Three APAC agencies to receive $100,000 funding from Cannes Chimera

The winning projects include: ‘The Finish Line’ by Wunderman, Y&R, Singapore; ‘Watch for Good’ by Naked Communications, Australia; ‘Plight Map’ by BBH China; and ‘Personal Social Responsbility’ by Manning Gottlieb OMD UK.

The creative brief was launched during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June 2014, with a bid for new communication concepts that would inspire millennials to get involved with and feel connected to global health and development problems.  

Cannes Chimera received 870 ideas from 66 countries. Facilitated by Cannes Lions, the entries were judged by the Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners. The next stage of the initiative will see the winners receive mentoring from previous Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners at workshops held at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They will then be invited to pilot their ideas over the next six months and submit an implementation proposal to the foundation.

Working on the insight that humans are more motivated if they see the finish line, Wunderman's idea is to break down health and development problems by geography and demographics. It aims to make problems seem “defeatable” and result-oriented.

"We proposed a plan where we build a platform to highlight issues which require immediate action, rather than telling millennials ‘almost a fifth of the world’s population lacks safe drinking water'," said Hari Ramanathan, chief strategy officer, Y&R Asia and Rohan Routroy, regional account planner for Wunderman. 

By pressing Naked’s ‘Watch for Good’ button instead of ‘skip’, users are allowed to watch an ad in full. The advertiser pays the same pay-per-view cost, but the publisher shares this, donating a portion of it to the Watch for Good Fund, which invests in altruistic projects.

BBH China developed Plight Map, an in-flight map redesigned as an interactive storytelling platform. It tells airline passengers exactly what’s below them on the ground, letting them know what issues are happening there, in real-time.

“The four successful ideas show how technology can bridge gaps and create greater awareness to really help others,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals. “The workshops will allow for further exploration of the strengths and challenges of the project, bringing us one step closer to achieving or goal to change the world.”