Cannes Young Lions Winners - Canada

Yes, in the constantly evolving world of media and advertising, fresh ideas often come from fresh minds and talented young people who are just starting their careers. And that's precisely why The Globe & Mail hosts Canada's Young Lions competition.

Designed to simulate the conditions at Cannes, the Globe Young Lions competition gives winning design teams the preparation they’ll need to compete internationally in the official Young Lions competition at Cannes. More importantly, the Globe Young Lions competition is the only way to qualify and compete in the Cannes Young Lions competition.

I personal love this competition. What a great way to showcase young talent and begin the understanding that it's more important to have a "Big Idea" that can be judge against other "Big Ideas". The fun part is also seeing the attitudes that prevail after seeing the winners and saying, "that actually won"... "WTF, ours was better... at least it looks better". So as you can see I love the "Big Idea" part, equal to the "how'd that win".

On a side note, with great pride our program at Seneca College has had it share of "Young Lion" winners. Chris Taciuk (twice), Cam Boyd, Aaron Starkman, Matt Bielby (twice), Chris Joakim and recently Steve Percico. Graduate success is often the best "pay" one can get from this opportunity granted to me.

The 2009 competition was based on a brief for Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) - an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare in more than 70 countries around the world.

This year's competition received a fantastic response. In total, 152 total participants in the four categories, and that represents an increase of almost 100% over 2008.

The Challenge

The brief was for Medecins Sans Frontires/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an independent international medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, disasters, or exclusion from healthcare in more than 70 countries around the world. The objective for all Young Lions participants was to motivate donations through increased awareness of the immediate needs of Medecins Sans Frontieres and their points of differentiation from other world aid organizations.

The Judges

The panel has been assembled from a pool of award-winning Canadian creatives. Again this year there are two separate juries differentiating the strategic (Media) and creative (Print, Film and Cyber) categories.

The Winners

Print Category

Jon Murray, Copywriter, TBWA Vancouver

Simon Bruyn, Copywriter, Rethink

Cyber Category

Click on the link or image below to download the winning entry. Note that a Flash player is required to view this entry.





http://www.globelink.ca/downloads/msf_728x90.swf

Todd Takahashi, Art Director, Burnkit Creative Inc.
Jeff Greenberg, Flash Developer, Burnkit Creative Inc.

Film Category

Chris Booth, Copywriter, DDB Canada Joel Pylypiw, Art Director, DDB Canada

Media Category

The media category, now in its second year. The brief challenged participants to demonstrate their strategic thinking. Instead of delivering creative executions, they were challenged to create a compelling communications strategy across selected media channels. Entries were judged on their analysis off the Target Audience(s), the Key Target Insight, Strategy, Innovative Media Solution, and the judges perception of the Effectiveness/Results. In celebration of the excellent submissions we received, we would like acknowledge and highlight our top three entries:

Gold

Sarah Fitzgerald, Media Planner, Cossette Atlantic
Beverley Gallant, Art Director, Cossette Atlantic










Click on the image or this link to download the winning entry.

Silver

Richard Gawlas, Media Research & Buyer, Tamm Communications
Stacey Maier, Media Services Manager, Tamm Communications







Click on the image or this link to download the entry.

Bronze

Yue Yi (Karen) Guan, Investment Buyer, Starcom
Jamile Raval, Strategy Planner, Starcom







Click on the image below to download the entry.


The winning teams from each category have won a trip to Cannes and the opportunity to represent Canada in the official Cannes Lions Young Lions competition.