Empower Cafe shortlisted for Best Purpose Driven Campaign at the AIA Awards

Empower Cafe at Cannes Lions 2025, created by Propeller Group in partnership with WACL, has been shortlisted for Best Purpose Driven Campaign at the Alliance of Independent Agencies Awards.

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It is recognition that feels earned. Not because awards are the point, but because the work behind it has been consistent, deliberate, and driven by people who genuinely care about where this industry is heading.

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A lot of what Empower Cafe has become comes down to one person: Louise Watson, Propeller's VP Global Technology.

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Louise has been the engine behind Empower Cafe from the start, identifying the opportunity, building the partnerships, doing the hard logistical work, and ensuring that every iteration of the event is better than the last. She has made it her mission to give equity and inclusion a proper home at Cannes Lions, not a sideline slot.

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The idea behind Empower Cafe is straightforward: the conversations that matter most to the industry's future were consistently being pushed to the fringes of Cannes Lions.

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In partnership with WACL (Women in Advertising and Communications Leadership), Propeller built something to change that. A dedicated space at Cannes Lions where gender equity, inclusion, and representation were the main event, with programming, community, and the kind of environment where real conversations could actually happen.

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For Propeller, the work with WACL on Empower Cafe is not a standalone activation. It is part of a longer view about what this industry should look like  and what we can do, practically, to help get it there.

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The AIA Awards will be announced in due course. In the meantime, congratulations to every team on the shortlist.