Cannes Lions has announced Susan Credle as the recipient of this year’s Lion of St Mark, the festival’s most prestigious lifetime achievement award. The honour recognises a career spanning more than four decades, one that began with an internship at BBDO New York in 1985 and has since left an indelible mark on the global advertising industry.
Credle, currently serving as Interpublic’s Global Creative Advisor, has been the driving force behind some of advertising’s most enduring brand platforms. In 1996, she and art director Steve Rutter introduced the comedic M&M’s character ensemble that became a cultural fixture. From there, her creative fingerprints have shaped campaigns including Allstate’s Mayhem, Secret Deodorant’s grassroots anti-bullying initiative Mean Stinks, and McDonald’s Happy Meal literacy programme.
Her career has taken her through three of the industry’s most storied agencies: BBDO, Leo Burnett, and FCB. During her tenure as Global Chief Creative Officer, FCB North America was named Cannes Lions North America Agency of the Year for six consecutive years. The network earned the title of Global Network of the Year at Cannes Lions in 2020/21 and was ranked the number one Creative Agency for Effectiveness in the WARC Effective 100 in 2023.
Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS, praised Credle as “a trailblazer and a creative force,” noting her eight stints on Cannes Lions juries, three of which were as Jury President, including the Titanium jury. “She understands deeply that creativity is more than a driver of progress; it is an economic multiplier,” Cook said, adding that her mentorship of emerging talent and advocacy for inclusion have been as consequential as the campaigns themselves.
For her part, Credle traced her relationship with Cannes back to that first summer at BBDO, when a poster in the agency lobby celebrating Pepsi’s Grand Prix-winning “Archaeology” campaign set her compass for what great advertising could aspire to be. “That Cannes Lions Award taught me something I’ve carried with me ever since,” she said, “the best ideas don’t just succeed in the moment, they strive to be NVRFNSHD (never finished).”
Credle will receive the Lion of St Mark and appear onstage for the award’s accompanying seminar on Monday, 22 June. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity runs from 22 to 26 June in Cannes, France. Further information is available at www.canneslions.com.
