Cannes Lions 2019: A round up of Day 2 Grand Prix winners

The second batch of Grand Prix winners from Cannes Lions features a Nike basketball court in a church, a digital clothing collection, and insight into how NYT journalists break dangerous stories

Along with some expected names like Childish Gambino, the New York Times and Nike, yesterday saw awards been given out to Brazilian rapper Baco Exu do Blues, Norwegian clothing brand Carlings and a documentary about the AIDS epidemic. Here’s all the winning work:

Entertainment Lions for Music: This is America by Childish Gambino and Bluesman by Brazilian rapper Baco Exu do Blues

While the hyper-viral music video This is America is a high-profile work, the second winner of Entertainment Lions for Music comes from a less well-known artist, Baco Exu do Blues, with a short film for his concept album Bluesman. Both projects explore racism and black identity: This is America combines powerful choreography with graphic images of violence relating to shootings in the US, while Bluesman combines footage of actor Kelson Succi running through the streets of São Paulo Sao Paolo with surreal, dream-like scenes.

Read CR’s analysis of This is America here

Entertainment: Johnson & Johnson AIDS documentary

5B, the compelling documentary commissioned by Johnson & Johnson, tells the story of a heroic group of nurses. At the dawn of the AIDS epidemic — when people living with AIDS were often stigmatised — the nurses in San Francisco General Hospital’s Ward 5B defied convention, treating patients with compassion and finding an innovative way to improve care. The documentary, directed by Oscar-nominated director Dan Krauss, is a moving monument to the quiet heroes who risked infection and scorn to care for an ostracised community. The story is told through first-person testimony of the nurses and the patients they helped.

Craft: The New York Times, Nike, Carlings

Film craft: NYT’s The Truth is Worth it Droga5’s series of five harrowing videos for The New York Times The Truth is Worth it campaign highlight the importance of investigative, well-researched reporting. Viewers are walked through the difficult, time-consuming process of how stories come to life. The films weave together text, image and sound to trace the journeys of NYT journalists who risked their lives to uncover important stories, culminating with real headlines from the paper.

Industry craft: Nike Just Do It HQ at the church Nike took home the Industry Craft award for its Just Do It HQ at The Church’. In partnership with Momentum Worldwide, the brand transformed a vacant church in Chicago into a pop-up basketball court to give local youth a safe space to play and train off the streets. After one month of summer programming, the court had hosted 2,000 youth from 67 schools and hosted appearances from ten Nike athletes.

Digital Craft: Carlings In the Digital Craft category, Norwegian Clothing brand Carlings and creative agency Virtue Copenhagen won for its adDress the Future all-digital clothing collection. This lets people purchase virtual pieces of clothing that can be virtually ‘tried on’. The clothes can be ‘worn’ on social media in order to showcase youngsters’ fashion creativity without harming the planet. The collection takes a stand against fast fashion and its environmental impact, the demand for which has been increasing with the rise of social media. The collection was allegedly produced using green energy and proceeds from sales were donated to WaterAid.

Inaugural Entertainment for Sport: Nike’s ‘Dream Crazy

On the Entertainment side, Nike scored its third Grand Prix for Dream Crazy, this time in the Entertainment Lions for Sport category. The controversial campaign, with the tagline ‘It’s only a crazy dream until you do it’, was criticised by President Trump and divided audiences, with some burning their sneakers and others rushing to the brand’s stores.

Read CR’s analysis of the campaigns clever copyrighting by Nick Asbury.