The Globe and Mail, the Official Festival Representative in Canada for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, has announced the Top 5 teams for the 2023 Canadian Young Lions Competition in the Marketers and Media categories.
Modeled after the Cannes Global Young Lions Competition, entrants received a brief and had to complete the challenge for their respective category within a 24-hour or 48-hour period.
Each year the competition jury chairs select a non-profit organization as the subject of the competition briefs. This year, there were two charities:
- The Nature Conservancy of Canada for the Media and Creative categories of Print, Film, and Digital, and
- The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund for the Marketers category.
Competitors in the Media category were given 24 hours so create a media strategy, addressing the challenge of: how to build the Nature Conservancy of Canada community (goal 500,000 by 2030) among a younger demographic. Marketers were given 24 hours to develop a big, innovative idea and written submission that creates awareness of the collective reconciliation journey and opportunities to “Do Something” to move reconciliation forward through tangible reconciliACTIONs offered by the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, that also link with your brand business objectives.
The semi-finalists in the Marketers category are:
- AMAZON DO SOMETHING DAY
- Shweta Choudhury, Global Product Marketing Manager, Amazon
- Alex Levy, Marketing Partnerships Manager, NBA Canada
- THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
- Christie Stelling, Brand Manager, Twisted Tea & Truly Hard Seltzer, Moosehead Breweries
- Sarah Smith, Creative Manager, Moosehead Breweries
- THE PURPLE LEGACY
- Mike Miura, Manager, Commercial Marketing Strategy, MLSE
- Ryan Grippo, Associate, Strategy, MLSE
- FOOD FOR THOUGHT
- Abigail Rigonan, National Marketing Specialist, McCafé & Breakfast, McDonald’s Canada
- Jordyn Posluns, National Marketing Consultant, McCafé & Breakfast, McDonald’s Canada
- KNOW YOUR BUDS
- Maci Levy, Brand Manager, Labatt Breweries of Canada
- Rochelle Singer, Brand Manager, Michelob Ultra, Labatt Breweries of Canada
The semi-finalists in the Media category are:
- THE E.T. PASS – A BIODEGRADABLE TRANSIT PASSCARD
- Camille Recto, Media Buyer, Hearts & Science
- Ramya sri Sethu, Programmatic Analyst, Hearts & Science
- MY NATURE MOMENTS
- Béa Beaini, Assistant Media Designer, Cossette Media
- Gabriel Lafond, Media Designer, Cossette Media
- CONSENT TO CONSERVE
- Thierry Lessard, Head of data and technology, Cartier
- Olivier Houle, Media Strategy Supervisor, Cartier
- DO YOU HAVE THE WILLPOWER
- Dustin Wilson, Associate Director of Strategy, OMD Canada
- Kunal Jain, Paid Social Supervisor, OMD Canada
- #CONSERVETHELOVE
- Geneviève Amyotte-Graveline, Media Coordinator, Media Experts
- Geneviève Dansereau, Media Planner, Media Experts
The Marketers and Media Top 5 teams will virtually participate in the live judging stage of the competition taking place on Tuesday, April 11th, where our revered panel of judges will determine the top-3 placing teams. Those placing teams will be revealed on April 26th, at the CMDC’s Annual Canadian Media Summit at the W Hotel in Toronto.
