Late last year, The Barnardos Australia Brand and Reputation team applied to be the Cannes Young Lions charity client. Its wish has been granted.

41 teams from 41 countries are now filming and editing a 60 second commercial each for the child protection charity, in the Young Lions Film Competition. In 48 hours Barnardos Australia will have those films in its hands to use as it wishes to promote itself.

Barnardos Australia Brand and Reputation manager, Amy Lee-Hopkins, presented the brief to the teams in Cannes late on Wednesday, June 18, adding this message, “This is such an incredible opportunity for Barnardos. We are honoured to be part of the Cannes Young Lions Festival and we can’t wait to see all the team’s entries and their take on the important issue of child abuse and neglect. The films produced will be invaluable to us in spreading our child protection message to more people and supporters.”

And then, video advertising company and Young Lions sponsor, Virool, made the surprise announcement that they would distribute the winning commercial across Youtube guaranteeing 1 million views.

These are the rules:

• The Young Lions creatives have 48 hours to film original footage using only the equipment provided by the festival organisers.
• All films must be completed by 6pm on Friday 20 June (Cannes time), when they will be judged by a jury of industry professionals.
• The winning film team will be presented with a Gold medal during the Film, Film Craft, Branded Entertainment, Titanium & Integrated Lions Awards Ceremony on Saturday 21 June.

All submitted artwork and ideas created in the competition will be available to Barnardos Australia to incorporate into their marketing campaign following Cannes.