National CineMedia Announces The Creative Ladder as Official Charity Partner of the 2023 Cannes Lions Young Lions Competition

FCB New York Joins NCM’s Noovie® Studios as Young Lions Content Production Partner

Young Lions Judges Announced

National CineMedia (NCM®), the U.S. Representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and the largest cinema advertising network, announces The Creative Ladder, a nonprofit dedicated to making creative careers more accessible and inclusive for young people, as the official charity partner for the 2023 Young Lions Competition.

The Creative Ladder is featured in the 2023 U.S. Young Lions brief, with competitions open to young professionals aged 30 and under in the following categories: Film, Digital, Media, PR and Print. The winning teams will represent the country as Team USA at the live global competitions during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity held in Cannes, France from June 19-23, 2023.

The Creative Ladder Co-founder Ryan Reynolds said, “It's hard to imagine anything more valuable and energizing for a relatively new nonprofit like The Creative Ladder than having hundreds of America's most creative minds brainstorming ideas to spread the word about what we're building. I cannot wait to see the ideas the Young Lions competitors come up with. It's so rewarding to know that today's rising creatives will be helping us reach and inspire the next generation of talent. What an incredible example of lifting as you climb.”

Entrants in the Young Lions Competition will create an advertisement or communications strategy that can be implemented by The Creative Ladder. Participants will be tasked with helping the nonprofit address the awareness gap surrounding creative careers. According to an industry survey by The Creative Ladder, 75% of creative professionals—and 78% of nonwhite creative professionals—say they didn’t know their current careers existed when they graduated high school. That lack of awareness can delay the launch of a career by years, and it especially hurts those who come from backgrounds that haven’t been well represented in creative industries, such as people of color, immigrants, disabled people, and those from low-income households.

“We're thrilled at the opportunity to have the incredibly talented Young Lions entrants develop ways to represent and share the impact we're making,” said Dionna Dorsey Calloway, Co-founder & CEO, The Creative Ladder. “Knowing we're able to participate in providing fresh talent with the chance to creatively challenge themselves and be globally celebrated, while directly supporting our nonprofit's mission to connect, inspire, and elevate an inclusive new generation of creative industry leaders, is beyond exciting."

This year, the Young Lions Competition has been reimagined by both NCM and Cannes Lions to increase engagement, community and inclusivity for the young creatives participating. Last month, NCM launched Represent!, its first ever campaign to support Young Lions, encouraging today’s rising stars to showcase their talents. Selecting The Creative Ladder as the 2023 featured charity aligns with NCM’s business and impact goals and links its prestigious role with Cannes to the young, diverse, 18–34-year-old audience that attends the movies every week.

NCM will be donating in-cinema national media to support Represent! across its network of theaters – AMC, Regal, Cinemark, Harkins and 50+ additional affiliates. In addition, for the first time, NCM is partnering with FCB New York to co-produce creative content with Noovie Studios, NCM’s in-house creative group. The video will feature the Young Lions competitors, judges, and Team USA, comprised of the 2023 winners across the Film, Digital, Media, PR and Print competitions.

“FCB is thrilled to partner with NCM and Cannes Lions. Together we hope to create a story that is compelling, informative and inspiring, not just to this year’s participants, but to future Young Lions as well. Really looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and bringing it to NCM’s Noovie pre-show on the big screen,” said Michael Aimette, Co-Chief Creative Officer, FCB New York.

The 60-90 second spot will air in movie theaters across the country in June. The spot serves to make Young Lions participants famous on the big screen, promoting and celebrating all their efforts in advance of Team USA’s journey to Cannes, France for the global Young Lions Competition.

“NCM is more than just a media partner for cinema advertising, we are a creative media company,” shares Amy Tunick, Chief Marketing Officer, National CineMedia. “We love the opportunity to feature the Young Lions winners on NCM’s big screens. They are the newest creatives working at the intersection of storytelling and advertising, and this is exactly whom we want to champion.”

In line with NCM’s strategy to elevate and advance the value of the Young Lions Competition, they expanded and diversified the Young Lions judges with senior agency and brand leaders across the industry. The 2023 Judges include:

FILM

• DaLeyna Adkinson, Director, Marketing - Brand Heat & Culture, PUMA
• Samira Ansari, Chief Creative Officer, Deutsch
• Rob Baiocco, Co-Founder, Chief Creative Officer, The BAM Connection
• Mike Benson, President & Chief Marketing Officer, CBS
• Spencer Campbell, Creative Director, Pereira O'Dell
• Joao Coutinho, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Atlantic New York
• Therese Jonsson, Creative Director, Pereira O'Dell
• Matt Kappler, Creative Director, Pereira O'Dell
• Josh Kovolenko, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Discovery, Animal Planet, Science Channel
• Rob Lenois, Chief Creative Officer, VaynerMedia
• Andrea Nordgren, Director, Producer & Founder, Heroine Films
• Brad Roth, Partner & President, Studios, Known
• Russell Wager, Vice President, Marketing, Kia

