Cannes Lions

My role:

Senior Copywriter

Project type:

Campaign

Year:

2025

Every year, MSQ runs a creative competition open to its global network of agencies—with a coveted Cannes Lions badge on the line. 2025’s brief? Come up with a mission-driven campaign for the WACL.

My concept took the prize…and so I took to the Palais. In the months leading up to Cannes, my partner and I got to refine, produce, and bring our campaign concept to life—and then, watch it debut at the Empower Cafe in Cannes.

Bringing "Stubbornly Succeeding" to life

Our concept was inspired by the real and infuriating statistic that women in the workplace are still twice as likely to be called bossy as men. And when we really thought about it, it felt like that stat could be applied to a whole mess of words—loud, quiet, crazy, stubborn. The list was contradictory and comprehensive and went on…and on…and on. And lists of tropes like that are just begging to be rewritten. So, we rewrote them.

Flipping the script on negative identifiers, we showed how women day after day turn stereotypes into success. And that women full of this kind of strength are just the kind of women that make up the Empower Community.

…And then, debuting it at Cannes

Our campaign was all about women proudly taking up space. So watching the creative literally take up space in Cannes was pretty surreal. The film debuted at the Empower Cafe, and we scored a full-page ad in the official Cannes program distributed to thousands of attendees.

I also had the honor of being a panelist on the Cannes stage, and got to speak about my experience in the industry, the female mentors who have shaped me, and what guides me and my creative mission (I'm still recovering from this experience).

A peek behind the scenes

Maybe the biggest bonus? Our crew full of women. For much of our crew (myself included), this was the first time in our careers that we were part of an all-woman crew. Cheers to that. 🤘