The 2022 Inclusivity, Diversity, and Equity in Advertising (IDEA) Competition Jury Announced, Including CANADA'S DRAG RACE and ETALK's Traci Melchor

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TORONTO, July 4, 2022 /CNW/ - The Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA), in partnership with Bell Media, today announced the newly selected jury for the 2022 IDEA Competition. Comprised of 14 established talent from the Canadian media sector, each jury member brings a breadth of creativity, experience, and vision toward increasing diverse and inclusive representation in advertising and within the media industry.

The IDEA Competition jury will award $1 million worth of media inventory to one campaign that demonstrates a clear message of diversity and inclusion, with this year's competition highlighting LGBTQ+ communities.

This year's jury members are:

Ira Baptiste – Board chair of the ICA and Managing Director, EVP, Brandfire Marketing Group Inc., Ira has 25 years of experience as a successful marketing and advertising executive and has worked with multi-national advertising companies and small independently owned agencies across Canada and Europe. 

Chris Bergeron – Chris worked a successful career as an arts and entertainment journalist before making the jump into advertising, where she is currently the Vice President of Inclusive Creativity at Cossette, working on major brands such as McDonald's Canada, General Mills, TELUS, and more. Chris came out as a transgender woman six years ago, and since then actively promotes diversity, inclusion, and the rights of transgender people and marginalized groups by sharing her story publicly. In 2020, she was named AdWeek's Champion of Diversity. She is also a published author of the novel Valide, which is read in over sixty high schools across Quebec and was named in Le Devoir's 15 Best French-Canadian Books of 2021.

Rachel CrowSpreadingWings – Head of Content for the ICA and former video journalist for CTV News Winnipeg, Rachel is a member of Kainai First Nation in southern Alberta, part of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Her on-air experience includes roles as anchor, live reporter, and producer as well as producing her own TV show. A winner of the Alberta Equity Scholarship from the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group, Rachel graduated from Lethbridge College in 2015 with a diploma in Communication Arts and a major in Broadcasting.

Deven Dionisi – Deven is a Director of Marketing at Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, overseeing a group of growth and impact strategists, and the Co-Chair of its 2SLGBTQ+ Employee Inclusion Group for its over 4,000 staff. Having lived and worked in Milan and Shanghai, Deven has helped brands such as Cirque du Soleil, L'Oreal, Subway, and Unilever connect with people in North America, Europe, and Asia. A business and systems designer at heart, he believes that through collaboration, studying the cultures of communities and organizations, and applying foresight, society will be able to create the conditions for cultural shifts and lasting change to take hold.

Jerry Jarosinski – Jerry has focused his extensive career on CRM program planning, design and execution, building and developing loyalty and retention programs/systems, and digital marketing on both the agency and client-side. Some of the brands he has worked with include RBC Royal Bank, HSBC, BlackBerry, TELUS, Rogers, and Sears Canada. He has worked at various agencies in scale, from small to large, but always stays focused on his passion - CRM and data.

Scott Knox – President and CEO of the ICA since November 2016, Scott was previously the Managing Director of the Marketing Agencies Association (MAA) in the U.K. for 15 years. In 2015, he became the Founding President of the world's first event LGBTQ+ group for advertising and marketing when he launched PrideAM. Scott has been featured in Campaign Magazine's "A-List" and the Daily Telegraph's Out @ Work as one of the most powerful LGBTQ+ leaders in British business.

Nadya Kwandibens – Nadya Kwandibens is Anishinaabe from the Animakee Wa Zhing #37 First Nation in northwestern Ontario. She is an award-winning portrait and events photographer, a Canon Ambassador, and has travelled extensively across Canada for over 14 years. In 2008, she founded Red Works Photography, a dynamic photography company empowering contemporary Indigenous lifestyles and cultures through photographic essays, features, and portraits. In addition to commissioned works, Nadya delivers empowering photography workshops and presentations for youth, universities, and community groups. She currently resides in Tkarón:to on Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Mississauga of the Credit River and Dish With One Spoon Territory.

Alison (Ali) Leung – Head of Global Content Marketing, Community, Scaled Acquisition, Underrepresented Entrepreneurs at Shopify, Ali is a purpose-driven marketer who is helping make commerce better for Canadians, by supporting independent businesses in every way possible. Prior to joining Shopify, Ali was the Vice President of Marketing at WW (formerly Weight Watchers), helping to inspire healthy eating habits. She currently sits on the boards of Canada Learning Code and Royal St. George's College.

