BBDO bags first Cannes Glass Lion for Pakistan 

In a historic moment for Pakistan's advertising industry, BBDO Pakistan, a subsidiary of the global advertising behemoth BBDO, secured the first-ever Cannes Glass Lion for Pakistan at the Cannes Lions Awards 2023 on 23 June. The accolade itself was the Gold Lion, second only to the Grand Prix Lion in its category. The award-winning campaign was English Biscuit Manufacturers’ (EBM) Schoolgirl Newscasters, which aired in December 2022.

“This award demonstrates EBM's unwavering commitment to girls' education, and our country's boundless creative potential,” stated Atiya Zaidi, Managing Director & Executive Creative Director of BBDO Pakistan.

What is Cannes Lion, and what is the Glass Lion? 

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly known as the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry. The five-day festival takes place annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France.

The Glass Lion, also known as The Lion for Change, celebrates culture-shifting creativity. Entries must demonstrate ideas intended to alter the world; work that sets out to positively impact ingrained gender inequality, imbalance or injustice. The Glass Lion recognises work that implicitly or explicitly addresses issues of gender inequality or prejudice through the conscious representation of gender in advertising. Furthermore, the award has four categories — Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

The campaign in question 

The campaign involved young schoolgirls who were unable to read just three years ago taking over three Pakistani news channels to broadcast the news. 

The newscaster schoolgirls shared details of how the country’s literacy rate had risen by 4 points in the last three years to 62.3% and needs to improve further. The girls shared their literacy journeys and how it had enabled them to read the news to hundreds of millions of people in impeccable Urdu and English. They also highlighted the role of education in making them better caretakers of future generations: educating girls leads to fewer early marriages, better health for women, and a higher national gross domestic product.

Another one for the road 

The Girls Newscaster campaign has been a resounding success for both BBDO and EBM, with the Glass Lion being just another feather in its cap. It is arguably the most prestigious feather thus far but is one of many awards the campaign has won over the past two months.

The campaign was awarded a Silver Clio at the Clio Awards 2023 in April while also winning two silver and two bronze awards at the UK Caples Advertising Awards 2023 in May.