Cannes Chimera to Mentor Ten New Gates Foundation Grantees to Tell The World, “AID IS WORKING”

• CHIMERA WILL HELP PERFECT TEN CREATIVE IDEAS FROM AUSTRALIA, ITALY, THE NETHERLANDS & USA TO CHANGE THE WORLD
• ONE WEEK LEFT TO ENTER SECOND COMMUNICATIONS CHALLENGE

London, 1 November 2012 – The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced today, the first Cannes Chimera Gates Foundation grantees who will work to develop innovative approaches to changing the global conversation about the impact of development aid. The grantees are part of the foundation’s Grand Challenges Explorations initiative that fosters innovation to overcome the most persistent challenges in global health and development.

The Cannes Chimera (made up of the 2011 Cannes Lions Grand Prix winners) will partner with each grantee and provide mentoring as they develop their winning ideas and prepare for a chance at $1 million US in additional funding from the Gates Foundation to execute their project.

“This is an amazing initiative for anybody to put the power of a creatively inspired communications idea to good use and help others less fortunate,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions. “It’s also a unique chance to work with the Cannes Chimera – the best creative brand communicators in the world – and have the funding to see the idea put into action.”

The grant programme, “Aid is Working. Tell the World”, calls for creative ideas to help the public engage with the issues involved in overseas aid and understand that development investments are already paying off and saving lives. The ten new grantees, from Australia, Italy, The Netherlands and USA, were selected from more than 900 entries submitted from 85 countries. Each grantee will receive $100,000 US to develop their idea. A review panel comprised of experts from the Cannes Chimera, winners of the 2011 Cannes Lions Grand Prix, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, selected projects based solely on merit – applicants’ details are kept confidential.

“We believe new thinking and creativity can help influence the way we address really tough problems,” said Tom Scott, Director of Global Brand & Innovation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “To change the way people look at development and to help share success stories, we have to do things differently. Thanks to our partnership with Cannes Chimera, people from around the world answered the call and channelled their innovative ideas to help with this challenge.”

The first cadre of “Aid is Working. Tell the World” grantees will gather at the Gates Foundation’s campus in Seattle mid-November, with representatives from Cannes Chimera and the Gates Foundation, to further develop their ideas. Grantees then have the opportunity to apply for additional funding of up to $1 million US to bring their idea to fruition. Select grantees will be invited to present at the Cannes Lions Festival in 2013. For more information on all of the grantees please see below or visit www.canneschimera.com/results_2012.cfm.

Grant applications for a second round of “Aid is Working. Tell the World” are now being accepted through November 7, 2012. The current challenge calls for ideas in four specific submission categories:
• Mobile: projects that will activate emerging mobile networks and engage cell phone users to build support in wealthy economies for development efforts where they are needed most.
• Data: New analyses of existing data that can tell compelling stories about the impact development efforts are having around the world.
• Young Audiences: Projects that will increase youth awareness of global development challenges to help them become informed advocates for solving these important development problems.
• The Progress of Development: Proposals that show the virtuous cycle of development efforts: how the beneficiaries of aid are becoming self-sufficient, and how countries that were previously receiving aid are now providing it to other nations.

The Grand Challenges Explorations programme is open to anyone from any discipline, from student to communications executive, and from any organisation – for-profit companies, universities, government agencies, and non-profit organisations. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page applications and no preliminary data required. Applications are submitted online, and winning grants are chosen approximately four months from the submission deadline.

Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.

The ten grantees announced today are:
• Pamoja Together! Boston University’s programme on Crisis Response and Reporting will collaborate with universities in Western Kenya to create a global health student newsroom, build cross-cultural understanding about the role of aid in improving public health, and train the next generation of storytellers.

• Twins! Italy-based Deep International Ltd’s Communications project aims to introduce children in developed countries to foreign aid work by matching them to their aid-supported birth-twin in developing nations. Aid workers will build a database of ‘twins’ by inputting their details through smart phone applications – allowing developed-world children (and their parents) to explore twins online.

• 0.7%. Sydney-based Future Buro will turn the figure of 0.7% – the percentage of national income governments have pledged to spend on aid – into a brand. The aim is to show aid in perspective and in relation to the wider economy and highlight how small contributions have incredible effects. It will also facilitate individuals, brands and publications to donate 0.7% of incomes, budgets and media space.

• Translation. New York-based Galewill Design propose to translate the complicated language of foreign aid into simplified, compelling messages using a proven, research-based methodology, and develop a one-of-a-kind digital translation tool to help the aid community tell compelling human stories. The aim is to transform the way the field talks about its work.

