A win for the Lucky Iron Fish as Cannes Lions rule on Product Design Grand Prix controversy

June 27 2015, 9:13 am | BY Lynchy | 5 Comments

Lucky Fish.jpgThe Cannes Lions organisers have swiftly investigated and issued a statement over yesterday’s Campaign Brief Asia story exposing the concerns surrounding the validity of this year’s Product Design Grand Prix winner, “Lucky Iron Fish” from Geometry Global Dubai and Memac Ogilvy MENA. The story has grabbed global industry attention with over 25,000 hits and nearly 2,000 Facebook likes.

In short, the right outcome has been reached and Lucky Iron Fish is now the sole recipient of the Grand Prix in Product Design. From the Cannes Lions perspective this will help in further years to stamp out confusion, and move the category towards the prestige and standing of the D&AD Product Design category. Campaign Brief is assuming, but it is not stated, that Geometry Global, Ogilvy and WPP will not receive Cannes Agency, Network, Ranking points on this entry

Here’s the Cannes statement in full:

Following reports concerning the validity of this year’s Product Design Grand Prix Winner, “Lucky Iron Fish” from Geometry Global Dubai and Memac Ogilvy MENA, the organisers of Cannes Lions have undertaken further investigation. We have received prompt written confirmation from both Gavin Armstrong, President and CEO of the Lucky Iron Fish company and Dr Christopher Charles, who developed the original prototype, that they worked in close partnership with the agencies concerned. This follows below.

Gavin Armstrong stated:

“Based on my understanding of the entry mechanism at the Cannes Lions festival, we gave Geometry Global approval to be the entrant for all Lucky Iron Fish entries, with full credit to Lucky Iron Fish and other participating entities. There has been no intention to misrepresent the role of Geometry Global or the campaign in the entry or any communications. I was present during the event and received each of the Lions award on stage. I also presented to the Judges for the Innovation award.”

Geometry Global also made the following statement:

“Geometry Global Dubai and Memac Ogilvy MENA are proud to have partnered with the creators of the Lucky Iron Fish product to bring wider exposure and commercial success to this important public health innovation. We have been transparent in our award entries about the contributions of all the players including Gavin Armstrong, CEO of Lucky Iron Fish, Dr. Chris Charles, Director on the Board of Lucky Iron Fish, and all of the supporting agencies. The product design and prototype were created by Lucky Iron Fish; Geometry Global helped to introduce the product to a wider audience.

With the misunderstanding that there could only be a single entrant company across all categories, we entered the Product Design category on behalf of our client and were therefore named ‘entrant company’. Our approach was in full agreement with Lucky Iron Fish company and all partners were credited in the entry. We now understand that Product Design could have been entered directly by Lucky Iron Fish without Geometry Global and Memac Ogilvy as an ‘entrant company.’ Therefore, we have agreed with the Cannes Lions that Lucky Iron Fish should be the sole recipient of the Grand Prix in Product Design, as accepted by CEO Gavin Armstrong during the ceremony in Cannes on Wednesday night. It is an honour to be partners of Lucky Iron Fish, and we are pleased that it has garnered recognition by the Cannes Lions juries. We look forward to being part of the continued success of this project.”

From our perspective, as the organisers of Cannes Lions, this satisfies the requirements of the competition and closes the matter.