Riky Rick Foundation wins at Cannes Lions Awards

A year after the release of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated Riky Rick song Stronger was released, the song and campaign won a Silver Lion at the Cannes 2024 Awards

Stronger was released on Youth Day last year following the death of Riky Rick in February 2022.

The Cannes Lions Award recognises creative communications, advertising, and related fields. The awards are considered the largest gathering of the advertising and creative communications industry.

AI from Riky’s words

The Riky Rick Foundation has been awarded a Silver Lion together with production companies Audio Militia / Ganja Beatz in the Social & Influencer Lions: Social Purpose category.

In a section of the song Riky’s voice is heard rapping: “Eish but look, death is not the greatest loss in this life, the greatest loss is what dies inside while we’re alive. That’s why I really wanted to remember that you have to take care of the people that are close to you…”

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“The award is significant for us firstly that Riky is gaining recognition on a global stage; the work that we’re doing is resonating globally and it’s a thing for us to win because Cannes has so much work that it celebrates around AI and for us to compete in that space was great and to win something is great,” Chief Creative Officer at Advertising agency TBWA, Carl Willoughby told The Citizen.

Stronger was recorded using AI from Riky’s words taken from his social media posts, but what’s more significant is that the track speaks to mental health well-being.

Real name Rikhado Makhado, Riky Rick was an MTN lead in a summer campaign and after his suicide, TBWA, which handled his account, decided to do something around him and mental health.

Riky won in the Social and Influencer category which Willoughby found to be poignant because of the impact the late muso had. “It was kind of made for him in a way that he had such a big influence on those around him and I guess social icon,” he said.

ALSO READ: Riky Rick’s AI-generated song nominated for international award, for its mental health cause

TBWA to continue working with Riky Rick Foundation

The campaign has been recognised by a handful of award ceremonies in the last year, it was nominated for a Webby Award and TBWA scooped a Wood Pencil for the campaign at the Design and Art Direction (D&AD Pencil) awards.

“We’re going to continue doing work for the [Riky Rick] Foundation on an ongoing basis, we’re treating them as one of our pro-bono accounts,” averred Willoughby.

The TBWA head admitted that the hours donated to the foundation assist the company’s standing with regard to good governance and the ecosystem around BEE.

“But that’s not our motivation for doing this, it’s just knowing that we can do something meaningful. That’s what motivates us to continue to do stuff for the Riky Rick Foundation. But for us as an agency, it gives everyone a sense of purpose- we’re not just selling airtime, policies or cars, it gives us that feeling that we’re doing something good with our various skill sets,” shared the CCO.

TBWA wins Regional Network of the Year

The award was the only win for South Africa and as a result, TBWA has received the Regional Network of the Year.

The Cannes Lions Regional Network of the Year award is given to the network that garners the most points for shortlisted and awarded entries across the region.

TBWA is a collective of 11,000 creative minds operating in agencies across more than 40 countries.

“For me it’s my first Cannes as the Chief Creative Officer, it’s the first time I’ve generated a full body of work as Chief Creative Officer, we didn’t really enter last year. For me, it’s a massive sense of positive validation that I’m doing something right, but that the entire team, the Hunt Lascaris is doing something right,” said Willoughby.

NOW READ: New Riky Rick song generated by AI to be released on Youth Day