Star Performers
The work featured in this chart has been awarded by Lions Jurors for its inclusive approach. Encompassing a range of brands and markets, these top performers feature a financial inclusion initiative from Bangladesh and a Pakistani telco that introduced digital birth registration to establish human rights for children at the start of their lives. In this section, we will focus on the top three star performers.
The variety of work and brands shows how inclusive work can take myriad forms. Use it to help you think about what a more inclusive approach looks like for your brands or the brands you work on.
Highest-awarded brands for work mentioning inclusion
ANZ/ANZ BANK
GOOGLE AI & CANADIAN DOWN SYNDROME SOCIETY*
THE BIG ISSUE & LINKEDIN
UCB & SHWAPNO
TELENOR PAKISTAN
MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL
Chart above based on 2013-2022.
*Please note that CANADIAN DOWN SYNDROME SOCIETY alone received a further 2 awards. Source; LIONS Data
Make a colourful statement: ANZ ‘GayTM’
Homosexuality was a crime in New South Wales until 1984, and the police shut down early Mardi Gras festivities. Today, the Sydney Mardi Gras is a huge celebration, and Australian bank ANZ wanted to show its support.
It kicked off with GayTMs, giving its cash machines a special Mardi Gras makeover. And transaction fees from non-ANZ customers were donated to charities supporting gay and lesbian people in Australia. Major news outlets in Australia and beyond reported on the GayTMs which were also shared widely on social platforms.
Over the following years, ANZ showed its support for gay marriage, rebranded to GAYNZ to make 10 years of Mardi Gras sponsorship, and reclaimed every Oxford Street across Australia (a key road on the Mardi Gras route) to include Australians outside of Sydney.
Takeout: Target audiences that have been historically ignored. They are your future customers.
GAYTM I ANZ
WHYBIN\TBWA MELBOURNE
GRAND PRIX OUTDOOR LIONS | 2014
PROJECT UNDERSTOOD I GOOGLE AND CANADIAN DOWN SYDNROME SOCIETY
FCB CANADA, TORONTO
GOLD DIGITAL CRAFT LIONS | 2020
Work with the community: Google and CDSS: ‘Project Understood’
When it realised that people with Down Syndrome weren’t recognised by its voice assistant, Google partnered the Canadian Down Syndrome Society (CDSS) on an initiative to remedy this problem.
It invited people with Down Syndrome to donate their voice so that Google’s AI would become more adept at recognising what they were saying when using voice assistants.
More than one million voices were donated to Google’s speech recognition database, and in 2021, Google launched a new beta voice assistant, based on the data and lessons it had captured throughout the Project.
Takeout: Work with the community. Bring in people who face a specific challenge and use their experience to power a solution.
Digitising for progress: Big Issue + LinkedIn ‘Raising Profiles’
Social business organisation The Big Issue teamed up with LinkedIn so its magazine vendors could access and broaden their customer base. This was at the start of the lockdown when its vendors - homeless people trying to get back on their feet - were robbed of passing trade and had to find a digital alternative.
Takeout: Find the right partners. Drive reach and get expert help through external alliances.
RAISING PROFILES | THE BIG ISSUE AND LINKEDIN
FCB INFERNO, LONDON
GRAND PRIX CREATIVE ECOMMERCE LIONS | 2021
Tiffany Rolfe
Global Chief Creative Officer | R/GA Jury President | Creative eCommerce Lions 2020-2021
“LinkedIn delivered on what this business and brand is all about – lifting homeless people off the streets. It was real-time innovation where creativity played a big role.”
The last word...
“Silence is the enemy of progress.”
Jo-ann Robertson | CEO, Global Markets Ketchum Jury President | PR Lions 2023