Ascential, Cannes Lions’ parent company, has acquired Effie which hosts the most robust and prestigious marketing effectiveness awards in the world – Effie Awards. This will have two of the most significant platforms that celebrate creativity and storytelling in the world coming together under one roof.
Philip Thomas, CEO at Ascential, said the deal gives rise to a new global foundation ‘The Effie LIONS Foundation’. “The Foundation will be dedicated to educating the next generation of talent, offering training for all marketing students, especially those under-represented in the marketing community,” he said. “Additionally, the Foundation will provide a home for LIONS’ existing not-for-profit initiatives and provide access to some of the LIONS Division digital products, maximizing reinvestment in the industry.”
Thomas pointed out that the coming together of LIONS and Effie is a powerful testament to the fact that effectiveness and creativity in marketing are inextricably linked. “All enlightened businesses know that creative, effective marketing drives growth,” he said. “This historic partnership will complement the insights and intelligence on marketing and creative effectiveness LIONS already offers via WARC, The Work and Contagious, providing marketing leaders worldwide with the data and evidence they need to make the case for creative marketing that matters.”
The executive added that The Effie LIONS Foundation will educate and inspire the industry, and broaden the opportunities available to everyone to build a career in creativity and marketing.
Traci Alford, President and CEO of Effie Worldwide, expressed excitement to join LIONS. “Closer collaboration between Effie, as the definitive marketing effectiveness benchmark globally, and the LIONS brands is an exciting prospect for the industry as our ability to share insights and find synergies in our data will help to dissect the role creativity plays in driving marketing effectiveness overall.”
Alford said LIONS and Effie together, will better understand the key drivers of growth and ultimately help all businesses succeed.
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