W+K’s Colleen DeCourcy says men will wish they 'didn’t have a penis' after attending first-ever VOWSS at Cannes
This year's Cannes Lions will see the first-ever VOWSS showcase, where a selection of short films created by women across the world will be assessed by a panel including Wieden + Kennedy’s chief creative officer Colleen DeCourcy, who has claimed the quality of the work will make men "wish they didn't have a penis."
The judging panel at VOWSS will assess the creative work, which will include short films, commercials, branded content, documentaries and music videos. The winner will be chosen by a team of judges that includes BBH’s global chief strategy officer Sarah Watson.
“We can talk about gender equity in our business and how important it is to promote women, but creativity is a proof-based business. Equity is never going to happen until we promote the work of women. If you want to see great work by women in Cannes, en masse, that'll blow your mind and make you wish you didn't have a penis, you'll want to find time for The VOWSS this year,” DeCourcy said in a statement.
The VOWSS is a collaboration between The Voice of a Woman, a group founded by Maureen Bryan that features the work of female filmmakers, and SheSays, a global creative network of women that was co-founded by Mr. President’s chief creative officer Laura Jordan Bambach.
“We created The VOWSS as a forum to celebrate incredible creative work led and directed by women. We believe that women need to be seen as creative superstars as much as agents of change,” said Bambach in a statement. “There’s more to senior women’s voices than talking about women in the industry or the way they are represented in advertising. We’re done just talking about the issues, now we want to show off the great creative work we make, too.”
London-based Mr. President, creative media group Rise and Facebook Creative Shop are the headline sponsors of The VOWSS. The showcase will take place on June 21 at Cinema Les Arcades during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.
Submissions for The VOWSS are open until May 11, 2017. See the full list of judges below.
Maureen Bryan, US/UK, Founder at The Voice of a Woman
Colleen DeCourcy, Chief Creative Officer at Wieden + Kennedy
Laura Gregory, Founder & CEO of Great Guns
Lizi Hamer, Creative Director at Octagon
Laura Jordan Bambach, Chief Creative Officer at Mr President and Co-founder SheSays
Nils Leonard, former Chairman/CCO of Grey
Charney Magri, Founder of RISE
Katie Puris, Facebook Creative Shop
Fernanda Romano, Strategy and Creative Partner at Malagueta Group
Andy Sandoz, past president D&AD and former ECD Havas
Tista Sen, Senior Vice President & National CD at JWT
Resh Sidhu, Virtual Reality Creative Director at Framestore
Sarah Watson, Global Chief Strategy Officer at BBH