Guess WPP, Omnicom and the like have reason to cheer as the Cannes Lions announced a new award, Holding Company of the Year, which will be presented for the first time at the 2011 Festival. With this award, any agency that is owned 2o percent or more by a holding company will contribute points across all sections and categories for both shortlisted and winning entries.
Here’s a quick breakdown of how the points are being divvied up:
12 points for a Titanium Grand Prix
12 points for a Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix
10 points for all other Grand Prix
10 points for the Grand Prix for Good
10 points for a Titanium Lion
10 points for a Creative Effectiveness Lion
7 points for a Gold Lion
5 points for a Silver Lion
3 points for a Bronze Lion
1 point for a shortlist position
The award will be presented alongside the Agency of the Year, Independent Agency of the Year, Palme d’Or and Network of the Year on June 25.
Festival Chairman Terry Savage says in a statement, “While many are making their own calculations, to prevent any confusion and to impart an accurate and official position, we thought it necessary to introduce the Cannes Lions Holding Company of the Year Award, which we have no doubt will be a much sought after accolade and benchmark for the business.”
On a side note, only points from Film, Film Craft, Press, Outdoor and Radio shortlisted and winning entries contributed to the Agency of the Year Award. This is no longer so. Acknowledging the increasingly critical nature of Integrated and Digital work, the Agency of the Year award will now also include points won in Cyber, Titanium and Integrated Lions categories.
The max number of points awarded to an agency for shortlisted entries is 10 but if an entry is shortlisted and then goes on to win an award, the shortlist point is no longer counted. Got that? Oh yeah, the Interactive Agency of the Year Award will no longer exist, sorry.