Cannes Lions has announced its jury line-up of global experts selected to shortlist world-class creative work and benchmark excellence this June. For the 3rd year, Nigeria is being represented in the jury with the appointment of Bolaji Alausa, Executive Creative Director, Noah's Ark, Nigeria as member of the Brand Experience & Activation Lions Shortlist Jury.
Nnamdi Ndu, Chief Executive Officer, CHINI Africa and Cannes Lions representative in Nigeria says: "We've followed Bolaji's rise and success story from winning the National Young Lions Competition in 2009 to shooting up to number 13 on the Lurzer's Archive Global Creative Director Ranking to helping his team clinch a 2-time win as Pitcher Awards Advertising Agency of the Year and are happy to see him join other experts from around the world to judge work at the highest and most prestigious awards in our industry."
Bolaji began his career at Rosabel Leo Burnett in 2006, he moved to DDB Lagos and during his five-year stint won the Young Lions competition in 2009 and represented Nigeria in Cannes. He moved to Noah’s Ark in 2011 as Associate Creative Director.
At Noah's Ark, he led his team to win several awards, notably Grand Prix at the 2015 and 2017 LAIF (Lagos Advertising & Ideas Festival). Their Airtel ad ‘Lost’ won Gold at the Epica awards in Berlin late 2017. In 2018 at African Cristal festival, Noah’s Ark emerged agency of the year in Africa with Airtel’s ‘Amin’ spot winning the Grand Prix in Marrakesh. In 2019, Noah’s Ark also won the Grand Prix at the Pitcher Awards and became the Agency of the Year in 2019 and 2020.
He has been privileged to be on the jury of New York Advertising Festival, The Loeries award in Durban and Ad Stars in Busan, where he gave a talk about how culture influences creativity in Africa in 2018.
He is the first Nigerian to be awarded two Cannes National Diplomas in 2013. He won Nigeria's first Epica award also in 2013 and is currently ranked 13th most published Creative Director in the world according to Lurzer’s Archive.
In 2018, Adweek listed him on their annual Creative 100, a list of the most influential creative people in the world. A first for a West African.
Bolaji is an alumnus of Yaba College where he majored in Painting, Miami Ad School where he studied Campaigns, Pan Atlantic University where he studied Digital Media, and the Berlin School of Creative Leadership where he received an EMBA in Creative Leadership in 2017.
55 countries are represented in Cannes Lions 2021 jury. Members from the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Ghana, Lebanon, Egypt and Latam - Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia and Argentina – are joined by a significant number of industry experts from across the Asia Pacific region - China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Japan, India, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Australia and New Zealand – alongside members from Europe, the UK and the USA.
The Lion-winning work will be announced, awarded and celebrated during Cannes Lions Live, a fully digital experience, running from 21-25 June 2021, which all LIONS members will receive complimentary access to.
The Cannes Lions shortlist juries are formed of elite experts from every corner of the industry, and comprise 52% female jurors this year, the highest on record.
Simon Cook, Managing Director, LIONS, says: “Lion-winning creative work is not bound by location, it emerges from all corners of the world to compete and benchmark excellence on the global stage. So, it’s incredible to welcome this truly global line-up of jury experts. Every year, our juries grow more diverse. This is part of our ongoing commitment to appoint elite talent from across the full breadth of our global community.”
Philip Thomas, Chairman, LIONS, comments: “Our jury members represent every region in the world and illustrate the global scale of the Lions awards. Cannes Lions Live, our fully digital experience in June, will enable our entire community to join us - throughout the globe - to celebrate Lion-winning creativity.”
Thomas adds: “After pausing the awards last year, our juries will be shortlisting Lions across two years’ worth of work, which is an unprecedented opportunity to set the global creative benchmark for two years of outstanding creative work.”
The Lions’ shortlisting juries will take part in remote judging from their home locations worldwide. Speaking about the process, Susie Walker, VP Awards & Insight, LIONS, explains: “Shortlist jury members play a vital role in conducting the first round of judging, which creates the shortlist in a number of Lions. We’re committed to delivering a world-class judging experience of the standard we’re known for, and crucially, every piece of creative work will be given the time and discussion it deserves.”
