CommBank’s Jill Elizabeth Harmon + Nathan Kwok win Bronze in Young Marketers comp

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3 (1).jpgCommonwealth Bank of Australia’s Jill Elizabeth Harmon (second from left) and Nathan Kwok (left) have scored the Bronze Lion in the ninth-annual Young Lions Marketers Competition at the 65th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Sponsored by Ketchum, this year’s competition challenged 18 teams of young, in-house marketers from around the world to develop a creative brief for a product or service that would benefit the Movember Foundation, the only global charity focused solely on men’s health. Competitors presented their communication plans to a panel of industry leaders, which was led by Ruth Yearley, partner and director of insights and strategy at Ketchum.

Says Charlotte Valente, general manager of marketing, APN Outdoor: “We are absolutely thrilled for Jill and Nathan and what they have achieved in Cannes this week.  It’s not every day you get the chance to represent your country at the world’s most prestigious creative festival, let alone place in the top three of 18 countries.  A huge congratulations to our Young Marketers and our talented Aussie Young Lions as a whole – you’ve done us proud!”

Kwok and Harmon previously competed in two local Young Lions competition rounds amongst approximately 200 total entries to be named the Australian Young Marketers heading to Cannes.

Team Portugal’s Ana Rita Almeida of Worten and Diogo Vasques of Caixa Económica Montepio Geral developed the winning brief to win the Gold Lion.

Says Almeida of the campaign brief: “We have now been working together for four years, so we have gotten to the level where we really trust each other and know what the other is thinking. We are so happy, so thrilled to win Gold.”

The team from India, ITC’s Raisa Chakravarty and Anupama Sharma, won the Silver Lion.

Participants were briefed onsite at Cannes and then given 30 hours to develop their product or service concept before showcasing their communication plans in a one-page written brief and short presentation to the judging panel. The winning teams will receive their trophies at the Young Lions Marketers Competition award ceremony tomorrow evening in Cannes.

Says Yearley: “The range of work we saw today was astonishing, as it all had simplicity at the heart. All of the teams had in common a very clear understanding of the brief, eloquence and top-level smart thinking. I felt humbled to be in the presence of such bright, engaging and confident young professionals. The future of the industry is in amazing hands, and I look forward to seeing how they continue to use their talents to make the world a better place.”

Additional participants in this year’s competition hailed from Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Dominican Republic, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Participants represented leading global brands including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Frito-Lay, Unilever and Johnson & Johnson.

This is the eighth year that Ketchum has sponsored the Young Lions Marketers Competition. In addition, a Ketchum team is representing the U.S. in the Young PR Lions competition for the second consecutive year.