An award is recognition for an amazing journey. For creative communications professionals, client work that lands at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity should be celebrated – not just for the well-deserved industry accolades; but for creating something with meaningful impact that propels our shared journey forward.

This is shared.

The work that is shortlisted or identified as some of the best in its category have all produced varying degrees of behavior shift, awareness or action. They’ve moved people to interact or understand in a new way. They make a difference in our communities, society and culture. While campaigns vary on the scale of human emotion – any campaign that generates a laugh, a tear, a pouring of ice water from a bucket and more – is touching upon our shared humanity. They make a difference – even if incremental, not immediately known or barely visible – on the journey we take together.

We are thankful.

This week, Zeno Group was included on a shortlist for a Cannes Lions award for its work on a Jockey campaign featuring pitcher Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants. The PR shortlist featured 200 campaigns out of nearly 2,000 entries (with more than 40,000 overall entries for Cannes Lions). The “Supporting Greatness with Jockey MadBum Underwear” campaign – built in collaboration with Jockey and partner agencies Droga5 and GRP – was highly successful in giving Jockey a cultural voice during a shared moment (World Series win for Bumgarner and the Giants). The program required a lot of hard work from a lot of people; but the journey was incredible, the human reactions were awesome and we are thankful for everyone who shared it with us in their Jockey MadBum underwear, including Jimmy Fallon.

The journey continues.

While we didn’t receive a Lion for the Jockey campaign (congrats to our Edelman colleagues for a Bronze Lion in our category), we were honored to be shortlisted with renewed appreciation of the journey and what it takes to make it this far. Tomorrow the journey continues and the opportunities to create an impact are right in front of all of us.