DIGITAL

• Jenny Awasano, Senior Vice President, Creative, Digitas
• Kiser Barnes, Head of Design, Digitas
• Carmen Brown, Director of Media Investment, Meta
• David Cuccinello, Executive Creative Director, BBDO New York
• LaRonda Davis, Senior Vice President/Creative, Publicis New York
• Oriel Davis-Lyons, Chief Creative Officer, Mother NY
• Craig Elimeliah, Chief Experience Design Officer, VMLY&R
• Nicola Grant, Senior Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Mastercard
• Ari Halper, Global Head of Creative Excellence, R/GA
• Oliver Joyce, Global Chief Transformation Officer, Mindshare
• Seth Kelly, Senior Vice President, Content Creative Director, FCB New York
• Ricki Maybruch, Associate Director, WebMD
• Danielle Parkes, Head of Business Development, Deloitte Digital
• Emily Portnoy, Chief Strategy Officer, McCann New York
• Mark Snow, Group Creative Director, Copywriter, Digitas
• Josh Spanier, Vice President, Marketing, Google
• Kellie Streat, Advertising & Brand Partnerships Director, UPS
• Shanna Weinblatt, Vice President, Innovation, Beauty Tech, & the Metaverse, Coty

MEDIA

• Dimas Adiwiyoto, Senior Vice President, Group Account Director, FCB New York
• Jennifer Ball, Senior Vice President, Marketing, BBC Studios
• Pele Cortizo-Burgess, Chief Culture & Inclusion Officer, Initiative
• Riley Eckert, Head of Premium Video, Amazon XCM
• Brad Feinberg, Vice President, Media & Consumer Engagement, Molson Coors
• Mason Franklin, Executive Vice President, Managing Partner, Strategy, UM
• Paul Furia, Head of Content & Creative Packaging, Media by Mother
• Rebecca Kaplan Haase, Vice President & General Manager, States, POLITICO
• Lauren Levitt, Managing Partner, Strategy, UM
• Lynn Lewis, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Mediabrands & UM
• Neil Sawhney, Director of Media (West), Pereira O'Dell
• Aaron Sanchez, Creative Director, LinkedIn Creative Studio
• Lindsey Seyman, President, Fancy
• Laurel Stark Akman, Group Creative Director, Electronic Arts
• Myia Thompkins, US Chief Strategy Officer, UM
• Ben Winkler, Senior Vice President, Agency Strategy, TripleLift

PR

• Kirsten Avila, Senior Associate, Acquisition Marketing, Away
• Suzanne Ayello, Partner, Grey
• Julie Bowerman, Chief Marketing Officer, Kellogg’s
• Craig Buchholz, Chief Creative Officer, General Motors
• Mary Kate Callen, Vice President, Audience Impact & Intelligence, Paramount Advertising
• Madeline Chadwick, Senior Vice President, Communications & Corporate Affairs, Papa Johns
• Taryn Crouthers, Chief Operating Officer, ATTN:
• Nina Devlin, Chief Communications Officer, Vertex
• Jason Farkas, Partner, Brunswick Group
• Alicia Francis, Head of Strategic Initiatives, Weber Shandwick
• Krupa Hemraj, Senior Brand Manager, Frida
• Amanda Henry, Vice President of Brand Partnerships, Therabody
• Tony Lederer, Chief Strategy Officer, The&Partnership
• Justin Mayer, General Manager of Hess Toy Truck, Hess Corporation
• Molly McKenna, Senior Director, Global Brand Communications, McDonald’s
• Nicki Petrosini, Senior Director of Partnerships, (RED)
• Tim Robinson, Senior Vice President, Consumer Markets, Hill & Knowlton Strategies
• Beth Roden, Senior Vice President & Head of Communications, Bayer US
• Marianne Stefanowicz, Chief Community & Communications Officer, Mother USA
• Lewis Williams, Executive Vice President, Client Experience, Weber Shandwick

PRINT

• Perle Arteta, Creative Director, VMLY&R
• Heather Berko, Director of Brand Marketing, Zocdoc
• Chris Cannon, Creative Director, Terry & Sandy
• Candace Faircloth, Associate Creative Director, Goodby Silverstein & Partners
• Mark Feldstein, Partner & President, Studios, Known
• Abel Gachou, Manager, Brand Marketing & Integration, Audi of America
• Seth Gaffney, Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Preacher
• Evelyn Harper, Copywriter, TBWA\Chiat\Day
• Han Lin, Group Executive Design Director, R/GA
• Thomas Mori, Creative Director, FCB New York
• Jennifer Murillo, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Discover
• Marco Pupo, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer, Atlantic New York
• Christopher Serven, Copywriter, We Believers

The sponsors of the Young Lions Competition include: Pereira O’Dell (Film), Digitas (Digital), UM (Media), Weber Shandwick (PR), and NCM (Print).

For more information about the Cannes Lions Young Lions Competition, go to: https://canneslions.ncm.com/young-lions

About National CineMedia, Inc.

National CineMedia (NCM) is America’s Movie Network. As the largest cinema advertising network in the U.S., we unite brands with young, diverse audiences through the power of movies and popular culture. NCM’s Noovie® pre-show is presented exclusively in 47 leading national and regional theater circuits including AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE:AMC), Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (a subsidiary of Cineworld Group PLC, LON: CINE). NCM’s cinema advertising network offers broad reach and unparalleled audience engagement with over 20,100 screens in over 1,600 theaters in 195 Designated Market Areas® (all of the top 50). NCM Digital and Digital-Out-Of-Home (DOOH) go beyond the big screen, extending in-theater campaigns into online, mobile, and place-based marketing programs to reach entertainment audiences. National CineMedia, Inc. (NASDAQ:NCMI) owns a 74.6% interest in, and is the managing member of, National CineMedia, LLC. For more information, visit www.ncm.com and www.noovie.com.

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