French advertising legend Jacques Séguéla is this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity recipient of the Lion Of St. Mark lifetime achievement award. 

With a career spanning more than 60 years in the industry, the 90-year-old Séguéla has produced iconic work for brands like Air France, Apple, Carrefour, Citroën, Louis Vuitton and Microsoft, as well as highly successful political campaigns and authoring numerous best-selling books on advertising. 

In 1970 Séguéla was a co-founder of the ad agency that would become Euro RSCG and later Havas Worldwide.  

The agency's first piece of work featured French President Pompidou steering a Mercury engine-powered boat in the bay of St Tropez with the headline "Grab the Express and take off.” 

Séguéla was the creative force behind hundreds of successful campaigns. For Carrefour he produced the landmark work with "Produits Libres."  

He sent a Citroën AX hurtling down the Great Wall of China and is credited with the audacious idea of naming a Citroën model after Picasso.  
 
He led the campaigns of former French President Francois Mitterrand, creating the famous 1981 slogan "Le Force Tranquille" which highlighted Mitterand’s “quiet strength.” Séguéla was the lead communicator on 15 other political campaigns, all victorious. 
 
“Jacques Séguéla turned 90 years of age this year, and still comes into the office every single day to work on campaigns for his clients,” stated Lions chairman Philip Thomas. 

“The word is overused, but Jacques is an icon. He is bold, passionate and creative – and all with a tremendous sense of warmth and humor. He’s been to Cannes Lions more than 50 times, his first visit being to the Venice edition in 1975, where he was a member of the Jury and won his first Lion for Aéroports de Paris.” 

“His stories and experiences are captivating. As an industry we are delighted that he made the career change from pharmacy to advertising because we have all benefited from his creativity as a result.” 

The award will be presented at the Cannes Festival on June 21.  

Havas today made a separate announcement of the launch of several new global health agencies, named Jacques—in honor of  Séguéla and a nod to both his creativity and early training as a pharmacologist prior to his agency career. His mother was the first female surgeon in France, and his father was a pioneer in radiology. The agencies are aligned within the Havas Health Network.  

Pictured above, Séguéla speaking at a recent event celebrating his 90th birthday.