• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, April 12, 2023

Susan Hoffman, Chief Creative Officer, Wieden+Kennedy is this year’s recipient of the Lion of St. Mark award for a lifetime of service to creativity. She’ll receive the prize at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in June.

Wieden+Kennedy launched in 1982, with Nike as its first client and Hoffman joined W+K as employee No. 8 and has spent the last 40 years defining Wieden+Kennedy’s culture and setting the bar for creative excellence and ground-breaking work. 

As the Cannes organization put it, Hoffman has “injected her unique perspective into some of the most memorable ads W+K has produced, including Levi’s “Go Forth”, Chrysler’s “Born of Fire”, Old Spice’s “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”, Nike’s "Revolution", "If you let me play", "Da Da Ding" and so many more. Susan also found time to run Wieden+Kennedy 12, the agency’s first experimental ad school that launched in 2004 and brought up some of the most successful creative talent for a decade.”

Since 1982, W+K has won 451 Lions at the Festival, including a 2022 Mobile Lions Grand Prix for Google’s “Real Tone” technology, and a Creative Effectiveness Lions Grand Prix for the Nike campaign “Crazy Dreams” in 2021. Wieden+Kennedy London also won the inaugural Social & Influencer Lions Grand Prix in 2018 for the epic “Nothing Beats a Londoner” campaign.  

Philip Thomas, Chairman, Lions, said, “We’re delighted to present this year’s Lion of St. Mark to industry trailblazer Susan Hoffman. Susan has been instrumental in driving the industry and creativity forward over the last forty years, with an impressive body of work that reflects her unique perspective and ability to challenge the status quo in order to harness creativity as a force for progress for people, business and society. She has supported so many others on their own creative paths, and we can’t wait to welcome Susan to the stage to share her creative journey with the Cannes Lions audience in June.”