This year’s Canadian Young Lions competition winners have been named by The Globe And Mail.
Working in teams of two, 680 entrants who are 30 or younger and working at a Canadian agency or brand were challenged to submit their work to the Young Lions competition. That work was then evaluated by juries of industry leaders, led by returning chairs Mary Maddever, EVP and editorial director of Brunico Communications (for Print, Digital and Film); Cathleen Collier, CEO of OMD Canada (Media); and Susan Irving, CMO of Kruger Products (Marketers).
Gold winning teams advance to represent Canada in the global Young Lions competition at Cannes, with the festival’s official representative The Globe and Mail, covering the cost of their registration, delegate passes to attend the event, flights and accommodations.
This year’s competition took place over the weekend of March 4 to 6, with teams expected to submit their entries in a 24- or 48-hour period depending on category. This year, the jury chairs selected briefs from the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) for the Print, Film, Digital and Media categories, while the Gord Downie & Charlie Wenjack Fund was selected for the Marketers category.
Winners of the competition were revealed at this week’s CMDC Media Summit, and the winning entries are spotlighted below. For more information on them, as well as the silver and bronze work, you may visit the Canada Young Lions website.
Gold
“The Deforestation Defence”
Jaclyn McConnell, art director, Rethink
Shawn Weidman, copywriter, Rethink
Gen Z and millennials are at the forefront of the battle to preserve Canada’s natural spaces – outspoken on deforestation and climate issues, and voting with their dollar where they can. But too often, those efforts feel irrelevant or reversible. This work sought to show how a simple donation to the NCC could halt deforestation and help conserve Canadian natures forever.
Silver
“Thanks for Nothing”
Grace Guan, junior writer, Taxi
Kyle Simpson, art director, Taxi
Bronze
“Immortalizing Your Landscape Doesn’t Make It Immortal”
Emma Laberge, art director, Rethink
Laurent H. Tremblay, copywriter, Rethink
Digital
Gold
“Pay-Per-Viewpoint”
Andronicus Wu, art director, The Garden
Jon Dawe, senior copywriter, The Garden
Every year, young millennials from around the world to visit Canada’s natural landmarks, experience their beauty in person and capture their own version of the iconic shot from that location. Using Instagram’s image recognition technology, those photos are turned into effortless tools to collect donations for the NCC, in order to help preserve and support Canadian nature.
Silver
“Virtual Protection Network”
Sammy Lo, art director, LG2
Peter Sreckovic, senior copywriter, Sid Lee
Bronze
“Tip Your Trees”
Ethan Gans, copywriter, Rethink
Ekenechukwu Oduh, art director, Rethink
Film
Gold
“Tony Donor”
Cory Hansen, senior writer, Milestone Integrated Marketing
Anthony Curran, motion designer, Milestone Integrated Marketing
This tongue-in-cheek, 60-second spot for the NCC parallels a fictional character, “Tony Donor,” with the NCC – by showing how the people in Tony’s life believe he does nothing, but he does donate to the conservationist non-profit, which then uses that money to buy and protect ecologically important lands – by doing nothing with (or to) them.
Silver
“Hold On to Nature”
Frederick Pelletier, freelance director, Clark Influence
Gabrielle Roy, strategist, Clark Influence
Bronze
“Forever Home”
Samantha Beauchamp, art director, Rain
Rebecca M. Williams, senior copywriter, Rain
Media
Gold
“Consent to Conserve”
Thierry Lessard, head of data and technology, Cartier
Olivier Houle, media strategy supervisor, Cartier
Young Canadians want to help address the climate crisis, with 68% of them suffering from some form of “eco-anxiety.” However, the vast majority feel that governments and private companies are the most responsible for improving sustainability, and only 9% of the target group – between the ages of 25 and 30 – had donated to an environment-oriented organization in the past 12 months. This activation enables those Canadians who want to be part of the solution to voluntarily consent to share their data with company websites to monetize it while using the value generated through that data collection to make traceable donations to nature conservancy.
Silver
“Do You Have the Willpower?”
Dustin Wilson, associate director of strategy, OMD Canada
Kunal Jain, paid social supervisor, OMD Canada
Bronze
“My Nature Moments”
Béa Beaini, assistant media designer, Cossette Media
Gabriel Lafond, media designer, Cossette Media
Marketers
Gold
“The Purple Legacy”
Mike Miura, manager of commercial marketing strategy, MLSE
Ryan Grippo, strategy associate, MLSE
Numbers are significant in sports – particularly those worn by star athletes. This entry for the Gord Downie & Charlie Wenjack Fund suggests the value in drawing a direct connection between numbers on the Raptors’ jerseys to one of the 94 calls to action from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, while placing an image of Charlie Wenjack directly within each jersey number – raising awareness for Canadians to take action toward reconciliation.
Silver
“This Land is Your Land”
Christie Stelling, brand manager for Twisted Tea and Truly Hard Seltzer, Moosehead Breweries
Sarah Smith, creative manager of innovation, Moosehead Breweries
Bronze
“Food for Thought”
Abigail Rigonan, national marketing specialist for McCafé & Breakfast, McDonald’s Canada
Jordyn Posluns, national marketing consultant for McCafé & Breakfast, McDonald’s Canada