Traci Melchor – Beloved for her outgoing and lively personality, Traci Melchor is an icon on the Canadian entertainment scene. Vibrant, witty, and fabulous, this Pickering, Ont. native is a Senior Correspondent for Canada's most-watched entertainment program, ETALK and a Resident Judge on the Crave Original series, CANADA'S DRAG RACE, where she won a 2022 Canadian Screen Award (CSA) for Best Host, Factual or Reality/Competition Series.

Brandon Moonrei – Director of Client Strategy at Bell Media, Brandon has more than 15 years of experience in the fields of data, marketing, creative, partnerships, sales, and product development. He has been recognized globally with 10 international awards for creative and product leadership, including presenting at the Neuroscience World Forum in Rome, Italy. As a champion of diversity and inclusion, Brandon leads Bell's partnership with the ICA/IDEA competition, and acts as an office lead for Bell's Diversity and Inclusion Think Tank (DAITT).

Sadie-Pheonix Lavoie – Sadie-Pheonix is a Two Spirit Anishinaabe from Sagkeeng First Nation and a fourth year Sundancer. In 2017, they graduated from the University of Winnipeg with a BA in Indigenous Studies and Political Science, following co-founding Red Rising Magazine in 2016.  They are currently working as community support staff with the Northern Manitoba Food, Culture, Community Collaborative as well as being a recognised freelance graphic artist and designer, photographer, published poet and painter. Sadie-Phoenix is very active within grassroots organizing for land and water protection, focusing on Indigenous sovereignty, matriarchy, and two-spirit recognition.

Justin Stockman – As Vice President of Content Development and Programming, Justin Stockman is responsible for English TV programming including CTV, Crave and Bell Media's English-language specialty channels Discovery, MTV, E!, Much, CTV Drama, CTV Life, CTV Comedy, CTV Sci-Fi. His role includes the ongoing negotiation and development of Bell Media's Original Production programming content for all platforms with local producers and international studios. Stockman also leads Bell Media's diversity and inclusion initiatives, both internally as a member of the organization's Diversity Leadership Council and with external partners like HireBIPOC, the definitive and ubiquitous industry-wide roster of Canadian BIPOC creatives and crew working in screen-based industries.

Sarah Thompson – As the Chief Strategy Officer at Mindshare, Sarah brings together media, creativity, and data. She is an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community as well as a champion for local media in Canada. In her previous roles, she has worked in creative and brand strategy, organizational design, analytics, public relations, events planning, and digital and social marketing strategy. There is no right and left-brain in how she approaches problems for clients. She is the former co-chair of the CMA Media Council, and is currently on the CMDC Local Media Committee. She is also a mentor with the ICA, APG, and in WPP's Next Gen program.

Dr. Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall – Dean, Faculty of Design at OCAD University, Dori is a design anthropologist, public intellectual, and design advocate who works at the intersections of critical theory, culture, and design. As the first Black female Dean for the Faculty of Design, Dori is a globally recognized figure in the decolonization of design institutions and practices.

As previously announced, the IDEA Competition is open to national and international brands and their agencies, who are invited to submit groundbreaking work that celebrates diversity and inclusion through advertising. Creators of the winning entry will have access to the full range of Bell Media's platforms - TV, radio, out-of-home and digital – to execute their $1 million campaign in 2023. Deadline for entry to the competition is July 29, 2022.

The IDEA competition builds on the broader IDEA initiative, launched in 2017 by the ICA, to promote inclusivity, diversity, and equity in advertising.

Brands and their agencies can enter the IDEA competition at https://theica.ca/idea-competition.

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About the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA)
Since 1905, ICA has been the recognized, not-for-profit association for Canadian advertising, marketing, media, and public relations agencies. ICA's mission is to Amplify, Protect and Transform the agency sector through advocacy, awards, community, consultancy, insight, networking, research and training. ICA membership and board of directors represent some of the most recognized and influential businesses in our industry, both in Canada and internationally. Learn more at https://theica.ca/

About Bell Media
Bell Media is Canada's leading content creation company with premier assets in television, radio, digital and out-of-home media, including 35 television stations that are part of the CTV and Noovo networks; 27 specialty channels, including sports leaders TSN and RDS; streaming services Crave, TSN Direct and RDS Direct; the iHeartRadio Canada brand encompassing 215 music channels, including 109 radio stations in 58 Canadian markets; and the Astral out-of-home advertising network. Bell Media is also a partner in Pinewood Toronto Studios, Montréal's Grande Studios, Just for Laughs and Dome Productions, one of North America's leading production facilities providers. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. Learn more at BellMedia.ca.

SOURCE Bell Media

Scott Knox, ICA, [email protected] Or Kaitlynn Jong, Bell Media, [email protected]