Colenso BBDO and Dentsu Aotearoa teams to represent New Zealand at Cannes Young Lions
The Comms Council has revealed the winners of the 2026 Young Lions Competition, with two teams set to represent New Zealand at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this June.
Taking out Gold in the Film category were Riana McKenzie and Zoe Perrin, Senior Copywriter and Senior Art Director at Colenso BBDO, while MJ Keung and Wendy Zhang, Programmatic Manager and Senior Ad Ops Executive at Dentsu Aotearoa, claimed top honours in the Media category.
The winners were announced in front of a sell-out crowd at AXIS Speaks, ahead of the AXIS Awards later that evening, capping off one of the key nights on the New Zealand industry calendar.
Responding to a brief focused on protecting Aotearoa’s native birds, Media winners Keung and Zhang developed an idea grounded in kaitiakitanga: a deeply held cultural value centred on guardianship and care for the environment.
Their insight recognised a critical tension: while kaitiakitanga is embedded in the culture of Aotearoa, intention does not always translate into better behaviours. For many everyday Kiwis, protecting native birds can feel complex and time-consuming; which Keung and Zhang observed can reduce motivation, making the challenge feel too large for any one individual to tackle.
To address this, their idea focuses on empowering every Kiwi to become a kaitiaki by weaving backyard rat trapping into a simple everyday routine. By bridging the intention to behaviour gap, the concept transforms an existing household ritual (putting the rubbish out) into a simple, accessible action.
The overarching goal being to make conservation achievable, habitual, and impactful at an individual level.
Says Keung: “This win gave me the opportunity to show up authentically and represent not just myself but my community and our values. It reinforced that powerful ideas don’t have to be complicated. Sometimes the simplest truth is the most effective. We are super proud to authentically represent Aotearoa on an international stage. Aotearoa ki te Ao.”
Adds Zhang: “The win was truly a special reminder that your best work is the one that’s the most reflective of yourself and your community.”
Rich Hale, MD Media, dentsu NZ congratulated the pair by saying: “We are hugely proud of MJ and Wendy and what this win represents. Creating the space for our talent to learn, back their instincts and develop is something we deeply value – and this is a brilliant example of that in action.”
As Gold winners, the two teams will now travel to Cannes in June to compete against top young agency talent from around the world, taking on a new live brief as part of the global competition.
Winners:
FILM
Gold — Riana McKenzie and Zoe Perrin, What a Cat Wants
Silver — Kelly France and Andrew Hathaway, A Cat’s Deadliest Predator
Bronze — Faith Waraki and Anran Chen, Cats Will Be Cats
MEDIA
Gold — MJ Keung and Wendy Zhang, Kaitiaki Bins
Silver — Harry Fawcett and Harry Manning, Trap Dividends
Bronze — Jessica Dolman and Bianca Moon, Collect to Protect
(Colenso BBDO CCO Si Vicars accepts the award on behalf of winning duo Riana McKenzie and Zoe Perrin)
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