The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world’s largest celebration of creativity in communications. It honors the ideas that are changing the ways brands interact with their customers and its prestigious awards champion the best work of all.

The global Nelson Mandela poster campaign is an initiative that invited artists from all over the world to honor Nelson Mandela’s 95th birthday through the design of a commemorative poster. The project’s only creative parameter was that all posters needed to be A2 size.

A team in Interbrand’s New York office decided to create an A2-sized poster that could unfold into an 8 by 7 foot rectangle when placed on the ground—almost the exact size of Mandela’s prison cell on Robben Island, South Africa where he served most of his 27-year sentence. This revolutionary design concept took what could have been a traditional poster and turned it into a memorable and inspiring experience in the public space.

From nearly 700 submissions, 95 posters were chosen to represent each year of Mandela’s life. Interbrand New York’s “Paper Prison” poster was one of those selected. The 95 posters were part of an exhibit that toured the world before being auctioned off to benefit the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust.

We would like to congratulate the team responsible for producing this world-changing piece of work: Andy Payne, Chris Campbell, Forest Young, Craig Stout, Ross Clugston, Kristin Labahn, Matt van Leeuwen, Matt King, Darcy Newell and Interbrand interns Jongwon Lee, Andrea Moore and Annalisa van den Bergh. Their work has honored a man who changed the world for the better and inspired us all with his unbreakable spirit.

via Interbrand