WPP lawyers are involved in a dispute with Cannes Lions over the handling of its 2025 awards.
Ahead of the entry deadline for this year’s awards in April, Cannes Lions agreed that Ogilvy could count its sister network Grey’s points towards its tally for Network of the Year, but reneged on that decision during the festival after rivals complained.
WPP announced plans to realign Grey from AKQA Group into Ogilvy Group in May.
The complaint relates to the fact that Ogilvy and Grey aligned their entry strategies and investment, on the basis that they would be treated as one network, and does not question the result of the Network of the Year trophy.
During the judging process, jurors from Grey and Ogilvy were asked to leave the room when work from the other agency was being discussed.
Moreover, it is understood that Cannes Lions' online portal, which allows holding companies and agencies to track their wins and shortlist appearances during the festival, showed, and still shows, Grey's tally as part of Ogilvy's network.
When other holding companies and networks, including Omnicom’s DDB, this year’s winner of Network of the Year, heard about the arrangement shortly before the festival, they made formal complaints to Cannes Lions.
Campaign understands that on the Thursday of the festival (June 19), Cannes Lions informed Ogilvy and Grey that they would not be aligned for Network of the Year. Ogilvy believes it is still waiting for an explanation for the change.
Campaign contacted Cannes Lions for comment but did not get a response before the publication. WPP, Ogilvy and Grey declined to comment.
Separately, the festival has announced new measures to strengthen its awards entry criteria and reiterated its "commitment to honouring work that upholds the highest standards".
Ogilvy came second to DDB for Network of the Year, followed by Interpublic’s FCB in third place. WPP won Creative Company of the Year.
Grand Prix, including those for Good, are worth 30 points, while Titanium and Creative Effectiveness Grand Prix are worth 35. Gold Lions, meanwhile, are worth 15, silver ones are worth seven and bronze worth three.
Ogilvy was the first UK agency to receive a Grand Prix at Cannes Lions 2025, in the Creative Strategy category for its work on the Dove campaign “Real beauty”.
Joanne Wilson, WPP's chief financial officer, is also a non-executive director of Informa, which owns the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Publisher and events group Informa bought Cannes Lions’ owner Ascential last year in a deal worth £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion).
There have been serious questions about the legitimacy of some of this year’s Cannes Lions winners.
Most notably, DDB’s DM9 shop withdrew three campaigns, including DM9's “Efficient way to pay” for Consul, which won the Creative Data Grand Prix, after admitting case studies contained AI-generated and manipulated content. DM9’s co-president and chief creative officer, Icaro Doria, stepped down.
Last week, Publicis Groupe’s LePub took disciplinary action over a campaign for New Balance and São Paulo FC. However, a spokesperson declined to comment on whether the agency would withdraw the campaign.
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