Anne de Gaulle Airport campaign wins Grand Prix for Good

An ambitious campaign that temporarily renamed Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris after de Gaulle’s daughter Anne, who had Down syndrome, was honored with the Grand Prix for Good at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Friday night.

Havas Paris was behind the initiative for Fondation Anne de Gaulle to rename the airport for a week to raise awareness about supporting people with disabilities. The overhaul, which began on International Day of Persons with Disabilities (Dec. 3), extended across dozens of consumer touchpoints including baggage tags, luggage carts, boarding passes, screens, road signs leading to the airport and even the iconic building facade.

In most Cannes Lions categories, campaigns are not eligible for the Grand Prix if they are charity campaigns not connected to a for-profit brand. At the end of the week, Cannes organizers gather all the charity work awarded Gold Lions in all the other categories—and have the Titanium Lions jury award one of them the Grand Prix for Good.

“Anne De Gaulle” was a Gold Lions winner in Direct and Outdoor.

“It rose to the top really quickly,” David Droga, CEO of Accenture Song and president of the Titanium jury, said of the Anne de Gaulle campaign. “It just shows the power of a really simple, good idea. We felt it was transformational. This organization has been around for decades. And through one action, one idea—it’s impactful, it’s memorable, it’s tastefully done as well—we just loved it.”