Cannes – France: India secured a podium finish at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026 Young Lions Competitions, with ITC Ltd.’s Rudrani Bose and Payal Mehra winning a Bronze medal in the Marketers competition.
The duo impressed the jury with their campaign, Back-up the Wild, developed in response to a brief from global conservation organisation Re. The competition challenged participants to create a brand partnership campaign capable of reconnecting people with nature while driving measurable support for conservation efforts.
Rudrani Bose, Brand Manager at ITC Ltd., and Payal Mehra, also a Brand Manager at the company, were among the three winning teams selected from entries submitted by young marketing professionals from around the world.
The Gold in the Marketers competition went to Helena Navarro Valero and Marta Benedito Bernat of Penguin Random House, Spain, for The Wildest Bookmate, while the Silver was awarded to Lydia Yoon and Joanne Chen of Google Canada for Google Maps: Earth Mode.
The Young Lions Competitions, sponsored by Adobe, bring together more than 400 professionals aged 30 and under from across the global communications industry. Participants compete across seven disciplines—Design, Digital, Film, Media, Marketers, PR and Print—responding to live briefs from NGOs, charities and purpose-driven organisations within 24 to 48 hours.
Announcing this year’s winners, Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS, said the Young Lions Competitions celebrate the next generation of creative leaders and provide a global platform for emerging talent to showcase their ideas.
The 2026 edition also marked several milestones globally, with Hong Kong SAR recording its first-ever Young Lions wins in the PR and Media competitions, while Norway claimed its maiden Gold in the PR category. Bolivia and Morocco also made their debut in the Young Lions Competitions this year.
The Young Lions awards were presented during the 73rd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, held in Cannes, France, from June 22 to June 26. The competition continues to serve as one of the industry’s most prestigious global platforms for identifying and recognising emerging creative and marketing talent.
