Brixton Finishing School, the DigiLearning Foundation and Lollipop Mentoring have launched a campaign to make Cannes Lions more accessible and inclusive for emerging talent.
Entitled #CannesForAll, the campaign asks advertising leaders to “put their money where their mouth is” and donate 1% or more of their activation budgets to support emerging diverse talent in attending the largest gathering of advertising professionals in the world.
One of the four founders of the initiative, Ally Owen, founder of Brixton Finishing School, stressed: “Cannes has traditionally been an exclusive club and a right of passage for future leaders. It’s not enough for Brixton Finishing School to build an equitable highway into the industry — we need to create equitable opportunities to rise when you arrive.”
She added: “By placing our talent at the heart of the festival we are giving them the best chance of being the next ECD or CEO”
The three female-led companies behind the campaign have a target to raise £50,000 to put towards accommodation, transport, living, safeguarding, and promotional costs for their up-and-coming talent during the full week of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2023, slated to take place between Monday 19 June Friday 23 June.
Companies donating funds will not only have access to the diverse talent currently being trained and supported by these businesses, but also to the founders of the initiative; which include Owen alongside Sarah Wilson, co-founder of DigiLearning, Lisa GoodChild, “chief troublemaker” at DigiLearning, and Maria McDowell, founder of Lollipop Mentoring.
Brixton Finishing School specialises in training and enabling diverse talent to enter the advertising industry, while DigiLearning facilitates digital skills programmes for 16-30 year-olds and Lollipop Mentoring offers a free mentorship programme for mid-level Black women in the advertising and marketing industries.
