Two BBDO's and Widen+Kennedy wins Agencies of the Year at 2011 Cannes Lions

IKEA is Advertiser of the Year, Google's Eric Schmidt is Media Person of the Year and BBH's John Hegarty receives the much coveted Lion of St. Mark. These were just three of the special awards given at the closing of the 2011 Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.

Ogilvy's Argentina and Sao Paolo houses receive a Direct Agency of the Year Lion each and shared the title with Akestam Holst. The Media Agencies of the Year are Jung Vonn Matt (Hamburg), CheilWorldwide (Seoul) and Ogilvy Argentina. Independent Agencies of the Year include Wieden+Kennedy, Droga 5 and Jung Von Matt.

Cannes introduced a new category – Holding Company of the Year – and the first ever recipient is WPP Worldwide with 1129 accumulated points in the competition, followed by Omnicom and Publicis, respectively.

The Agencies of the Year are AlmapBBDO, Wieden+Kennedy and BBDO New York. The Networks of the Year are BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and DDB. The Palme d’Or, given to the best production company, was given to Smuggler USA.

Ending with a quote from Robert Redford:

“A good story is something you didn’t know. Something that hits your gut, your heart and therefore your emotions.”

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