Cannes Corporate Awards 2018 – who won?

Gala night at the Cannes Corporate awards is not for the faint-hearted. The production team do a phenomenal job of cracking through over 100 trophy presentations, but it’s not quick. Dessert at 1am, anyone?

The wait was worth it. Standards continue to rise in this industry that was once dismissed as ‘corporate video’. It seems long ago that many of us bemoaned the low quality of so much work cranked out on cassette and DVD. Virtually all brand video now distributed online, so there is nowhere for bad work to hide. The result is high quality production everywhere across Europe. This is a golden age.

The quality of work peaked in ‘Losing Mr Renton’, Media Zoo’s brilliant production for Santander. It deals with the difficult crossover between compassion and process, revealed by the recording of a real-life call from an elderly man to the Santander contact centre. The authenticity of the film silenced the fidgety audience in Cannes.

The Edge and Media Zoo both left the gala with five dolphins, a huge achievement. So which one topped the rankings for UK brand video producers?

The big picture

German producers led the numbers table, walking off with over one in five dolphins. Their British counterparts were not far behind, and won more of the highest awards. A black dolphin for craft excellence went to RD Content for Best Direction, Voop Productions for Best Script and The Edge for Best Animation, Graphics & Special Effects. ‘Losing Mr Renton’ won the white dolphin for Best Film, a first for the UK. Denmark’s M2Film won the blue dolphin for agency of the year for the second year in succession.

UK winners

20 UK branded content producers won a Cannes Corporate award. 12 won a single dolphin (see the list below), all of them agencies except for Barclays and Sotheby’s. Double dolphin winners were drp group (silvers), Radley Yeldar (silvers), RD Content (silver and black), Voop Productions (silver and black) and Vox Media (silvers).

It was good to see Barclays and Sotheby’s entering and winning, like HSBC last year. We do wonder why more in-house teams don’t enter major awards. Credit too for Taylor Made Media and Chrome Productions, who supported Barclays and Sotherby’s.

MerchantCantos picked up three straight golds for ‘Mind's Wide Open’, commissioned by the Tianqiao & Chrissy Chen Institute.

‍The Edge continued their outstanding track record in awards with two golds, two silvers and a black dolphin. They were spread across four different projects for Pinn (‘Identity’), PwC (‘Insider Training’), Sidra (‘Sorry’) and McDonalds (‘Youth Employability’).

Media Zoo’s ‘Losing Mr Renton’ was the standout UK film, winning two golds as well as that white dolphin. ‘Inside Job’ for the NSPCC won gold for Internal Communication and silver for Fundraising/Non-profit/CSR.

So how do we decide whether The Edge or Media Zoo top the UK winners’ table?

And the winner is...

We take into account not just how many awards were won, but how difficult they were to win. The number of projects that won is another factor, since a range of winning projects is more impressive than a single film. We calculate who performed most consistently across all measures.

This time, for the first time ever, we have to declare the top UK producer in Cannes is both The Edge and Media Zoo. We just could not separate them.  

The Edge showed broader strength with more winning projects to add yet more trophies to their cabinet. Media Zoo confirmed their status as a brand film heavyweight by making the best film of the night.Just desserts for the winning producers.

Click here for the full list of all Cannes Corporate Media and TV Awards winners, many with links to videos.

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