McCann Bristol bags FOUR Cannes Lions in partnership with Motability Operations
Published on 27th July 2021
We are thrilled to announce that McCann Central’s Bristol team has been awarded four highly coveted Lion awards at the advertising industry’s most prestigious global event, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The team received a Silver and three Bronze accolades for its GoAbility campaign in partnership with Motability Operations, the scheme for people with disabilities, their families and carers, which provides greater freedom to get out and do the day-to-day things they need and want to do.
The Cannes Lions are the most established and coveted awards for the creative and marketing communications industry. The awards have been running since 1954 and a Cannes Lions trophy is recognised globally as the ultimate achievement in creativity.
The Silver – a first for the Bristol team – was received in the MOBILE (Co-creation and User-Generated Content) category. The Bronzes were in MOBILE (Data/Insight), DIRECT (Co-Creation and User-Generated Content), and CREATIVE STRATEGY (Collaboration).McCann Bristol had been nominated for 10 Lions in total.
The wins come in a year when competition has been fierce. The festival didn’t take place in 2020, meaning two years-worth of work from agencies across the globe and over 29,000 entries were being judged.
GoAbility saw McCann pair Motability Operations, the UK’s leading provider of mobility adapted vehicles, including electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters, with Google Maps to create a community-led data capture app. This provides reliable, whole-journey data for those with mobility issues. The app is open to Motability's community of 630,000 customers, representing a whole range of disabilities. Google has described it as “a beacon for accessibility and inclusion across the globe.”
Led by our Bristol team, this recognition is testament to the incredible effort that went into the work from McCann’s offices in Birmingham, Milton Keynes, London and Bucharest. Having won these four illustrious awards, it’s hoped the initiative will gain fresh momentum and help even more people.
Zane Radcliffe, Executive Creative Director at McCann Bristol said: “Winning four Cannes Lions for our GoAbility project is a huge moment for the agency. Receiving our first ever Silver Lion is fantastic recognition of our creativity. But more importantly, acknowledgement from Cannes is hugely beneficial for a project like GoAbility, which can have a real global impact. It moves us closer to our goal of bringing equality and accessibility back to our cities for the one billion people on our planet with reduced mobility.”
Andy Reid, Managing Director at McCann Bristol, said: “We couldn’t be happier about this momentous triumph. But perhaps our biggest achievement with the GoAbility campaign is the impact it will have on people’s lives. Too many of our cities are inaccessible to people with disabilities. The GoAbility project will help wheelchair and mobility scooter users to find and share information about accessible travel throughout the UK.”
The Bristol awards contributed to an amazing McCann Worldgroup tally of 61 awards this year, comprising two Grand Prix, 11 Gold, 19 Silver and 29 Bronze Lions.
