Block voting in Media Lions might not have happened, says Cannes Lions boss Terry Savage

Terry Savage, the chairman of the Cannes Lions festival, told Mumbrella that evidence of block voting last year was not conclusive – and no damage had been done to the festival’s reputation as a result.

The Cannes Lions media category was mired by controversy in 2012 when it emerged that jurors appeared to be banding together to vote for agencies from their own networks.

The former boss of Mindshare Australia James Greet, who was on the Cannes judging panel in 2011, subsequently said in an interview with AdNews that block voting in the category was “rife”.

The scandal prompted media agency Zenith Optimedia to threaten to boycott the event this year if nothing was done to improve the judging process which has since been restructured. The changes led to accusations from New York Festivals that the Cannes Lions had copied it.