Part 2: How 2 Newhouse Students Won the Top Student Creative Advertising Award in the World—the Cannes Future Lions Grand Prix

“Syracuse University Creatives Win Future Lions Grand Prix with Spotify Sign Language Project,” read the Ad Age headline on June 19, 2024—an amazing accolade for the University and Newhouse School in the top trade publication in creative advertising.

Earlier that day on the Cannes Future Lions stage in Cannes, France, Molly Egan and Marlana Bianchi won the Cannes Future Lions Grand Prix for their digital artificial intelligence idea for Spotify, which they created in their Portfolio III course at Newhouse.  

“Winning the Grand Prix in the Cannes Future Lions competition is the most significant award the advertising department at Newhouse has ever received,” said Ed Russell, professor and chair of the Newhouse advertising department. “We couldn’t be prouder of Marlana and Molly’s huge accomplishment, along with their professor, Mel White.”  

“We are dedicated to being the best undergraduate advertising program in the country and world, and this is clear evidence we are well on our way,” Russell added.   

Mark Lodato, dean of the Newhouse School added, “What wonderful news! I’m excited for our students and very grateful for the talented faculty that helped guide them toward this achievement.”

The Innovative AI Idea Chosen by Spotify: “Break the Sound Barrier”

Egan and Bianchi addressed a real-world problem in response to the competition brief. The brief was for Spotify, asking students how Spotify could spread positivity by using technology to bring listeners closer to the creators and communities they love. The brief encouraged entries to use new technology and uplift underrepresented communities.

While brainstorming how to answer the brief, they thought about how music streaming platforms lack features for the deaf community, making them less inclusive.  

To solve this problem, they created an idea that adds deaf sign language performers like Justina Miles to all songs on the Spotify platform, spearheading a music revolution.  

They applied deepfake technology to scale deaf performances into all the 300-plus different sign languages for each song on the platform. This will make music streaming accessible to the deaf community, and it will only be available on Spotify.  

The next part of their idea gives musicians the choice to opt into “Break the Sound Barrier.” If a musician opts in, Spotify will generate them signing with deepfake technology. This will let musicians perform in all the world’s sign languages for the first time, bringing deaf fans closer to their favorite artists than ever before.

In the first article of this two-part series, Egan and Bianchi share the inspiration behind their digital AI idea for Spotify.

“There’s terrific craft to this execution. The name [‘Break the Sound Barrier’] is provocative. The writing in the case, sharp. And you tied it to culture in a way that lets Spotify know: the time to do this is now,” said Avi Steinbach ’14, creative director and writer at Ogilvy. Steinbach is an alumnus of Newhouse’s creative advertising program and is also a first-time Cannes Lions Grand Prix winner this year for “Michael CeraVe,” for which he was involved in every aspect of its creation. 

Spotify Chose “Break the Sound Barrier” to Win the Most Prestigious Award in the World

“The idea that this feature could bring [the deaf community] closer to the artists that they love meets the brief perfectly,” said Tye M. Comer, creative director of Spotify advertising. “Also, the use of deepfake technology—genius. Because I don’t know about the rest of you, but everything that I’ve heard about deepfake technology absolutely terrifies me, right?”

“To take that, and to turn it on its head to create something that puts positivity in the world was just wonderful. And that’s the whole point of Future Lions,” Comer said.  

Chloe Wix, global director of product marketing at Spotify, added, “I think that the association between beloved artists and this concept of sign language is such a beautiful and powerful thing that it starts to build an important expectation around seeing sign across any experience.” 

Spotify chose the Grand Prix winner based on which idea they want to explore producing. They will collaborate with Egan and Bianchi to find ways to bring “Break the Sound Barrier” to life on their platform.

A 25-minute Future Lions film features Spotify jurors Comer and Wix’s deliberations along with short interviews with our Grand Prix winners and the other winning team. (Watch the 25-minute film by going to https://www.futurelions.com/#/ and clicking on “The Winners” in the menu. View the full Cannes Future Lions ceremony by clicking “Award Ceremony.”)

And the Winner is… 

On the morning of the ceremony, Egan and Bianchi eagerly joined the three other winning teams to await the announcement of the Grand Prix winner on Spotify Beach at Cannes Lions. 

Gemma Redgrave, global marketing director at advertising agency AKQA, presented the award along with Comer and Wix. Since 2019, Redgrave has overseen planning and organizing the Future Lions competition, advocating for student creativity.  

Until that moment, Egan and Bianchi had been sworn to secrecy about their status as Cannes Future Lions winners. With anticipation building, the defining moment of their Cannes experience had finally arrived. 

“The Grand Prix goes to… ‘Break the Sound Barrier.’” 

“We ran onto the stage, floating on cloud nine. In that moment, our dreams came true,” Egan said.

Winning the Cannes Future Lions Grand Prix demonstrates the exceptional quality of the Newhouse School’s creative advertising program.  

“We definitely want to thank our Professor White over here for making this all possible,” Bianchi said on stage. 

Besides Ad Age, “Break the Sound Barrier” garnered significant press coverage in nearly two dozen major publications and platforms including Adweek, Spotify, Campaign Brief, Adobo Magazine, Little Black Book and The Wall Street Journal. 

Another Newhouse student team won a shortlist award in the Cannes Future Lions competition. Meiling Xiong, ’24, art director, and Maggie Mallon ’24, copywriter, won for their idea “Truth Spotter,” an idea for Spotify’s first in-app feature to identify misinformation in podcasts.  

Using NewsGuard AI, the feature cross-checks information and ranks podcasts with color codes: red for high, yellow for moderate and green for minimal misinformation. It corrects false claims in podcasts and recommends reliable alternatives for inaccurately covered topics. Watch their shortlisted case study video, Truth Spotter.

“It’s been such a pleasure to watch the ad program continue to evolve,” Steinbach said. “I’ve been impressed with how polished the portfolios look coming out of the program. They’ve got big ideas, case studies and even some metal to go with it.”