• I See You! Seattle-based Habitat Seven propose to create an interactive children’s e-book series for tablet devices that tells the personal stories of children whose lives have been touched by aid efforts. Their goal is to cultivate meaningful dialogue within families to spread the message that aid is working.

• Fixes U. The Institute for Transformation of Learning at Marquette University, USA, will partner with David Bornstein (How to Change the World) and Tina Rosenberg (Pulitzer prize-winning The Haunted Land) to build the first Wiki-style platform that packages solutions-journalism (specifically NYTimes Fixes columns) into mini-case-studies for educators around the world to embed in, and across, the curriculum.

• How does aid work? Let’s ask the crowd! Is the idea of Stichting 1 Procentclub (1%Club) from The Netherlands, intend creating a mobile monitoring and evaluation tool. It shows how aid impacts the lives of people at local level by telling first person stories and connecting it with open data. This tool connects grassroots projects to a global audience in a real time conversation.

• Broadcasting Foreign Aid: A New Strategic Approach by USA-based ProSocial, LLC, propose to employ an innovative, cross-disciplinary, issue-driven creative process to develop an original television series telling the stories of aid workers around the world, and to use this series as an anchor for a public engagement campaign about how international aid makes the world fairer, more stable and safer.

• Aid is Working. Just Ask G.I. Joe by The Truman National Security Institute in the USA The Truman National Security Institute pairs the trusted voices of military veterans with innovative multimedia to reframe international development as a national security imperative. Building on a record of award-winning products, their MakeUsStrong campaign creates short films featuring members of the military demonstrating how international development helps keep America safe.

• The Echo Project by Wieden+Kennedy in Portland, USA, proposes designing and developing devices that measure actions indicative of foreign aid success. The measured data will be used to establish an open collection of real-time streams and to create a variety of meaningful interactive experiences.

How to apply
To learn more about Grand Challenges please visit www.grandchallenges.org/explorations

About the new categories for the next round of the Aid is Working. Tell the World (Part 2) challenge

Mobile: We seek proposals for projects that will activate emerging mobile networks and engage users, through basic and smart phone technologies, in ways that build support in wealthy economies for aid efforts in places they are needed most.

Data: The emergence of Big Data and web services provide new opportunities to understand and talk about aid. We seek proposals for projects that produce new analysis of and insights to existing data about the impact of aid, and that use it to tell compelling, new stories about how those investments enable progress in the developing world.

Young audiences: It is critical to engage the next generation of global citizens in strategies to address development challenges. We seek proposals for projects that will increase youth awareness of global development challenges and that can prepare young people to be informed advocates and leaders in creating solutions for these problems.

The Progress of Aid: When spent wisely, aid has helped countries lift themselves out of poverty and end their reliance on assistance from donor nations. We seek proposals for projects that show the virtuous cycle of development aid, at both micro and macro levels: how the beneficiaries of aid are using it to become self-sufficient and how countries that were previously supported through aid investments, are now providers of aid for other nations.

About 60th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, 16-22 June 2013, Cannes, France:
The International Festival of Creativity, also known as Cannes Lions, is the world’s leading celebration of creativity in communications. Founded in 1954, the Festival takes place every June in Cannes, France. As the most prestigious international annual advertising and communications awards, over 34,000 entries from all over the world are showcased and judged at the Festival. Winning companies receive the highly coveted Lion trophy honouring the most creative film, print, outdoor, interactive, radio, design, sales promotion & activation, film craft and integrated, branded content & entertainment advertising, as well as the best media, direct marketing, PR, titanium and creative effectiveness ideas. The Festival is also the only truly global meeting place for advertisers, advertising and communication professionals. Close to 11,00 delegates from 95 countries attend seven days of exhibitions, screenings, as well as high-profile seminars, workshops, forums and master classes presented by renowned worldwide industry leaders. As the networking and learning opportunity of the year, Cannes Lions is the must-attend event for anyone involved in brand communication.

To learn more about the Cannes Chimera, please visit http://www.canneslions.com/chimera

About Grand Challenges Explorations:
Grand Challenges Explorations fosters innovation in global health and development research. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $100 million to encourage individuals worldwide to expand the pipeline of ideas to fight our greatest health and development challenges. The grant program is open to anyone from any discipline, from student to tenured professor, and from any organization – colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. The initiative uses an agile, accelerated grant-making process with short two-page applications and no preliminary data required. Applications are submitted online, and winning grants are chosen approximately five months from the submission deadline. Initial grants of $100,000 are awarded two times a year. Successful projects have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million. For more information about Grand Challenges Explorations, please visit: www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/introduction.aspx

About the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett. For more information, visit: www.gatesfoundation.org