AKQA wins 11 Cannes Lions in celebration of exceptional creativity

AKQA wins 11 Cannes Lions, including the Grand Prix, at the International Festival of Creativity.

Following the honour of Digital Craft Grand Prix for Nike’s Never Done Evolving, the work received a Silver Digital Draft Lion and two Bronze Lions across Social and Influencer and Creative Data. To commemorate Serena William’s 27th and final year as a professional athlete, Nike and AKQA harnessed AI and advanced machine learning to display her evolution like never before, pitting Serena against her former self: Serena 1999 vs. Serena 2017.

The Digital Craft Jury President described the Grand Prix-winning Never Done Evolving as the “epitome of digital craft”, showcasing “what digital artistry is today – a combination of creativity, technology and purpose”.

The application of real-time data in Congresso em Foco’s Transparency Card, AKQA’s most awarded work in Cannes this year, and the new brand identity in Abebe Bikila’s Neo Icarus are celebrated.

A further two Gold, three Silver and two Bronze Lions were won in honour of industry-defining work across Direct, Design, Innovation, Creative Data and Digital Draft categories. AKQA Group has won a total of 34 Lions and also placed 9th in the top ten agency networks.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity serves as a platform to honour exceptional creativity, foster collaboration across the industry and propel social progress.

Digital Craft Grand Prix

Nike, Never Done Evolving

Nike joined forces with AKQA to celebrate their 50th anniversary, highlighting moments, events and people that changed the world with 50 works. After analysing archival footage spanning Serena Williams’ two-decade career, machine learning generated 130,000 games and 5,000 matches between the tennis legend across two different eras to gain insight into Serena’s evolution and how she kept challenging the future. A live AI-generated match of the ages.

The work also received a Silver Digital Craft Lion and two Bronze Lions in the Social and Influencer and Creative Data categories.

Gold Lion

Congresso em Foco, Transparency Card

Every year, Brazil loses about $40 billion to corrupt political spending, data that is accessible to Brazilians but complex to monitor. AKQA worked with Congresso em Foco, the Brazilian independent digital news portal, to create the Transparency Card, syncing real-time data from a governmental site to track when and how public money is being spent by politicians. Every phone’s digital wallet transforms into an information tool, showcasing a dedication to transparency and seamless innovation.

The work won a Gold Lion in Digital Craft and Gold Lion in Mobile, further to three Silver Lions across Direct, Creative Data and Digital Craft and a Bronze Lion for Innovation.

Bronze Lion

Abebe Bikila, Neo Icarus

Launching Abebe Bikila’s new album, AKQA Coala.LAB presents a modern Icarus, where the metropolis becomes the stage for modern tragedies and the maze from which we seek to escape – the Greek myth retold over two thousand years later. Augmented reality displays Abebe singing an unreleased track embedded in a framed oil painting, the classic means of immortalising stories in ancient times, immersing viewers in an experience of sight and sound.

The work received a Bronze Design Lion for the Creation of a New Brand Identity.

AKQA’s remarkable achievements reflect an extraordinary energy to deliver distinctive work across disciplines that captivates audiences and, with prescient dedication, make a positive difference in the world.