BBDO and EBM win first Glass Lion for Pakistan at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival

At the 70th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, BBDO Pakistan in collaboration with IMPACT BBDO, has won Pakistan’s first Glass Lion. The award, known as the Lion for Change, recognizes work that successfully tackles issues pertaining to gender-based issues and inequality.

This year, only one Gold was awarded globally in this category, and it went to EBM’s “Schoolgirl Newscasters,” a campaign that aims to increase the number of girls in schools in Pakistan. The campaign saw young schoolgirls who couldn’t read only two to three years ago deliver the news to Pakistanis from newsrooms on three leading news channels.

Ali Rez, Regional Chief Creative Officer for Middle East and Pakistan, said: “The Glass Lion is the most special Lion of all to us: it stands for work that is not only strategically intelligent and brilliantly executed, but also moves the needle in its quest to correct imbalance in gender equality. We thank our brand partners at EBM for their trust, and are in awe of them for all that they are doing to help Pakistani girls get educated.”

This is the 5th year that BBDO Pakistan has won at Cannes Lions for the nation. Previously, in 2014, the agency won Pakistan’s first Lion ever, and then followed it up with the first Gold Lion for the country in 2015. Since then, they have won more industry awards than any agency in the country.

The 70th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity was held from 19 to 23 June, 2023. Almost 27,000 entries competed from around the world this year for this most prestigious of industry accolades.