Third Cannes Chimera Receives 900 Entries From 79 Contries

The third Cannes Chimera global communications challenge, answering to the competitive creative brief "Help Lead the Fight Against Extreme Poverty," has received a total of 900 entries from 79 different countries, more than half of which are from advertising and brand communication agencies.

The brief, set by Cannes Lions and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was launched during the 60th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June this year, with a bid for new communication concepts that will incite the public to support an emerging international agenda to ensure that poverty is virtually eliminated by 2030.

Of the response, Cannes Lions CEO Philip Thomas said, "This is an outstanding response from our industry. I'm delighted to see such engagement for this latest Cannes Chimera challenge, showing how passionate people in our industry are to use their skills for the greater good. This is a chance to use the power of communicating creatively to change people's behavior that will have compelling consequences for humankind."

Chimera members from 2011, 2012 and 2013 are now judging the first round of the 900 submissions. This will be followed by a second round of judging by 2013 Cannes Chimera members, made up of winners of all the Cannes Lions 2013 Grand Prix awards, who will make the final selection of up to ten winners to each receive up to $100,000 to take their concept to the next level.

The winning ideas will be announced early next year and those behind the ideas will go on to take part in a two-day workshop in March at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation campus in Seattle during which they will be mentored by the Cannes Chimera. Each winner will have the opportunity to apply for up to $1Million to implement its idea in partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its global partners.

Last month, the second Cannes Chimera two-day workshop took place in Seattle with the 2012 Chimera members working with the nine winners of the second "Aid is Working. Tell the World" communications challenge submitted in the four specific categories of Mobile, Data, Young Audiences and The Progress of Development, to brainstorm and perfect their ideas.

The Cannes Chimera Initiative was launched by the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in an effort to generate communications ideas that motivate global audiences to support change and take actions that address critical development issues. The initiative issues a competitive brief to the creative community each year, at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.