Wunderman agrees to sponsor the inaugural Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has today announced the launch of The Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers, a week-long programme of structured and intensive learning specifically targeted to marketers and brand managers aged 30 years or under, working within a client organisation.

The Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers is sponsored by the direct and interactive agency Wunderman and will take place in Cannes during the week of the International Festival of Creativity 19-25 June. The new Academy will specifically address the importance and relevance of creativity in brand communications and strategy. The intense programme will provide a better understanding on issues such as the client agency relationship, current market trends and analysis, the creative process and how clients currently perceive their brand in the marketplace. The Academy is open to a maximum of 35 young marketers, who will be tutored throughout the week.

The Cannes Creative Academy partners with UCLA Anderson School of Management and its Office of Executive Education, a top ranked business school globally, committed to delivering research, innovative and highly applicable learning solutions which will greatly enhance the Academy experience.

Jim Stengel (left), former global marketing officer for Procter & Gamble has been appointed Dean of the Academy and will guide and mentor the young marketers. Jim is best known for reinvigorating P&G’s marketing culture by personally leading the transformation that has firmly established P&G as one of the most admired brand-building companies in the world. He oversaw P&G’s $8 billion advertising budget and was responsible for nearly 7,000 people. Under his leadership, P&G was honoured Cannes Lions Advertiser of the Year 2008. Since leaving P&G in 2008, Jim has continued with his passion to grow brands through a focus on higher ideals. He is president & CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, a think tank and consultancy company with a mission to inspire brand and business leaders globally to rethink their marketing to achieve higher performance. In 2009 Jim was appointed an Adjunct Professor of Marketing at UCLA Anderson and is currently writing a book, Grow, based on a global analysis of businesses that grow far faster than their competitors.

Working alongside Jim Stengel at the Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers will be course tutor Suzanne Tosolini (left), an independent consultant focused on consumer driven brand positioning. Since 2009 she consults independently on brand strategy and is working with an open innovation venture to indentify consumer driven brand solutions on mobile devices. She has worked with General Mills, Kraft, P&G, Meredith, VFCorp-The North Face and Michelin.

Says Stengel: “This is an exciting new idea from Cannes Lions. I am thrilled to be a part of it. Brands will get more business-growing, Cannes-quality work if they become better clients. Suzanne and I aim to make that happen for these 35 marketers.”

“In 2010, 15% of the total delegates to Cannes Lions were client organisations. Increasingly more global brands attend the Festival eager to learn more about creativity in communications,” says Steve Latham, Cannes Lions Director of Talent and Training.

“The introduction of the Young Marketers Academy will provide a unique platform for young clients to further engage with the creative industry and have a broader understanding of the creative process, which without doubt will assist in their brand building careers. We are delighted to be working with Jim Stengel and Suzanne Tosolini, both advocates of the value of creativity in brand communications, and to have the support of Wunderman, who wholeheartedly believe in investing in the next generation and UCLA Anderson Executive Education, whose mission is to educate and develop the management skill sets of the next generation of global business leaders.”

Commenting on their support of the new Academy, Wunderman’s chairman & CEO, Daniel Morel, says: “The current generation has the accountability to train the next generation of marketers in the philosophies and craft of creative advertising. A tree can’t grow without roots. Creativity can’t be studied in books – the head, hand, and heart have to be thrown into the process – and that’s what The Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers is about.”

There is no additional charge to attend the Cannes Creative Academy for Young Marketers other than the standard Young Client registration fee which is €1,025. For more information and to apply for one of the 35 places, please CLICK HERE.