Cannes Lions is launching a new competition for Public Relations for 2009, and has announced the appointment of Lord Tim Bell as the President of the inaugural PR Lions jury.
By adding PR Lions to the existing entry sections of Film, Press, Outdoor, Media, Promo, Design, Cyber, Direct, Radio, and Titanium and Integrated Lions, Cannes Lions want to ensure the whole advertising and communications industry is represented during the week-long Festival.
PR Lions will honour the creative use of reputation management by the building and preservation of trust and understanding between individuals, businesses or organisations and their publics. Categories will broadly include Sector Related PR, Product & Service and Technique. Entries will be rewarded for strategy, creativity and originality, execution and results.
Lord Bell commented on his role as Jury President, saying “I am honoured to chair the first ever PR jury. This new category will greatly enhance the celebration of communications that is Cannes Lions, and will further elevate the recognition of reputation management within our industry.”
Currently Chairman of Chime Communications, Lord Bell helped found Saatchi & Saatchi in 1970. He successfully ran the election campaign for the Conservative Party in 1979 and again in 1983, and it was to him that Mrs Thatcher turned when the 1987 General Election seemed in doubt. He became Deputy Chairman of The Lowe Group in 1985, and subsequently bought out the communications division, Lowe Bell Communications, in 1989.
Chime Communications Plc, the holding company listed on the London Stock Exchange, owns Bell Pottinger Communications (formerly Lowe Bell) and its sister advertising agency VCCP. Lord Bell is one of the best known figures in the UK communications industry and advises the chairmen and chief executives of many of Britain’s leading companies and organisations, as well as foreign heads of state and international business leaders and politicians.
Welcoming Lord Bell's appointment, Philip Thomas, Festival CEO, said, “Launching PR at Cannes has been on our radar for quite a while and as with any new category we introduce, it takes time to prepare to the standard we expect and is expected of us. The time is now right and we are extremely honoured to have Lord Tim Bell chair the first PR Lions jury. An authority on PR with a long and distinguished career, he will bring valuable knowledge and guidance to the inaugural PR Lions competition.”
Information regarding categories and how to submit entries to the new PR Lions competition will be available online from 29 January 2009. The winners of the first ever PR Lions and Grand Prix will be honoured in Cannes on Monday 22 June 2009, alongside the Direct and Promo Lions winners.
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For more information contact Lord Bell on +44 (0)20 7861 8515.
