CANNES — Edelman has won one of eight Gold Lions presented at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the PR Lions category for its work with Heineken in its 'Starring Bars' campaign which promotes bars that serve Heineken beer as filming locations.

It was the only PR agency credited in idea creation in the list of Gold winners, with the coveted Grand Prix presented to advertising agency FCB India for its work with national train service Indian Railways. No PR agency was credited in the win.

Weber Shandwick was credited with idea cration on a campaign for airbnb that won Bronze.

The Indian Railways campaign aimed to transform train journeys in India by turning tickets into lottery tickets to get more commuters excited about travel and also to encourage them to pay for tickets, something that was not being done. 

"It's a real solution to a real problem. It was a type of solution that can only come from our industry, or typically comes from our industry. And the way that this solution was brought to life, it ticked all the boxes that we typically want to tick in our industry, like ability, attraction, engagement and newsworthiness," said Tom Beckman, Weber Shandwick's global chief creative officer and the PR Lions jury president. 

"So this is the festival of creativity and a difficult discussion that you know is always in the jury rooms, of course, is have I seen this before? Is it a new idea? Is it unique? Needed?" asked Beckman at a press conference ahead of the awards. 

"Sometimes we don't recognize what most other industries like the startup industry, for instance, recognize. That sometimes the cover song is better than the original. I know that you can all relate to this. You have one of those songs, a song that you love, but it's actually a cover. It's made by another artist, and that's something that we need to recognize, too. It's not about like, oh, I've seen a lottery promotion activation before. This is the best lottery promotion activation I've ever seen, and this is a cover song that I will listen to again and again and again, meaning that I will bring this cover song with this idea. I don't want to call it a cover song, but you get the idea," he said.

"Don't put this idea down just because you've seen the lottery promotion before. This is something I will show to all of my clients. I think in the end, that's a good filter to you. Work that you will show to your clients, to your peers, maybe," added Beckman.

Edelman Chicago also won a gold Lion for its work with Progresso. Edelman London won a silver Lion for its work with Heineken and a bronze lion for its work with Dove.

Other PR agencies that won metal included Publicis Consultants Paris, which took home one gold and one silver Lion for its work with AXA while The Romans London won a gold Lion for its work with Nutter Butter.

An integrated team of 3PM, Weber Shandwick New York, Inpress Porter Novelli Sao Paulo won a gold Lion for their work with Corona. Weber Shandwick Chicago, Bogota and San Francisco also won a  silver Lion for Kimberly Clark, Imperial and MSI Reproductive Choices respectively. Weber Shandwick New York won a bronze Lion for Zip Code Exam.

Inpress Porter Novelli Sao Paulo also won a bronze Lion for CIF, and DKC Public Relations New York and Weber Shandwick San Francisco also won a bronze Lion for Airbnb.

Broadcast Revolution London and O2 London snagged a gold and silver Lion for its work with Daisy Vs. Scammers.

Ogilvy Singapore, South Africa Johannesburg and UK London got a silver Lion for its work with Vaseline while Ogilvy  Copenhagen won a silver Lion for LQI. Ogilvy London also won a bronze Lion for My Life My Say.

L’oreal Paris Clichy won a silver lion for its campaign titled ‘The Final Copy of Ilon Specht’. Platinum Inc, Tokyo won a silver Lion for Think Name Project while Supermassive Sydney got a silver Lion for 36 Months.

Dentsu Creative New York, Lippe Taylor New York, MSL New York, Markettiers London, Serna Mexico City, Confidant New York, Lippe Taylor New York, Avian WE New Dehli, Ready10 London, Dentsu X Taipei, Platinum Inc. Tokyo, Assembly Media Seattle and Special Auckland also won bronze Lions.