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Palau Pledge triumphs at Cannes, scooping three Grand Prix for the green campaign

The Palau Pledge – a campaign which asked tourists arriving at the tiny Pacific Island nation to sign a promise on their passport to protect the environment during their stay – was the most celebrated winner with three Grand Prix on the final night of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in France.

The campaign, created by Host/Havas of Sydney, Australia, for the island off the coast of the Philippines won both the Titanium Grand Prix as well as the inaugural Sustainable Development Goals Grand Prix, and triumphed in the Direct category.

Overall, the campaign won seven Lions, including Gold in the Brand Experience & Activation category.

Seamus Higgins, executive creative director at Host/Havas, said at the time of the campaign’s release: “We knew that to inspire a true and lasting change in behaviour, we had to find a way to make every visitor stop and think, that would transcend culture and nationality. This is behavioural psychology, innovative legislation and creativity coming together to do something that’s never been done before.”

Host/Havas said the results at Cannes Lions were amazing and the team was “gobsmacked”, “over the moon” and “humbled”.

Meanwhile, Titanium Lions jury president and Wieden & Kennedy global co-chief creative officer Colleen Decourcy told AdAge: “It went beyond messaging—it was not interrupted but integrated into the process. It changed minds of governments and made them do something sustainable.

“It took pieces from everything we loved in the other Titanium winners and put them into this idea that’s world changing. This felt like something we should be thinking about moving forward.”

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