• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 27, 2015

Cannes wrapped up Saturday night and Interpublic Group digital agency R/GA took home Agency of the Year honors, followed by runner-up WPP’s Grey NY. Placing third was Ogilvy Brasil, also part of WPP. R/GA founder Bob Greenberg was also awarded the Lion of St. Mark for lifetime achievement in the industry. Independent Agency of the Year honors went to Droga5.

Ogilvy & Mather took Network of the Year honors, with Omnicom’s BBDO placing second and Grey third. Holding Company of the Year was awarded to WPP. The runner-up was Omnicom, followed by third-place Publicis Groupe. The Media Network of the Year Award was shelved because media shops could not agree on the ground rules.

The Palme d’Or for most awarded production company went to Smuggler USA. Creative Marketer of the Year honors went to Heineken, while former Vice President Al Gore received the LionHeart Award for his efforts to come up with solutions for problems related to climate change.

In the film category the television Grand Prix was awarded to F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi Sao Paulo and production company Stink for a Leica spot celebrating the photography company’s 100th anniversary. Film Jury President Tor Myhren, president and  Worldwide Chief Creative Officer, Grey, said: “What captivated us about this film was the massively original visual storytelling…It’s beautifully written with incredibly thought provoking copy. It takes a once forgotten brand and gives it …relevance in an ultracompetitive category.”

A digital spot for GEICO from the Martin Agency, Park Pictures and Horizon Media won the Grand Prix for Viral Film. “This film breaks pretty much every rule of film making,” Myhren said. “Instead of begging you to watch it, it actually challenges you not to watch and you can’t turn away.” He added that “this ad shows all that film can reinvent the way we look at media even in the least sexy media space that exists, pre-roll.”

There was no Grand Prix awarded in the Branded Entertainment Category. Jury President David Lubars, chairman and chief creative officer at BBDO, said that the best work among the entries this year was for non-profits, which aren’t eligible for the Grand Prix in individual categories, which is why the festival instituted a Grand Prix For Good Award. “A lot of the brand work was brilliant but not quite at that level,” he said. “This is a maturing and growing category and as the industry gets better I’ll think the quality will get to the Grand Prix” level, he said.

Lubars took a parting shot at those that try to game the submission process for awards, suggesting that some entries were less than honest. He said that Cannes is “the greatest place on earth to celebrate the truths we tell for our clients’ brands. I would humbly submit that when we go back to our offices we also celebrate truthful entries.”

A handful of London Shops won the Grand Prix for Film Craft including Adam & Eve DDB, Blink Productions, MPC and Manning Gottlieb OMD for work on a spot for UK retailer John Lewis Partnership. The spot also won Gold for visual effects.

Explaining the Grand Prix selection, Film Craft Jury President Joao Daniel Tikhomiroff, partner/director at Brazil’s Mixer, said: “This film really touched our hearts.”

The Titanium/Integrated Lion Grand Prix was awarded to Crispin Porter+Bogusky Boulder for a Domino’s Pizza campaign featuring an emoji ordering system.  Jury President Mark Fitzloff, Partner and Executive Creative Director Wieden+Kennedy Portland said the selection “reminded us of what our jobs really are which is to prove more and more frequently to our clients that agencies are relevant…We felt [the CPB work] showed the way forward for agencies striving to prove their relevance continually.”

The Grand Prix For Good went to the Ice Bucket Challenge fund-raising campaign for ALS. Of the selection, Fitzloff said: “it would be almost criminal to award it to something else. The simplicity of the idea has basically defined the potential of virality online,” and the ALS effort “went on to fundamentally change how funds are raised for wonderful causes.”

More on the winners and shortlisted entries can be found here.