Aussie expat director Kim Gehrig ranked #8 director in Cannes Lions Global Talent Report; Kiwi creatives break into the Top 10 rankings
Cannes Lions has released its global 2023 talent report. Aussie expat director Kim Gehrig has ranked in at #8 director in the world, whilst five Kiwi creatives and one Kiwi director have made it into the coveted Top 10 rankings.
Gehrig, who splits her time between London and Los Angeles, won a Grand Prix for Apple ‘The Greatest’ in the Entertainment Lions for Music category.
(Pictured clockwise: Lèon Bristow, Charlotte Upton, Callum McDonald, Jack Gravatt, Till Dittmers, Mike Smith)
This year, New Zealand was well represented with five Kiwi creatives breaking into the Top 10 rankings. Of the top 10 Art Directors in the world, Lèon Bristow and Charlotte Upton ranked in at equal 4th. Bristow is a creative at Colenso BBDO, while Upton was at Colenso until departing for London-based agency Adam & Eve DDB. Jack Gravatt (ex Special NZ, now Mother London) has ranked in at #7 in the Top 10 rankings.
In the Copywriting Top 10, Callum McDonald (ex Colenso) has ranked in at #4, while Till Dittmers (ex Special NZ) came in at #7. Both creatives now work at Adam & Eve DDB and Mother London respectively.
Also featured in the talent report is renowned NZ-based director Mike Smith of South Pacific Islands who ranked in at #5 in the Top 10 Director rankings.
The Cannes Lions Talent Report profiles the people behind the Cannes Lions wins in 2023 and who are featured in the Lions people rankings – the ultimate benchmark for global creativity.
3 Comments
Is amazing and has lived in London for 20 years or so. Where she went to central st martins, then started as an agency creative and then a music video director and then an ad director. She only started working in Australia after becoming one of the biggest ad directors in Europe.
She still lives in London.
Other than Kim I recognise one other name on that directors top 10 in Francois R.
The rest, never heard of …
The list of ‘best’ is really only to do with what specific ads hit the mark this year.
It’s like basing the best film director on the commercial or critical success of whatever film they release that particular year.
The best director over 5 or 10 years is completely different to the best director in a single year.
Generally we all have memories like goldfish, so it’s often whatever director did something ‘cool’ last month.