UNIQLO selects Sho-san's KING as Grand Prix winner

29 Jun '09

6 min read

UNIQLO has been responsible for the creation and sale of official T-shirts for the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, one of the world's top three advertising fests. Ten short-listed designs have been made into commercial products. And from among those entries, "KING" designed by Sho-san, an arts university student living in Tokyo, has been selected as the 2009 Grand Prix winner. The design perfectly matched the 2009 Grand Prix with an image of a crown-wearing lion, the symbol of the Cannes Lions. UNIQLO will continue to create and sell official T-shirts for the Cannes Lions Festival from 2010 onwards. The 2010 competition opened for entries from June 22.

UNIQLO led the creation of the official T-shirts for the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, holding a design competition for individuals to participate in the T-shirt creation process. We opened the design competition for the Cannes Lions T-shirt Grand Prix to the public via the Web for roughly one month from last November. We received 1,448 designs from 51 different countries. Of those, 10 designs were selected for T-shirts sold in UNIQLO stores around the world as official T-shirts for the Cannes Lions.

The T-shirt design selected as the Grand Prix winner at the Cannes Lions festival on June 26 was Sho-san's design entitled KING. The design was judged highly fitting for the 2009 Grand Prix with its use of two graphics images - the lion and the crown - to express the magnificence of the Cannes Lions advertising festival. The graphics were designed for their simplicity and impact, equal to the Cannes Lions festival itself with its long and learned history. UNIQLO also hosted an award ceremony in Cannes on the same day Grand Prix winner Sho-san received a commemorative trophy from the Cannes Lions chairman, Terry Savage.

UNIQLO also to create official T-shirts from 2010 onwards.

UNIQLO will lead the creation of the official T-shirts for the Cannes Lions festival from 2010 onwards. UNIQLO launched UT Grand Prix design competition in 2005 encouraging entrants to give their imagination free rein to express graphics and messages using the T-shirt as a canvas. Each year, there are over 10,000 entries with people sending in designs from countries all over the world including Japan. From 2010 onwards, we will be looking to combine and develop the UT Grand Prix and the Cannes Lions T-shirt Grand Prix to extend the reach of T-shirt design across the globe. This will be the start of a new and exciting competition. The 2010 official T-shirt will be sold in UNIQLO stores around the world from next summer.

Grand Prix-winning design - Profile

Design: KING

Designer: Sho

Profile: Currently a student of the Faculty of Art and Communication at Tama Art University, the 23-year-old is a football fan and dog lover, looking for the fun things in everyday life.

Design Concept:
At the Cannes Lions, not only judges but also participants are involved in the decision to choose the category's Grand Prix. The design was created in a way matching this selection process -- making those participants who wore the T-shirt aware of the KING. The T-shirt expresses the magnificence of the Cannes Lions advertising festival through two simple graphics - the lion and the crown. The graphics were designed for their simplicity and impact, equal to the Cannes Lions festival itself with its long and learned history. The lion's expression and the KING lend a kind of regal quality. The black block color strengthens the design's impact, and the gold of the crown gives sense of a colorful and gorgeous ceremony.

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