CANNES, France—One of the biggest cheers at Saturday's award ceremony here at Cannes Lions was reserved for the Grand Prix for Good winner, which amusingly and ingeniously harnessed the power of leaf-cutter ants to make a political statement.
The stunt, "The Ant Rally," created by BBDO Dusseldorf (and production company Parasol Island) for the World Wildlife Fund, involved laser-carving tiny messages about saving the rainforest into leaves and then having the ants march around with them. It's certainly the best bugvertising we've seen in a while—at least since Jung von Matt attached little aerial billboards to flies. (That was also in Germany.)
"The Ant Rally" also won a silver in the Branded Content & Entertainment Lions category this year, and a bronze in the Direct Lions.
Introduced in 2010, the Grand Prix for Good recognizes the work of the nonprofit organizations and charities, which are not eligible to win the Grand Prix in other categories. Droga5 won last year for packaging marrow-donor registrations with Help Remedies' adhesive bandage products.
The BBDO team accepting the Grand Prix for Good trophy:
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