The initiative encourages brands and organisations using images of animals in their advertising to donate 0.5% of their media spend to the Lions Share Trust. The money raised will then be distributed globally to projects dedicated to saving species from extinction, preserving their unique environments and looking after animal welfare.
The Sustainable Development Goals category celebrates ‘creative problem solving, solutions or other initiatives that harness creativity and seek to positively impact the world’. Jury president David Droga, founder of Droga5, was keen to point out that around 97% of the 900 or so entries were from brands.
Alluding to the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations seen at the Palais and the beach during the festival, Droga was keen to underline how much the marketing industry has to contribute to addressing some of our most testing issues. ‘These protestors on the beach, they have no ideas about the brain collective we have in this industry,’ he said.
The impact of the projects recognised in this category have lasting significance, he said: ‘Whatever ideas win here they’ll be even better next year. We’ll be talking about them long after the awards are gathering dust.’
