Network of the Year: McCann Worldgroup. Agency of the Year: Forsman & Bodenfors. Production Company of the Year: Blur Films.
Grand Prix
- RESPONSIBILITY: Price On Our Lives, March For Our Lives, McCann NY
- ALTERNATIVE: Go With the Fake, Diesel, PUBLICIS
- DESIGN: LA Original, Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, 72andSunny
- DIGITAL: JFK Unsilenced,The Times News UK & Ireland, Rothco/Accenture Interactive
- PRINT: Highlight the Remarkable, Stabilo, DDB Group Germany (Berlin)
- FILM: The Party Bus, Shiseido
The new Responsibility Grand Prix for cause-related work went to ‘Price On Our Lives’ from McCann Worldgroup in New York. The campaign allowed the students of America to protest against gun violence with a potent symbol: the price of their lives as calculated by the amount of money the NRA donates to politicians, divided by the total number of students. The price tag amounted to little more than a dollar.
The Alternative Grand Prix, also a new prize, went to Publicis Italy and Diesel for a campaign that struck back against counterfeit fashion.
The Digital Grand Prix was won by Rothco/Accenture Interactive for JFK Unsilenced, a project for The Times. It used digital technology to recreate the speech John F. Kennedy would have given at the Dallas Trade Mart had he not been killed by an assasin’s bullet on November 22 1963. The almost perfect voice of JFK, giving the speech he was never able to make, gives listeners chills.
DDB Germany won the Print Grand Prix with Highlight the Remarkable. The campaign for Stabilo highlighter pens literally highlighted talented women who had been neglected by history and forced to stand in the shadow of their male counterparts.
The Design Grand Prix went to 72andSunny, which created a new and dynamic identity for the multifacted city of L.A. on behalf of the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles.
The Film Grand Prix was won by Shiseido in-house for its film The Party Bus, which combines animation, special effects and drama to tell a contemporary fairy tale. The 3D animation required close to 2000 stop motion shots.
This year Epica received 4020 entries from 69 countries, a 20% increase on the previous year. This was driven by the return of the Publicis Groupe networks, plus an enthusiastic response from Germany and Latin America. Indeed, the highest number of entries came from Germany, followed by the United States and France. New countries this year included Iran and Morocco. In terms of networks, BBDO and McCann Worldgroup were particularly well represented.
France was top in the country rankings with 53 awards including 12 golds.
