Cannes Lions to launches Young Lions PR Competition

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will this year launch a new Young Lions PR competition, providing young professionals in PR agencies with the chance to test their skills and showcase their talent.

Supported by The International Communications Consultancy Organisation (ICCO), the Young Lions PR competition will see teams of two people - PR professionals aged 28 years or younger working as Assistant Account Executives, Account Executives, Senior Account Executives or Account Managers for PR agencies and consultancies – who have been through a pre-selection process in their own country, set up the by local Cannes Lions representatives, put their skills to the test and compete at an international level.

Once in Cannes, the competing teams will be set a brief by a charity or non-profit organisation that will act as the ‘client’. The aim of the 24-hour competition is to show how PR is effectively used to engage audiences with an organisation or a specific topic that the ‘client’ is dealing with. The competition will allow some elements of creative to be produced by the contestants that can be used when they present their strategy to a selected jury.

Gold, Silver and Bronze medals will be presented to the winners with the Gold winners being honoured during the Creative Effectiveness, Promo & Activation, PR and Direct Lions Awards on Monday 16 June.

Steve Latham, Cannes Lions’ Director of Talent and Training, comments, “As we continue to strengthen and amplify Cannes Lions’ efforts to provide rising stars with unique learning opportunities, the Young Lions PR competition will complement our existing contest offerings and give budding PR professionals a unique experience and a global platform that will help their career prospects. We are delighted to count on the support of the ICCO for this competition.”

David Gallagher, President of ICCO says, “ICCO is focused on the future of the global PR industry and we see the Cannes Lions festival as a one-of-a-kind world stage to showcase the enormous potential and creativity of our young talent. We are delighted to help debut the Young PR Lions competition and eager to show our stuff among the best and brightest in Cannes this summer.”

The ICCO is the voice of public relations consultancies around the world. The ICCO membership comprises national trade associations in 29 countries across the globe in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australasia. Collectively, these associations represent over 1,700 PR firms. www.iccopr.com

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will take place 15-21 June 2014, in Cannes, France. A comprehensive learning programme designed to accelerate essential training across all career levels and disciplines is available during the event as well as Young Lions Competitions for Print, Media, Cyber, Film, Design and Marketers.