Ogilvy & Mather has best year ever at Cannes

It was a great performance for Singapore expat Tham Khai Meng in Cannes this year. Ogilvy & Mather’s New York based Worldwide creative director (pictured left) has guided the network to it’s best ever result at Cannes securing its highest place ever in the “Network of the Year” category and winning the most gold Lions of any agency network.

Ogilvy won 12 Gold medals and more Cannes Lions than ever before in the year that it celebrates its inspirational founder, David Ogilvy’s centennial.

In total, the network won 61 Lions across all categories in the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, 2011. The company scooped up 12 Gold, 17 Silver and 32 Bronze awards, as well as having 133 Finalists in this year’s festival. Ogilvy Argentina was named Direct Agency of the Year and Ogilvy Brazil took third place in that category.

Ogilvy smashed its 2010 record when it won a respectable 57 Lions: 3 Gold, 18 Silver, and 36 Bronze. In the highly coveted Network of the Year Category, Ogilvy secured second place, its highest position ever in the history of the network.

Ogilvy creative highlights from the Festival include “The Friendship Machine” campaign for Coca Cola by Ogilvy Argentina, which picked up two Gold awards in the Direct category and a Gold in the Outdoor category. The Coca Cola “Friendship Machine,” an interactive activation idea using a 3.5 meter vending machine, was created in Latin America to celebrate Friendship Day. Ogilvy Latin America won an unprecedented six Lions for Coca Cola.

Other Ogilvy & Mather Gold wins are listed below and include four from Asia:

• “June 16th 2014” for Brand Collective from Tunis, Tunisia

• “Crush Hour” for Europcar from Paris, France

• “Watson” for IBM from New York, USA, (both Gold and Silver in the PR Category) 

• “Jet Fighter,” “Wrestler” and “TRex” for Mattel from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

• “Sporty Vouchers” for Sportscheck from Frankfurt, Germany

• “Chemical Reaction” for Shu’s Production from Tokyo, Japan

• “Spit” for the Public Health Bureau of Fengxian from Shanghai, China

• “Train” for the Government of India, Ministry of Railways from Mumbai, India 

• “Office” for the Mexican Insurance Institution Association from Mexico City, Mexico

Tham Khai Meng, Worldwide Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy & Mather, commented: 

“As we celebrate our founder’s centennial, it feels appropriate and right that we have had our best performance in history in Cannes. Our performance tops off a historic week for Ogilvy. I am very proud of everyone who has contributed to our success. Thanks to all our clients and to every one of our 18,000 Ogilvy colleagues for making this happen. Congratulations.”