Global Agency Network Demonstrates Industry Leadership with Festival Wins and Participation NEW YORK, June 25
NEW YORK, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- JWT, the largest advertising agency in
the U.S. and the fourth largest in the world, was distinguished among the
world's leading agencies at this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising
Festival, the most prestigious annual advertising award show. The global
agency network earned prominent recognition throughout the festival via
notable wins, jury participation and a groundbreaking initiative designed to
bring "Cannes to the People."
"Our Cannes experience demonstrates the caliber of professionalism and
creativity that continues to distinguish JWT as a leader in our industry,"
said Bob Jeffrey, JWT Chairman and CEO. "Cannes is the ultimate celebration
of the creative industry, and this year's festival gave us the opportunity to
showcase our talent, commitment and passion for producing the most outstanding
creative for our clients in every category."
This year at Cannes, JWT saw its most awarded year, with notable showings
from across the network, and taking away a total of 38 awards. The network
received a Grand Prix and an Integrated Lion, six Gold Lions and 14 Silver
Lions -- a significant growth in both quantity and quality of Lions over
previous years.
JWT India was of particular pride for the JWT network this year,
delivering innovation and results that proved consequential not only for the
agency, but for the Indian nation as a whole. Agnello Dias, Senior Vice
President and Executive Creative Director, JWT India, and his team who created
the "Lead India" campaign for "The Times of India" newspaper took home India's
first-ever Grand Prix Lion. The award marked the first time any Indian
creative team has captured this top creative honor in Cannes. The triumph
further demonstrates that creatively crafted communications can bring about
positive social change, and JWT India's success continued even beyond the
Grand Prix, bringing home a Gold Lion, a Silver Lion, 3 Bronze Lions and 16
Finalists, as well as the coveted Integrated Lion.
"As the first Grand Prix for India, this award is truly special, and it
evokes a sense of national pride," said Colvyn Harris, CEO, JWT India. "This
win is a historic milestone for the advertising industry, allowing India to
come of age on the world advertising stage. We are proud to have been tasked
with the pushing the scale and scope of an inspired concept to turn this into
a truly world-acclaimed campaign for 'The Times of India.'"
Overall, JWT scored Lions recognizing work emerging throughout the globe,
earning recognition for its agencies in Australia, Spain, the UK, India,
Brazil, Singapore and Costa Rica.
An unprecedented number of JWT judges also contributed to the agency's
presence at the international festival, including Craig David (Film and Press
Jury President), Ty Montague (Titanium and Integrated Jury), Russell Ramsey
(Outdoor Jury), Senthil Kumar (Radio Jury), Sarah Barclay (Press Jury), and
Nishad Ramadchandran (Direct Jury).
In addition, this year's festival marked the successful launch of JWT's
"Cannes to the People" initiative. The innovative program virtually connected
Cannes to all JWT employees and beyond, capitalizing on social networking
sites and the ubiquity of wireless devices to deliver news, information and
updates directly from the festival. Throughout the week, the "Cannes to the
People" mobile Web site was viewed nearly 3,000 times by more than 800 unique
visitors, with exponential increases in visits as the week progressed. The
program's YouTube, Facebook and Flicker pages totaled more than 3,200 views,
and the campaign's Twitter feed attracted almost 100 followers.
In addition to this year's Cannes Lions, JWT was recently recognized as
one of the world's most awarded global agency networks at the annual unveiling
of The Gunn Report, standing out ahead of McCann-Erickson, Wieden+Kennedy and
Lowe Worldwide in the rankings. The Gunn Report is the only independent
report on creativity for the advertising industry.
The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is the largest
gathering of worldwide advertising professionals and advertisers, as well as
the most prestigious annual advertising awards. Each year, over 10,000
visitors from the advertising and allied industries attend this event to
celebrate the best of creativity across all media mix, and over 25,000 ads
from all over the world are showcased and judged at the Festival.
About JWT
JWT is the world's best-known marketing communications brand.
Headquartered in New York, JWT is a true global network with more than 200
offices in over 85 countries employing nearly 10,000 marketing professionals.
JWT consistently ranks among the top agency networks in the world and
continues its dominant presence in the industry by staying on the leading edge
-- from producing the first-ever TV commercial in 1939 to developing
award-winning branded content for brands such as Freixenet, Ford and HSBC.
JWT's pioneering spirit enables the agency to forge deep relationships
with their clients including Bayer, Cadbury, Diageo, DTC, Ford, HSBC, J&J,
Kellogs, Kimberly-Clark, Kraft, Nestle, Nokia, Rolex, Schick, Shell, Unilever,
Vodafone and many others. JWT's parent company is WPP (Nasdaq: WPPGY).
Contact: Alyson Valpone | Department of Communications | 212.210.7825
SOURCE JWT
