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McDonald's Corp. will be named the Creative Marketer of the Year at one of the world's most high-profile advertising industry award shows this summer – and its Canadian advertising played a role.
The Cannes Lions advertising festival announced the award on Monday. It will be presented during the annual industry event in the south of France in June.
Some of McDonald's most buzzed-about advertising in the past couple of years was made in Canada with its digital agency, TribalDDB Toronto. The "Our Food. Your Questions" campaign promised consumers that the company would answer any question about its products, no matter how unflattering. It delivered those answers via video, many of which caught global attention and attracted millions of views online. The campaign itself has won at Cannes as well: last year, it picked up a a silver Lion award in the Promo & Activation category, and gold and bronze Lions in the Cyber category as well. A spokesperson for the festival confirmed that the campaign contributed to McDonald's receiving this latest award.
"McDonald's and its agencies have taken creative risks to produce meaningful work, and they see award-winning content earning higher returns," the CEO of Lions Festivals, Philip Thomas, said in a statement.