The Cannes Lions 60th anniversary International Festival of Creativity was held this week in Cannes, France. The internationally renowned event celebrates the best work done in interactive communications and its related fields all over the world.

A record 35,765 hopeful candidates from 92 countries submitted applications for the awards to try and win one of the highly prestigious accolades. Each award, and there are a week’s worth of them to give out, is splintered into five different levels of success for the applicants; these are those on the shortlist, bronze, silver and gold winners and the grand prix for the most impressive winner in each category. 

It was a successful year for British organisations in the Cannes Lions, with UK agencies taking away some of the biggest awards. BBH won the grand prix for creative effectiveness whilst Omnicom’s media agencies OMD and PHD are taking home a total of twenty awards, fifteen of which were for OMD, more than any other company shortlisted. In addition, three of Cheil Worldwide’s 19 awards were given to the UK branch of the organisation.

The Brand Union took home a bronze award for its work with Absolut Craft. Jonas Andersson, executive client director from The Brand Union, says, “We are extremely pleased to have been awarded the Bronze Lion at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for our work with Absolut. The team have done a fantastic job and it’s certainly an honour to have our work on the Absolut Craft series recognised. Absolut is one of the most innovative and creative brands in the world, and Absolut Craft is a brilliant example of the brand at its best. Great brands are built through multiple positive experiences – this project is about much more than a name, an identity, or a piece of pack design.”

In the Young Lions category, Maxus UK’s George Lindsay and Yewande Sokan won the gold award for coming up with a marketing campaign for charity Médecins Sans Frontières on a budget of £25,000, in less than twenty for hours. CEO and Global CSO for Maxus UK, Lindsay Pattison, outlined how important the awards are and how valued a victory is in any of the categories. Maxus also won a Silver Lion for their Mercedes #youdrive campaign. 

In support of the Young Lions competition, Getty Images emphasised the growing importance of innovative film and photography to the future of business. It demonstrated the expanding uses for the medium across the industry during the week in France.

Across the categories innovation and interactive campaigns were rewarded. The trend was no better represented than by IBM and Ogilvy France winning the grand prix for their ‘People for Smarter Cities’ campaign. CEO of Clear Channel Outdoor, who sponsored the Outdoor Lions category that IBM won in, William Eccleshare, commented: “This year’s Grand Prix Outdoor Lions win for IBM demonstrates how the most simple of ideas, executed in an innovative way can lead to an interactive and brilliant original campaign. While outdoor presents almost limitless possibilities for creativity, this campaign shows how engaging people in the most personal of ways can lead to the most exciting results.” 

See some of Getty Images' video content from the festival:

Getty Images Interactive video wall in action at Cannes Lions 2013 from Getty Images on Vimeo.