fig.: Ray-Ban ad '1942 Lovers' photographed by Mark Seliger at the end of January in California. The campaign Ray-Ban Legends by Publicis Worldwide consists of seven images which show legendary moments and iconic eyewear and sunglasses from the last 75 years. The ads were launched in April 2012. The '1942 Lovers'-ad was awarded with a Golden Lion in the category 'Press Lions' in the two fields 'Clothing, Footwear and Accessories' and 'Craft, Photography' at the International Festival of Creativity in Communications which was held from 17 to 23 June 2012 in Cannes, France. Find the full credits on canneslions.com.

Gold for
male couple

...at the Cannes Lions festival. The images by Mark Seliger for the 'Ray-Ban Legends' ad campaign and the concept of the Cannes Lions festival itself tell both the story of more than 50 years lifestyle and communication.

In June 2012, Ray-Ban's male couple received a Golden Lion at the Festival of Creativity in Cannes. The ad is photographed by Mark Seliger under the motto 'Never Hide' (in the meaning of 'Be brave and express who you are and what you think') for the Ray-Ban Legends campaign which consists of a series of ads which tell the story of 75 years with depicted milestones of Western society. The 75 years reference the founding of the label Ray-Ban in 1937.

Even the Cannes Lions' timeline can be read like a historical thread; this time it's about media and technological developments for the transmission of information: the festival was founded in 1954 on inspiration of the Cannes International Film Festival. This is also documented in its name which was in the beginning International Advertising Film Festival. The idea was to support cinema advertising. In 1983 - it was the rise of digital film and private TV stations, the main focus 'film' was split into cinema ads and TV. In 1992, the category 'Press Lions' - the Ray-Ban Legends campaign counts with its ads for printed media (magazines, daily newspapers...) to this category, was added. In the same year in 1992, the festival's name changed from International Advertising Film Festival to International Advertising Festival as it opened the awards for other media.

Today, the Cannes Lions offer 16 categories, special awards and Young Lions competitions. Awards for online communications can be found in the categories 'Cyber Lions' (websites, banners...) and 'Direct Lions'. 'Direct Lions' refer to the abilities of targeted communications such as online communications and measurable unique responses and/or actions.

Online communications and the 'Cyber Lions' were added to the award list already in 1998 soon after the beginning of the commercialization of the internet; 'Direct Lions' with focus on targeted communications became the theme in 2002 when communication technologies allowed new statistical methods of response measurement.

In 2012, Cannes Lions launched the two new categories 'Mobile' (creative work for mobile devices like apps or mobile websites judged for idea, design and the measurable response like user engagement "and any quantifiable outcomes") and 'Branded Entertainment' for content that is created by a brand such as web-series or films like this year's winner footwear label K-Swiss entered.


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