Cannes Lions will present this year’s Lion of St. Mark award for a lifetime of service to creativity in communications to Colleen DeCourcy at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022. 

DeCourcy, the former chief creative officer and president of Wieden+Kennedy, is one of the creative industry’s most inspiring leaders. She first joined Wieden+Kennedy as global executive creative director in 2013 and announced her retirement from the agency and the advertising industry in 2021. DeCourcy has spent her career leading innovative companies and advocating for a more equitable industry. She was named one of Fast Company magazine’s Most Creative People in Business, honoured with the Fearless Voices award by the organisation, She Runs It, and in 2019 was selected as the creative leader of the decade by Adweek magazine. 

Since 2013, Wieden+Kennedy and its network of global offices have amassed 149 Lions at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, one of W+K’s most successful eras. This includes five Grands Prix – four for W+K’s creative work with Nike, including the Nothing Beats a Londoner campaign by Wieden+Kennedy London, which won the inaugural Social & Influencer Lions Grand Prix in 2018; and one for Nike’s You Can’t Stop Us by Wieden+Kennedy Portland, which was awarded the Film Lions Grand Prix in 2020/21.

As well as receiving the Lion of St. Mark in 2022, DeCourcy will represent the Festival as jury president for Glass: The Lion for Change. At previous festivals, she has been the Titanium Lions jury president (2019), jury president for the now-retired Cyber Lions (2017) and served on the Titanium Lions jury and the Cyber Lions jury several times. 

DeCourcy commented, “I’m drawn to the fact that creativity – regardless of who or where it comes from – can change this industry and our world. If I’m proud of anything, it’s that I’ve been able to create space for people to unlock their own creative potential, showing there is room for all of us here.”

Susie Walker, vice president awards & insights, LIONS, stated, “We’re thrilled that Colleen DeCourcy will be honored with this year’s Lion of St. Mark. A creative pioneer, she has advocated for parity in the industry throughout her influential career, demonstrating creativity as a driver for change. We would also like to thank Colleen for bringing her creative expertise to one of the festival’s most vital awards, Glass: The Lion for Change, as jury president this year.”

Philip Thomas, chairman, LIONS, added “Colleen DeCourcy is not only a hugely influential creative leader, she has been vital to the Lions, bringing her immense creative prowess to the jury rooms and Festival stages, over many years. Under Colleen’s creative leadership, Wieden+Kennedy has delivered brave, boundary-breaking, multi-Lion-winning work. Her creativity has truly inspired the global industry to raise the creative bar. We’re absolutely delighted to present Colleen DeCourcy with the Lion of St. Mark at the Festival.”