In the reviewed criteria, to be eligible for the award, an “Independent Agency” will be defined as an agency that is owned by its management or independent shareholders and is not associated with any holding company or listed entity.
"We realized that the spirit of Independent Agency Of The Year was to award and reward an individual office of an Independent Agency, and in doing so, encourage the spirit of creative entrepreneurship that has helped forge so many outstanding agencies in the past," said Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions.
"Initially we tried to make eligibility wider—but with so many permutations it is impossible to create a level playing field and on reflection we realized it was not achieving what we wanted, which was to recognize truly independent agencies."
The Festival reserves the right to request confirmation pertaining to any agency claiming to be independent prior to the event itself.
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