Effie LIONS Foundation Launches Their New Brand at Cannes
News & Press — 8/6/25
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We partnered with the newly formed Effie LIONS Foundation to launch their brand world at the Cannes LIONS International Festival of Creativity 2025.
The Effie organization is known for leading and inspiring the practice of marketing effectiveness globally and the LIONS is renowned for inspiring creativity and setting benchmarks for the world’s best creative work. With Effie and LIONS now part of one organization, they saw the opportunity to combine forces to create a global non-profit to build the future of marketing leadership.
Allison Knapp Womack, CEO, Effie LIONS Foundation, asked Beardwood&Co. to ensure the brand launch conveyed the Foundation’s commitment to shaping a marketing industry open for everyone.
A key challenge was to ensure that emerging marketing talent has clear pathways to career success, so they can see themselves in this industry. How do we shift aspiring marketers from dreaming about their futures to actively building them with confidence and community support?
For the brand world, we identified the idea of “Big Futures, Big Breakthroughs,” rooted in the insight that transformative careers begin with a single spark—an opportunity that ignites unstoppable momentum. This approach invites students to embrace their unique perspectives and turn their interests into industry-defining impact, from classrooms to careers, where their imagination has impact.
Three beliefs guided the Effies LIONS Foundation brand:
1 – We Need Each Other: There’s a deep human need for community. Moments of deep engagement and joyful interaction invite people into the Foundation’s community.
2 – Culture Defines Relevance: Audiences support brands that reflect their identity, and crave authenticity, humanity, and connection. That’s why the Foundation’s graphic language shows a clear and dynamic path to future success.
3 – Rising Talent Sparks Momentum: Real-world experience is the invitation to step into the light and ignite change – bridging career, industry, and potential. The brand’s visual expression maps a path forward, inspiring confidence in all.
The Effies LIONS Foundation Brand World creates a foundation for connecting untapped talent with global opportunities, setting the stage for expansion across platforms and channels, including new program launches.
We had ambitious goals when launching the organization into the world and knew we couldn’t do this alone. In building the foundation’s strategy and brand world, we collaborated with a global team of participants that included students, board members, educators, supporters, and local partners. The Effie LIONS Foundation was built by the industry, for the industry, and Beardwood&Co’s holistic approach ensured we channeled the big ideas and insights of everyone involved into a dynamic new brand, unifying our vision for a bold future.
”Allison Knapp Womack
CEO, Effie LIONS Foundation
Allison and the Effie LIONS Foundation team came to us with an ambitious goal of establishing a new foundation with global reach and impact—and to launch within three months of kick-off. To ensure the positioning and brand world amplified their mission, we built a process that ensured co-creation with brilliant minds from the Effies LIONS Foundation network around the world. This became the momentum to ignite our big creative Idea of ‘Big Futures, Big Breakthroughs.’
”Sarah Williams
Co-CEO, Beardwood&Co
