What you need to know

• Australian brands were awarded 29 Lions in total including four gold, eight silver and 17 bronze at the annual creative international award show. 
• Melbourne agencies dominated their Sydney counterparts scooping 17 awards including all four gold Lions. 
• Royal Mint Australia's 'Donation Dollar' campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne and Herd MSL was the big winner securing five gongs – including two gold, two silver and one bronze. 
• AKQA Melbourne took home six awards – one gold, three silver and two bronze for work for Tennis Australia and a collaborative campaign with sister agency AKQA Sao Paulo for Instituo Raoni in Brazil. 

Melbourne agencies have flexed their creative muscles scooping all four of Australia’s gold trophies – and the lion’s share of the local medal haul – at the 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Led by Royal Mint Australia’s 'Donation Dollar' campaign, created by Saatchi & Saatchi Melbourne and Herd MSL, which collected five awards including two gold Lions in Direct and Outdoor, two silver Lions in Direct and PR, and one bronze in PR. 

The campaign saw Royal Mint Australia create $1 coins featuring the message ‘Donation Dollar: Give to help others' in a bid to encourage people to make small donations. 

AKQA Melbourne was the most awarded agency collecting a silver Lion in the Radio category for Tennis Australia's 'Action Audio' campaign. AKQA Melbourne also collected a gold, two silver and two bronze Lions for its work with sister agency AKQA Sao Paulo for the Instituto Raoni in Brazil. The wins, in the Mobile and Digital Craft and Creative Data categories, bring the agency's total haul to six awards.  

Australian agencies were awarded 29 awards in total including four gold Lions, eight silver Lions and 17 bronze lions at the annual creative international award show, which was held virtually last week.

Monash University's student recruitment campaign ‘A Future Without Change' campaign, created by VMLY&R Melbourne, was awarded a gold Lion in Design and a bronze Media Lion, while CUB's 'VB Solar' campaign picked up two bronze Lions (PR and Direct) for its agency Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. 

Campaigns for AAMI and Belong Telecommunications each collected one bronze Lion for their agencies Ogilvy Melbourne and Deloitte Digital, respectively. 

While Melbourne-led campaigns topped the tally winning 17 awards, Sydney agencies also had a good showing securing 11 awards. 

IAG's 'Sloways' secured a silver Media Lion, Genea's ‘Where Babies Come From’ won silver and bronze in the Pharma category, and Samsung's 'microcodes' also collected Bronze in the Outdoor category. CHE Proximity Sydney created all three campaigns.

Tourism New Zealand delivered a silver and bronze Lion to Special Group Australia for its collaborative work with Special Group New Zealand for the 'Good Morning World' campaign. The campaign was awarded in the Mobile and Social & Influencer categories. 

Two campaigns for KFC; 'Michelin Impossible' and 'Secret Menu' by Ogilvy Sydney collected two bronze Lions in the Brand Experience & Activation category, while Rexona's 'Pitvertising' campaign by Clemenger BBDO Sydney won bronze. 

UN Women Australia and Air New Zealand each collected a bronze for The Monkeys and Host/Havas, respectively in the Social and Influencer category. 

The Australian Road Safety Foundation rounded out the Aussie winners with a bronze Media Lion for its 'Slow Down Songs' campaign created by Brisbane’s Brother & Co.

The total haul was down on previous years and featured no Grand Prix or special awards. In 2017, Australia brought home a record haul of 113 Lions, bolstered by a blistering performance by TAC Victoria's 'Meet Graham' campaign which won 29 awards including two Grands Prix for Clemenger BBDO Melbourne. 

Meanwhile, 2019 delivered 56 Lions while Australia brought home 36 Lions in 2019. The Cannes Lions Festival was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.