Media Design School’s Gab Gillespie and Aidan McNeillage make the cut at shortlist stage of AKQA’s Future Lions competition

Gab Gillespie and Aidan McNeillage, a creative advertising team from Media Design School, have made the cut at the shortlist stage of Future Lions 2025, AKQA’s global competition celebrating young creative talent, in collaboration with the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

“We were delighted to see that after several years of Future Lions running a single client brief, AKQA had returned to its original and brilliant open brief to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Future Lions Awards,” says Kate Humphries, Creative Advertising Programme Lead at MDS.

“When AKQA switched to a single client brief in 2020, the way our year was organised with specific briefs followed by open proactive briefs, meant we had to find a different global competition.

“But we madly missed the Future Lions competition, despite it being a hugely competitive one: with thousands of students entering and only 4 finalists selected each year, from which one winner is announced live at Cannes. So, we couldn’t be more thrilled that Gab and Aidan’s idea Core has made it onto the shortlist.

“In the lead-up to the submission, it was an idea that received unanimously positive feedback from our Industry Fellow, Andy Blood, as well as our industry guests Thom Darlow and Michael Tam.

“We owe a big round of applause to all three of you for your wonderfully in-tune clairvoyance.

“An equally grateful high-five also to David Gillard Allen, who has been enormously insightful and AI-mindful in helping to creatively direct all of our students’ ideas for the past 12 weeks.

“As for Aidan & Gab, I asked them if they’d like to add a sentence or two about how they felt when they received the good news. Croaky and in need of a celebratory Guinness, it would seem…”

“I was incredibly sick when I saw the shortlist email and called Aidan with a croaky voice, asking him if he’d checked his inbox lately, to which he replied “No”. After that he sent me a picture of a pint of Guinness and a thumb’s up.” – Gab

“Gab called me late at night – I paused my Korean game show to hear her croaking something about checking my emails and hanging up. Then I had a Guinness.” – Aidan