National CineMedia (NCM), the official U.S. representative to the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, is proud to announce that a new Young Marketers category will be added to the 2020 “Team USA” Young Lions competition.
The new Marketers competition will be open to young brand marketing professionals (30 years old or younger as of June 22, 2020), and each team must consist of two marketers from the same company working together to create a marketing strategy for their brand in support of a designated charity.
National CineMedia (NCM) President Cliff Marks noted, “Original, engaging ideas are key to a great brand marketing strategy. This is a chance for young professionals on the client side to go head-to-head against their fellow brand marketers at other companies from across the U.S. I’m excited to be opening up this Young Lions Marketers award category to American competitors for the first time, and I look forward to seeing the great work of our young professionals in all categories in 2020.”
FCB has taken on the sponsorship role of this new Young Marketers category competition and will underwrite the cost of the winning team’s trip to the 2020 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity’s global Young Lions competition in June. FCB Global Chief Communications Officer Brandon Cooke said, “FCB is honored to be a sponsor of the inaugural Cannes Young Lions Marketers Competition. It’s important to our agency to inspire and meaningfully engage the next generation of marketing leaders. This is the perfect opportunity for top talent from across our industry to be challenged and learn new things, with the ultimate prize being a trip to Cannes 2020.”
Other 2020 Young Lions sponsors include: Digitas (Digital); Pereira & O’Dell (Film); UM (Media); National CineMedia – NCM (Print), and a new sponsor for the PR competition, Weber Shandwick. A longtime supporter of Young Lions, the firm has had regional winners from several markets represented at Cannes, and in 2018, its France team won a Silver Lion. Weber Shandwick has participated in the broader Cannes Lions PR category since its inception in 2009 and has been recognized with 100+ Cannes Lions in partnership with clients over the last decade.
Gail Heimann, President and CEO, Weber Shandwick, and President of the 2020 Cannes PR Lions jury, said, “Creativity, strategy and innovation are crucial to creating solutions that make an impact — and we’re eager to see how this year’s Young Lions competitors put their talent in these areas to the test.”
Registration for the 2020 U.S. Young Lions competition opens on January 15, 2020 at 12:01 a.m. ET at http://canneslions.ncm.com/young-lions and closes on February 19, 2020 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Registration is free, and teams of young professionals working for advertising, digital, media, creative, and PR agencies as well as in-house marketing teams across the U.S. are highly encouraged to enter and compete. 2020 U.S. Young Lions competition categories include Digital, Film, Marketers, Media, Print and PR. Full registration information, rules and competition details are available on the website.
