Cannes Lions 2015 Radio Awards

The UK is celebrating a strong performance in radio at Cannes, crowned with a gold Lion for Dove that reduced the jury to tears.

Ogilvy and Mather, Global Radio and AMV BBDO picked up eight Radio Lions between them last night at the annual International Festival of Creativity.

Ogilvy & Mather have had great success at Cannes in the past few years with their Dove radio work. They built on this last night with “a mother’s body”, a poetic ode to mums, voiced by spoken word artist Hollie McNish.

It’s a beautifully crafted piece of writing that is simply produced to sound very natural – a wonderful addition to Dove’s celebrated campaign for real beauty.

Beauty brands historically struggle with advertising on radio because of the lack of visuals. Dove’s radio work proves that it’s completely possible to make persuasive, emotional and evocative radio advertising in the category.

Recognition also went to Global Radio for their station takeover “X-Men FM”. Global have a strong track record at Cannes Lions, largely due to their ability to innovate within the category and think of radio as more than simple spot advertising. There is a huge opportunity for experimentation with creativity in radio and Global are consistently strong at spotting opportunities for innovation.

AMV BBDO’s campaign for Mars Petcare was also awarded three silvers and Ogilvy & Mather picked up a further two bronzes for Phillips.

Radio entries were up significantly this year at Cannes, which is commendable for a “traditional” category. Last month D&AD awarded its first Black Pencil in 32 years for a radio campaign.

There is a gathering momentum around radio creativity in the UK and elsewhere and all the agencies awarded in the category last night thoroughly deserve their success.

The RAB is committed to encouraging excellence in radio creativity and examples like these provide great inspiration for agencies and brands.