Leo Burnett tops list of Cannes Lions winners

The agency's favoured "bear" spot for John West Food, directed by Danny Kleinman, was beaten by Cliff Freeman's campaign for Fox Sport's regional coverage - which bagged two-thirds of the jury's vote.

Partizan's Traktor directed the Fox campaign.

Burnett fared better than any other agency, however, securing three gold Lions for "bear", its "quick" spot for Heinz Microwaveable Soup and its "estate agent", "plumber" and "Hansen" spots for McDonald's.

Altogether, UK agencies won eight of the 24 gold Lions awarded last

Saturday night.

Lowe Lintas walked away with a gold for its latest offering for

Interbrew's Stella Artois beer, "hero's return".

BMP DDB picked up a gold award for its "driving test" TV spot for the Volkswagen Passat, as did Bartle Bogle Hegarty for its "twist" commercial for Levi's jeans. Mother bagged a gold for its "emergency"

execution for Coca-Cola's Dr Pepper.

J. Walter Thompson's emotive TV spot for the Special Olympics, "different", which starred an Olympian with Down's Syndrome, also secured a gold Lion.

The US followed close behind the UK, its agencies landing six golds in total, plus the Grand Prix. The countries also tied their total number of film honours, with 16 each.

Bob Isherwood, the president of the film jury, is introducing a book called The President's Log which will name and shame agencies that enter scam ads in future.

Last year DDB/Chicago's "whassup?" campaign for Budweiser took the top prize. "What are you doing?", Goodby Silverstein's upper-class version, won a bronze this year.

The number of winners was down on last year. The film jury awarded just 70 Lions, compared with 101 in 2000. A total of 24 gold Lions weren awarded, one less than in 2000.

The International Advertising Festival has announced plans to extend the awards by adding a marketing services event next year.

This article was first published on Campaign