ya; Saatchi & Saatchi's 'Oreo Cheat Cookies' campaign for Mondelez; Atlantic's 'Blockbuster: Until the Bitter End' campaign for Blockbuster and PHD's 'Phone it in' campaign for Skinny.

A total of 60 Lions were awarded in the Media category: one Grand Prix, 10 Golds, 17 Silvers and 32 Bronzes.