Full list of the shortlist jurors for 2021 is as follows:
Brand Experience & Activation Lions Shortlist Jury
Stephen Herold, Design Principal, IBM iX, Switzerland
Masato Mitsudera, CEO / Executive Creative Director, FACT ADK, Japan
Vidya Manmohan, Founder & Creative Chairwoman , V4 Good Advertising, United Arab Emirates
Karl Waters, Creative Partner, Folk Wunderman Thompson, Ireland
Victor Petri, Partner, Head of Activation, Robert/Boisen & Like-minded, Denmark
Kwint De Meyer, Creative Director, DDB Brussels, Belgium
Bolaji Alausa, Executive Creative Director, Noah's Ark, Nigeria
Martin Schlumpf, Creative Director, Joe Public, South Africa
Chanatthapol Tiensri, Executive Creative Director, TBWA\Thailand
Bruno Vohwinkel, Deputy Executive Creative Director, Havas Milan, Italy
Dmitry Vtulkin, Creative Director, BBDO Moscow, Russia
Eva Hasson, Trendspotting Director & Creative Strategist, BBR Saatchi & Saatchi, Israel
Diego Lanzi, Executive Director & Chief Creative Officer, FCB Dos Puntos Crea, Guatemala
Maciej Twardowski, Executive Creative Director, Ogilvy Social.Lab Poland
Gian Carlo Lanfranco, Co-Founder / Chief Creative Officer, L&C NYC-LIMA, Peru
Luis Ribó, CEO, Isobar & dentsumcgarrybowen, Mexico
Jaime Duque, Executive Creative Director, MullenLowe SSP3, Colombia
Martine H. Flatlie, Chief Marketing Officer, Legevisitt, Norway
Pancho González, Chief Creative Officer, Inbrax, Latam
Charlene Chua, Creative Director, BBH, Singapore
PG Aditya, National Creative Director, Dentsu Webchutney, India
Heather Chambers, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, Canada
Zoha Zoya, Creative Director - Head of Experience Design, R/GA, EMEA
Jennifer Hu, Chief Creative Consultant, Ogilvy, Taiwan
Lucille Marie Essey, SVP, Executive Creative Director, Jack Morton Worldwide, USA
Jason Williams, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, Australia
Design Lions Shortlist Jury
Liza Enebeis, Creative Director, Studio Dumbar, Netherlands
Thanyaluck Pongachayaluck, Creative Director, GreynJ United, Thailand
Sachin Kamble, National Creative Director, Leo Burnett, India
Olaf Cuadras, Creative Director, DDB Spain
Sheng Jin Ang, Executive Creative Director, MullenLowe Singapore
Shelley-Ann Atkinson, Partner, Murmur, South Africa
Direct Lions Shortlist Jury
Laura Kim, Executive Creative Director, Independent, Canada
Kimberley Ragan, Group Creative Director / Head of Brand Experience, Colenso BBDO, New Zealand
Clara Uddman , Art Director, Save–Our–Souls, Sweden
Juan Jose Posada, President / Chief Creative Officer, Grey, Colombia
Satoshi Chikayama, Executive Creative Director, TBWA\Hakuhodo, Japan
Alfredo Alquicira, Executive Creative Director, McCann Worldgroup, Mexico
Jolien Tuyteleers, Creative - Copywriter, Wunderman Thompson Antwerp, Belgium
Bridget Johnson, Executive Creative Director, The Riverbed Agency, South Africa
Thomas Li, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett Shanghai, China
Valentina Maksyakova, Executive Director, AVM Media, Russia
Friso Ludenhoff, Executive Creative Director, Publicis Groupe Netherlands
Satit Jantawiwat, Chief Creative Officer, Cheil, Thailand
Alex Pineda, Creative Director, TBWA\Raad, United Arab Emirates
Nicolas Zarlenga, Partner & Chief Creative Officer, The Juju, Argentina
Nicolas Courant, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Singapore
Andrea Auz, Creative Director, PAPER, Ecuador
Ayse Aydin, Chief Creative Officer, Publicis Groupe, Turkey
Signe Zacher Carlsen, Chief Creative, Advice, Denmark
Ricardo Chadwick, Partner / Chief Creative Officer, Fahrenheit DDB Peru
Judite Mota, Chief Creative Officer, VMLY&R, Portugal
Stefanie Golla, Creative Director, Accenture Interactive, Austria
Film Craft Lions Shortlist Jury
Devin Kennedy, Executive Creative Director, King James Group, South Africa
Marcus Svanberg, Director, Bleck film, Sweden
Sneha Iype, Executive Producer / Partner, Nirvana Films, India
