CMDC takes its Future Impact Awards to Twitch

by David Brown

With an in-person event not possible this year, the Canadian Media Directors’ Council needed to figure out a new way to give out its Future Impact Awards, which are presented by CMDC’s Young Ambassadors Program. The solution was very 2020: The awards show is being hosted on the ultra-popular gaming platform Twitch.

“Given the pandemic, we brought all the Youth Ambassador media minds together and treated the awards as a strategic brief—allowing us to modernize and swiftly rethink our programming while still shining a spotlight on the media leaders of tomorrow,” said CMDC president Shannon Lewis.

The CMDC created the Young Ambassador program to inspire the industry’s young talent, while providing opportunities to network and share thinking about emerging best practices and the future of media. The Future Impact Awards were created in 2017 to recognize the achievements of young people in the industry (those with less than five years experience). The awards will be announced Oct. 29 from 4-5 p.m.

“From Animal Crossing integrations to Fortnite’s Astronomical, and more recently Burberry’s Twitch live-stream, it is clear that virtual gatherings on gaming platforms are here to stay,” said Alessia Grosso, strategy director at Cossette Media and Youth Ambassador for the CMDC. “Our goal as Youth Ambassadors is to have a pulse on emerging trends, and leverage these to create an event that is authentic, relevant and engaging for our youth audience.”

The awards program includes 10 different categories:

  • Innovator of the Year (sponsored by Snapchat)
  • Collaborator of the Year (sponsored by Vevo)
  • Insight of the Year (sponsored by Auto Trader Media)
  • Marketer of the Year (sponsored by The Globe and Mail)
  • Advocate of the Year (sponsored by Pinterest)
  • Techie of the Year
  • Notable Newcomer of the Year
  • Mentor of the Year
  • Champion of the Year (sponsored by Facebook)
  • Media Leader of the Year (sponsored by ThinkTV).

Media Leader of the Year is the only category not for young media professionals.

“The future success of our industry requires that we find ways to cultivate and integrate the transformational thinking of the younger generations into our work,” said Stuart Garvie, CEO GroupM and CMDC chair. “The CMDC YA program is an effective tool in channeling the enthusiasm and diversity of thinking of next generation talent in the media community.”

David Brown