Young Marketers and Media Young Lions top five teams (top row, from left): Tristan Ruffo St-Amour, Arielle Uwonkunda, Shiwangi Singh, David Santiago Rondon, Éléonore Trahan, Lydia Yoon, Ingrid Castro, Veronica Vivero, Kelsey De Melo, Mateo Molinaro, Jordyn Posluns, Carter Gibbins, Catalina Nituleac, Jenn Bailey, Ava Gladman, Gabriel Lafond, Rosemarie St-Amand, Abigail Rigonan, Nick Carson and Alphée Lamothe.
The Canadian Young Lions Competition has revealed its shortlisted finalists in this year’s contest.
Open to participants age 30 and under, the Canadian Young Lions challenges agency and marketer teams to complete a brief for a non-profit in 24 or 48 hours. The event is modelled after the Cannes Global Young Lions Competition. This year’s contest challenged competitors to work off of a brief for non-profit Second Harvest, with the primary goal of driving awareness and encouraging people to curb food waste.
The top finalists shortlisted in the Marketers and Media categories will now move on to a second round of judging, and will present their case live to the jury at The Globe and Mail Centre in Toronto on April 15 and 16. Winners will be announced on April 24. In the Film and Print categories, juries will deliberate throughout the next few weeks to determine Gold, Silver and Bronze-winning teams, which will be revealed at the CMDC Media Summit in Toronto on April 24.
The winning teams will get the opportunity to represent Canada in the Global Young Lions competition at Cannes Lions in June, with flights, accommodations, registration fees and delegate passes provided by competition sponsor The Globe and Mail.
This year’s finalists were selected from a pool of 746 people making up 371 competing teams across the five categories.
Media Semi-Finalists
Media teams were given 24 hours to develop a media strategy that drives awareness and looks to persuade people to prevent food waste, in line with Second Harvest’s mission. Entries in this category were judged by a 15-member jury led by chair and OMD Canada CEO Cathy Collier. The semi-finalists in the Media category are listed below.
“Break the Mold”
Gabriel Lafond, Cossette Media media strategist
Alphée Lamothe, Cossette Media media strategist
“Buy Ugly”
Kelsey De Melo, Weber Shandwick manager
Carter Gibbins, Weber Shandwick manager
“The Hunger Games for Change”
Catalina Nituleac, Havas Media media manager
Shiwangi Singh, Havas Media search specialist
“The Largest Food Scam in Canada”
Éléonore Trahan, Touché! group supervisor
Rosemarie St-Amand, Omnicom Media Group marketing manager
“The Naked Bin”
Ingrid Andrade Castro, Media Experts senior project manager
David Santiago Rondon, Media Experts coordinator, investment
Marketer Semi-Finalists
Marketer teams were given 24 hours to create a big idea – whether it be a product, service, promotion or campaign – that represents the company or brand they work for and answers Second Harvest’s brief. A panel of industry leaders led by jury chair and Kruger Products CMO Susan Irving judged the submissions. The semi-finalists in the Marketer category are listed below.
“Chill Snacks”
Ava Gladman, Molson Coors Beverage Company senior marketing manager
Arielle Uwonkunda, Molson Coors Beverage Company brand manager – Strongbow
“Dyna MC’s”
Abigail Rigonan, McDonald’s Canada national marketing specialist
Jordyn Posluns, McDonald’s Canada national marketing consultant
“Google Lens Food Filter”
Lydia Yoon, Google associate product marketing manager
Veronica Vivero, Labatt Breweries of Canada assistant brand manager – Above Core
“Kernel Classics”
Tristan Ruffo St-Amour, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment coordinator of global partnership marketing
Mateo Molinaro, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment strategist of commercial strategy and commercial group
“The No Pickles Project”
Nick Carson, Brizi Inc. partnership marketing manager
Jenn Bailey, McDonald’s Canada marketing specialist
Creative categories finalists (top row, from left): Benjamin Nusca, Elizabeth Maheux, Charles Côté, Kimberly Monitto, Brigitte Pinsonneault, Shalyse Mackay, Laura Baldesarra, Brooke Langmaid, Alexandre Pepin, Sammy Lo, Nicolas Robert, Dylan Pun and Mark Flanjak, Ayaan Abdulle, Jordan Bloom, Charles-Antoine Thériault, Sophia Storti and Emma Lorenzi.
The creative categories of Print, Film and Digital were judged by two separate juries, each comprised of 16 industry leaders, led by Canadian Cannes Lions Advisory Board member as well as EVP for strategy and Realscreen, and editorial director for Brunico Communications (strategy‘s parent company) Mary Maddever.
In the Print category, competitors were given 24 hours to develop a print ad for Second Harvest’s mission to fight food waste. Film competitors had 48 hours to develop a 60-second commercial on the subject. And Digital competitors were given 24 hours to develop a digital campaign driving awareness to this goal. The shortlisted contestants in these three categories are listed below.
Print Semi-Finalists
“Dining on a Dying Plant”
Shalyse Mackay, Publicis Inc. copywriter
Ayaan Abdulle, Publicis Inc. project coordinator
“Lemon”
Jordan Bloom, John St. junior art director
Benjamin Nusca, John St. art director
“Wasted Harvest”
Sophia Storti, ZGM Modern Marketing Partners copywriter
Brooke Langmaid, ZGM Modern Marketing Partners art director
“The Waste(less) Bag”
Brigitte Pinsonneault, Rethink copywriter
Elizabeth Maheux, Rethink art director
Film Semi-Finalists
“Break This Rule”
Charles Côté, Rethink copywriter
Charles-Antoine Thériault, Rethink freelance director
“The Urgent Delivery”
Alexandre Pepin, LG2 copywriter
Nicolas Robert, Carton Rouge executive producer and partner
“What a Waste”
Mark Flanjak, Public Inc. integrated producer
Dylan Pun, Public Inc. freelance director
Digital Semi-Finalists
“Expiry Dates”
Kimberly Monitto, T&Pm copywriter
Laura Baldesarra, T&Pm intermediate designer
“Split For Difference”
Sammy Lo, Courage Inc. art director
Emma Lorenzi, Courage Inc. copywriter
