• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 17, 2014

Publicis Groupe’s Starcom MediaVest Group won Media Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions Festival Tuesday, when the Media Lions winners were unveiled.

The Publicis Groupe agency network collected a total of 12 Media Lions, including three silver and nine Bronze awards -- more than any other single agency network. The shop also had a total of fourteen shortlisted entries in the Media Lions competition, which count toward the Agency of the Year tally.

The award was revamped after last year’s competition when it was known as the Media Agency of the Year Award. In addition to the name change, eligibility and entry requirements were also tightened, making it more difficult to amend submissions after the entry deadline.

The organization ruled that “only the information submitted on the original entry forms in the media agency fields, or amendments received and confirmed by the entrant company up to the beginning of judging (June 10 2014) will be considered in the Media Network of the Year calculations.”  

Also, “no amendments or additions to company names will be made after June 10 2014. Any advertising agency submitting an entry to Media Lions where the services of an external media agency were used must credit that media agency in the entry submission.”

The changes came after controversy erupted during last year’s competition.

At the Media Lions awards ceremony Tuesday in Cannes, it was a big night for Publicis Groupe, which collected a total of 13 medals with 18 shortlisted entries, with SMG accounting for most of the hardware and sibling shop ZenithOptimedia accounting for the rest.

Omnicom Media Group was also a big winner, with a total 16 Media Lions and 14 shortlisted entries.

A Media Lion Grand Prix was shared by Havas Lima and McCann Lima for a Coca-Cola campaign.