Alba Barneda, Head of Production, CANADA, Spain
Thasorn Boonyanate, Executive Creative Director, Wunderman Thompson Thailand
Rodrigo Garcia Saiz, Director, Central Films, Mexico
Yael Staav, Director, Animals (Canada) / Furlined (USA), Canada
Pejman Fakharian, Filmmaker | Creative Director, 2012 Studio, Iran
Jonathan Chong, Director, Photoplay Films, Australia
Nadine Baltes, Head of Production, Havas Düsseldorf GmbH, Germany
Amy Wertheimer, EVP, Group Executive Producer, BBDO NY, USA
Sariyanti Sannie, Executive Producer, Six Toes TV / TBWA Singapore
Jo Lumb, Head of WAS Studios, We Are Social, UK
Valentina Fronzoni, Founding Partner & Executive Producer, the BigMama s.r.l., Italy
Anh-Thu Le, Director of Production, TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, USA
Kacper Sawicki, Executive Producer, Papaya Films, Poland
Loren Bradley, Executive Producer, FINCH, Australia
Elsa Rakotoson, CEO, Founder, Executive Producer, Frenzy Paris, France
Adam Isidore, EVP, Director of Integrated Production, FCB NY, USA
Film Lions Shortlist Jury
Marloes van den Berg, Chief Production Officer, 180 Amsterdam, Netherlands
Alice Chou, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsumcgarrybowen Taiwan
Thomas Pries, Executive Creative Director & Partner, The Unicorn, Denmark
Wuthisak Anarnkaporn, Film Director, FACTORY 01, Thailand
Dora Pruzincova, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Prague, Czechia
Jens Mortier, Chief Creative Officer, mortierbrigade, Belgium
Graham Drew, Chief Creative Officer, Grey Malaysia
Giovanni Bedeschi, Owner / Director and Executive Producer, bedeschifilm s.r.l., Italy
Andreas Putz, Chief Creative Officer, Jung von Matt Donau, Austria
Brett Morris, CEO, Nahana Communications Group (part of the FCB Network), South Africa
Yinbo Ma, Executive Creative Director, BBH, China
Nuno Jerónimo, Founder and Executive Creative Director, O Escritório, Portugal
Kalle Widgren, CEO, TBWA Stockholm, Sweden
Axel Grimald, Global Executive Creative Director, Publicis, Global
Lilian Luethi, Head of Production, frame eleven + partners AG, Switzerland
Serena Abi Aad, Head of Content, Havas Worldwide, United Arab Emirates
Diana Triana, General Creative Director, McCann Colombia
David Douglass, Executive Creative Director, Anomaly Toronto, Canada
Hira Mohibullah, Executive Creative Director, BBDO Pakistan
Jessica Apellaniz, Chief Creative Officer Latam, Ogilvy, Latam
Camilla Bjørnhaug, Creative, TRY, Norway
Ali Ali, Film Director, Good People, Egypt
Pallavi Chakravarti, Executive Creative Director, Taproot Dentsu, India
Kris Kyoungju Lee, Global Executive Creative Director, Cheil Worldwide, Global
Phil van Bruchem, Executive Creative Director, BWM Dentsu, Australia
Sue Higgs, Joint Executive Creative Director, dentsuMB, UK
Adrian Miller, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Indonesia
William John, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi, UK
Damian Hanley, Creative Director, In the Company Of Huskies, Ireland
Natasha Wellesley, Executive Producer, Ventureland, USA
Kim Pick, Executive Creative Director, VMLY&R New Zealand
Health & Wellness Lions Shortlist Jury
Dick Dunford, Executive Creative Director, TBWA\Worldhealth, UK
Michel Motta, Executive Creative Director, Triunfo Sudler Brasil
Joanna Lojko, Managing Director / Board Member, Rak'n'Roll Cancer Foundation, Poland
Emanuele Tragella, Executive Creative Director, Havas Life Italy
Gustavo Pratt, Owner & CEO, Asterisco Healthcare Communications, Mexico
Todd Henwood, EVP, Executive Creative Director, GSW, Canada
Tuesday Poliak, Chief Creative Officer, Wunderman Thompson Health, USA
Gerrard Malcolm, Director, Insight AU, Australia
Mandi Fine, CEO, F/NE, South Africa
Manuel Frank, Global Creative Chair, Health & Chief Creative Officer Germany, Edelman, Global
Sinéad Murphy, Creative Director, Independent, UK
Industry Craft Lions Shortlist Jury
Ton Hollander, Chief Creative Officer, Optimist Inc, Europe