Each year, creatives congregate along the Croisette in Cannes while a handful of leaders hunker down in dark rooms to judge piles of entries for the Lions competition. And every year, a small group of Canadian leaders are selected to be in those rooms, acting as both a judge and advocate for the work that is entered by the country’s agencies.
Cannes Lions has revealed the nine Canadian representatives, selected from a nominee list that was presented to the organization by the Globe and Mail (the official Canadian representative of the festival) earlier this year. The shortlist jury will be revealed at a later date, but for now, here are the awarding jury members from Canada:
Creative Commerce: Erin Kawalecki, partner and CCO, Angry Butterfly
Creative Strategy: Rafik Belmesk, CSO, Dentsu Creative
Direct: Shelley Brown, CSO, FCB Canada
Film Craft: Andrea Ogunbadejo, VP, managing director, production, Cossette
Health & Wellness: Marty Martinez, CCO, Tank Worldwide
Industry Craft: Stephanie Yung, CDO, Zulu Alpha Kilo
Pharma: Jane Motz Hayes, CCO and CDO, Havas Health & You Global
Print & Publishing: Isabelle Allard-Gendron, CD, Sid Lee
Audio & Radio: Mike Dubrick, CCO, Rethink
The Cannes Lions Festival of International Creativity is set to take place from June 17 to 21. Earlier this week, the organization also announced a new stream within the conference: Lions Creators.
Kicking off on June 18 and ending on June 20, the forum will be dedicated to the creator economy, offering a curation of learning and networking experiences for creators of all types. In the news release announcing the addition, festival organizers cited Goldman Sachs data that estimates the creator economy to be worth around $250 billion. By 2027, that number is expected to balloon to $480 billion.
“With potential growth of this scale, it’s crucial that the festival plays a role in bringing together the platforms, the brands, the creators and the agencies, and a wider cross-section of the industry to have the most pressing conversations around how we co-create, collaborate and unlock greater value and progress for the wider industry in this space,” said Simon Cook, CEO of the festival in a statement.
Cannes Lions is partnering with Viral Nation to launch the vertical, which will include a series of live and recorded roundtables, with creators and speakers from platforms, brands and agencies discussing the challenges and state of the space today. It will also be incorporated into the Social & Influencer Lions awards show on June 20.
