Cannes Lions announced today that the Festival evolves some of its categories for its 2016 edition: Press Lions changes into Press & Publishing Lions; Digital Craft splits from Cyber & Mobile Lions; the Product Design Lions will enjoy new expanded and redefined categories with new additions including Service & Interactive Design for Products; the Titanium & Integrated Lions are being separated and judged each as an standalone Lions; the Design Lions see a new suite of Experience Design categories and an expanded Social section; and the Outdoor Lions add a large Digital Outdoor section.
Additionally, the launch of Lions Entertainment will see two associated Lions. The Entertainment Lions will replace the Branded Content & Entertainment Lions, while the Entertainment Lions for Music are launching due to music’s significant role within the entertainment sector.
The International Festival of Creativity, Cannes Lions 2016 will be held from 18th to 25th June 2016 in Cannes (France). The registration period for delegates will open on next 14th January and for entries will remain open from21st Jannuary to 31st March.
The independent Lions Health, LIons Innovation and Lions Entertainment will take place simultaneously on 18th-19th; 21st-22nd and 23rd-24th June respectively.
Press Lions, a milestone addition
The addition of the Press Lions is considered to be a milestone in Cannes Lions’ history, being the second award to be added to the competition. Simon Cook, Director of Awards, Lions Festivals, commented, “This is an award that’s been with us since 1992. By renaming it the Print & Publishing Lions, we are evolving the category, just as the print and publishing world itself is evolving, to recognise other forms of publishing, along with best uses of press and interactive press.”
Increasing number of entries, the reson why for the split of Digital Craft
Commenting on the splitting out of Digital Craft, Terry Savage, Chairman, Lions Festivals, said, “The Cyber and Mobile Lions juries have told us that with more and more UX and Craft focused entries, it is necessary to have experts in this field sitting on the jury. We’ve chosen to split it out so that this specialist area can have its own dedicated jury, which will also make the hugely labour intensive Cyber Lions judging much more manageable going forward.”
The Digital Craft Lions will celebrate the creative skills and digital craftsmanship behind the content including the quality of design, the technical execution and the overall experience across all digital platforms and devices.
Perhaps also corporate changes?
All these changes for the 2016 edition of the International Festival of Creativity are announced among rumors on the fact that Ascential Group, the parent company of Cannes Lions, which is the enterprise who organises the ad Festival is thinking about going public. The information on this point was published by Campaign last week and the magazine underlined that Ascential has declined to comment anything on the matter.
Hay Market, Editor of Campaign, partners with Lions Festivals to run the Spikes Asia ad Festival.
Image over the headline.- © Cannes Lions.
