Ascential, the owner of Cannes Lions, has announced the acquisition of Effie into its suite of events. 

The acquisition is subject to regulatory approval. Effie will continue to be led by Traci Alford, president and CEO, Effie Worldwide.

With this, the Lions, known for its creative awards, gets an entry into marketing effectiveness. Effie hosts marketing effectiveness awards across the world and provides insights from over 125 markets. 

Ascential will also (subject to regulatory approval) embark on a long-term partnership with the not-for-profit organisation, Effie Worldwide, which will be preserved and transformed into the Effie Lions Foundation. 

The foundation will be dedicated to educating the next generation of talent, offering training for all marketing students, especially those under-represented in the marketing community. 

This follows the recent news of Ascential being acquired by Informa.

Philip Thomas, CEO, Ascential, said, “The coming together of Lions and Effie is a powerful testament to the fact that effectiveness and creativity in marketing are inextricably linked. All enlightened businesses know that creative, effective marketing drives growth. This historic partnership will complement the insights and intelligence on marketing and creative effectiveness Lions already offers via WARC, The Work and Contagious, providing marketing leaders worldwide with the data and evidence they need to make the case for creative marketing that matters. Meanwhile, the creation of The Effie Lions Foundation, will educate and inspire our industry, and broaden the opportunities available to everyone to build a career in creativity and marketing.”

Alford said, “We are excited to join Lions with such a complementary, yet distinct, portfolio of brands. Closer collaboration between Effie, as the definitive marketing effectiveness benchmark globally, and the Lions brands is an exciting prospect for the industry as our ability to share insights and find synergies in our data will help to dissect the role creativity plays in driving marketing effectiveness overall. Together we will be able to better understand the key drivers of growth and ultimately help all businesses succeed.”

Headquartered in New York, with offices in Beijing and the UK, Effie has a network of 59 partners covering over 125 markets.