Cannes Lions has announced a partnership with Parley for the Oceans to create the Sustainable Development Goals Lions trophies from Parley Ocean Plastic.
The trophy spotlights the necessity of creative collaboration and eco-innovation, essential to overcome the current threats facing our planet.
Parley for the Oceans addresses major threats to our oceans, the most important ecosystem on our planet. Parley Ocean Plastic is a premium material created from reclaimed fishing nets and upcycled plastic waste recovered from shorelines and coastal communities by the Parley Global Cleanup Network.
Speaking about the partnership, Philip Thomas, Chairman, LIONS, said, “This award has always been about celebrating the organisations that are taking action to promote good in the world and drive initiatives that positively impact and enhance the lives of the global community. It’s only right that the trophy – the physical symbol of change-driving creativity – reflects this too. Parley’s approach to addressing the threats to our oceans is truly innovative and creative. We can’t wait to hand over these unique, and rather special Lions to the worthy winners.”
Ocean Plastic was invented to drive change in response to marine plastic pollution and the destruction of our oceans. It is a catalyst for the Material Revolution and helps fund initiatives of Parley’s Ocean Plastic Program focused on direct impact, communication and education, eco-innovation, and research and development.
Parley’s partnership with Cannes Lions will see reclaimed polyamide fishing nets – a key threat to life in the oceans – transformed into the iconic Lion trophies.
The Sustainable Development Goals Lions were introduced in 2018 to advance awareness of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals and encourage the creative industries to celebrate and support sustainability around the world. The 17 global goals represent a collective ambition to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all.
Thomas continued, “This is only the beginning of our partnership with Parley. We will use our platform to drive eco-friendly awareness and action across the global creative industries, as well as work with them to implement a plan for the physical Festival to make Cannes Lions as sustainable as possible.”
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Cyrill Gutsch, CEO & Founder, Parley for the Oceans, added, “Partnering with Cannes Lions is our rallying call to the world’s leading creators. We, the creative community, have put our skills in the service of exploitative and destructive business practices for too long.”
Gutsch adds, “It’s time to step out of our self-created, fictional bubble and own the responsibility for the reality we are forming through our work, every day. I am calling all creators to join Parley and work with us in shaping a different future — and moving in a rapid speed since we are all facing the same fast-approaching deadline. It’s the creatives who can own this challenge, to live and act with the understanding that it’s our own future, our own survival at stake.”
Cannes Lions Live, which runs from 21-25 June, will broadcast hundreds of films, documentaries and panels on creativity – live and on-demand – with original thinking, provocative new ideas, plurality of points of view, never-before-seen case studies and research.
About the agenda, Charlotte Williams, VP of Content, LIONS, said, ”On our agenda we’ve got incredible, inspirational examples of creativity being used to drive change, so we’ve decided that we will be open-sourcing our eco-related content so that everyone, everywhere has access to this valuable learning and information.”
Together with official streaming partner YouTube, some of the sessions that will be made available for free include: Parley for the Oceans’ “Shaping the Future through Creativity, Collaboration and Eco-innovation“, which gives a rallying cry to the creative community and expands on how they can collaborate to address the crisis around climate, overfishing and the oceans.
Lions chairman, Philip Thomas will lead a discussion titled “How is our industry fighting climate change, and how can we do it faster, together?”, which will include a statement from Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, United Nations; and S4 Capital’s Sir Martin Sorrell will be joined by a panel who look at putting the climate pledge into action. All sessions will be available to watch on the Cannes Lions Live website from Monday 21 June.
In a recent podcast celebrating ACT Responsible’s 20th year at Cannes Lions, Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division in the United Nations Department of Global Communications, Philip Thomas, Chairman, LIONS, and Hervé de Clerck, Founder, AdForum, came together to discuss the industry’s evolution in matters of social and environmental responsibility and the power that they now hold as global change-makers.
During the conversation, Nasser said that brands are realizing that they need to act responsibly not just talk responsible and that “The advertising industry is one of the most powerful industries in its ability to shape people’s cultural values and also shape patterns (of behavior).”
Stay with Reel 360 as we bring you coverage of the 2021 virtual Cannes Lions Festival from June 21 – 25.
