It is somewhat ironic that the goal of this competition is to take home a Cannes Lion and that the goal of our creative is to keep African Lions in their place in the wild.

Our client, Big Cat Rescue, is one of the world’s largest accredited sanctuaries for big cats and is home to over 100 abandoned, abused and orphaned cats, including lions, tigers and other species. They give daily guided tours of their 67-acre Sanctuary and are on a mission to save wild cats from extinction.

We developed this on-site OOH poster for Big Cat Rescue, all centered around a dramatic illustration to educate visitors about the declining African lion population. It illustrated how lions are beheaded through trophy hunting. We even mimicked the look of a guillotine, making the poster 5 feet tall by 2 feet wide, and hung it on the lion’s cage for maximum impact.

This illustration was purposely done in an old style engraving that was popular in 17th century France during the French Revolution, when some of the royalty were being beheaded by the guillotine. Even the type treatment was done in this unique engraving style to make it look like it was etched on the wood of the guillotine, while the word “King” formed the blade.

We thought this illustration style tied in perfectly with what we were trying to convey through our powerful illustrated image of a sad, beaten down lion about to have his head lopped off at the guillotine. It symbolized what is happening today in Africa, as lions are being brutally slaughtered in canned hunts and beheaded.

This is contributing to the rapidly declining population of the “king” of the jungle. For added impact, we also placed this poster on a real lion’s cage at Big Cat Rescue.