• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 8, 2019

It’s no secret that lots of agencies and holding companies over the years have complained rather loudly about the high price of attending Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. 

The Ascential-owned organization did a “reset” last year, cutting both the length of the annual festival in June and the categories that it charges entry fees. 

And now it’s giving back in another way.

It announced this week it’s giving an estimated $370,000 to the Friends of the Palau National Marine Sanctuary and the Palau Pledge Legacy Team, the client behind the Palau Pledge, which won the first Sustainable Development Goals Lions Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2018 and six other Lions, as well. 

Host/Havas worked with tourism client Palau to develop the Pledge, which requires visitors to act in an ecologically responsible way when visiting the Western Pacific island nation. 

Palau Legacy Project cofounder Laura Clarke said the donation will help keep the project going. 

“These funds are pivotal to the project continuing, and we are thrilled to be able to see the Palau Pledge grow and develop. We’ve already seen the local and global impact it can have, with Hawaii and New Zealand introducing similar Pledges and we want to do more to initiate change worldwide,” she added.

The SDG Lions aim to advance awareness of the sustainable development goals (established by the United Nations) by encouraging the creative industries to focus on harnessing creativity to positively impact the world.

In its inaugural year, the Lion received 898 entries generating a total of €323,280 (about $370,000) in funds, which the Cannes Lions group pledged to give to the category’s top honoree.