New Global Creative Challenge Launched by Cannes Lions and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Jun 19, 2014 22:00 JST

Source: Cannes Chimera

Cannes Chimera Calls Global Creative Community to Action: Your Idea Can Influence a Generation and Change the World

CANNES, FRANCE, Jun 19, 2014 - (ACN Newswire) - The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, currently taking place in Cannes and being attended by 12,000 experts in creative communications, has today launched the fourth Cannes Chimera Initiative creative brief. The new brief is part of a creative competition, which identifies innovative communications concepts that can help build public awareness and support for solutions to critical global development problems.

Cannes Chimera has called on the global creative communications industry to propose innovative communications concepts that can inspire Millennials - the largest, most interconnected, most technologically sophisticated generation in human history - to be part of the generation that eliminates global health and development problems for good. The concepts must be able to cause a measureable increase in Millennial attention to global health and poverty issues and give them a way to get involved in these urgent challenges. The full brief describing the challenges is available at: www.canneschimera.com.

"Cannes Lions provides the ultimate springboard for this new brief. Key elements such as the 1000 strong young creative delegation, dedicated TechTalks and Innovation Day, alongside the fact that thousands of the most creatively minded people in the world are in one place, combine to create an unbeatable environment from which to do this. The fact that they can take this and use it to change the world is an incredibly powerful concept," comments Philip Thomas, CEO of Lions Festivals.

The Cannes Chimera will select up to ten winners and award them with a prize of up to $100,000. Winners will be eligible to participate in a grant funding project with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Winners will also receive an exclusive invitation to attend a complimentary workshop at the Gates Foundation in Seattle, where they will receive mentoring from the previous year's Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners. Participants will have approximately six months to develop and pilot their ideas in order to show proof of concept, which is required for phase two funding consideration.

"Millennials have an incredible opportunity to create long-lasting global change," said Tom Scott, director of Global Brand & Innovation for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, "but we haven't found enough ways to tap into their creativity and desire to make an impact on the biggest problems in the world. This competition will help us and the global health and development sector to partner with Millennials in ground-breaking ways."

The creative brief is now available to view at www.canneschimera.com along with further details on how to submit an entry. All entries must have been submitted online by 1 August, 2014.

About the Cannes Chimera Initiative

This partnership inspires and activates the creative community to help solve the worlds most urgent global health and development problems. Each year, the initiative challenges the world's creative talent to develop ground-breaking communications approaches that motivate global audiences to support change and take actions that address a unique development issue, through a competitive creative brief. Winners of the competition are eligible to apply for funding of up to US$1M US grant from The Gates Foundation to execute their idea. To learn more about the Cannes Chimera, please visit http://www.canneslions.com/chimera.

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all peopleespecially those with the fewest resourceshave access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. For more information, visit www.gatesfoundation.org.

Contact:

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
Amanda Benfell, Head of PR & Press  
Tel: +44-20-3033 4000
E-mail: amandab@canneslions.com
Find Cannes Lions on Facebook | Twitter | 
YouTube | LinkedIn | Google+

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Media Enquiries 
Tel: +1-206-709 3400
Email: media@gatesfoundation.org

Source: Cannes Chimera
Sectors: Film & Video, Broadcast, Film & Sat