2015 US Young Lions Competitions partnered with Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother around the world. Every year the US Young Lions judges look for the most creative and innovative campaign ideas. The winning team for each category will represent the country as “TEAM USA” at the global competitions in France. For the first time the United States will be sending a team for the PR category. This team is sponsored by the PR Council, the trade association for America public relations Firms.

1. 62nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity
2015 US Young Lions Competitions
Assignment Brief
Project Title:
EVERY MOTHER COUNTS

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Dear Young Lions teams,
We are very excited to kick-off the 2015 US Young Lions Competitions by announcing our
partnership with Every Mother Counts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making pregnancy
and childbirth safe for every mother around the world. Every year our US Young Lions judges
look for the most creative and innovative campaign ideas. The winning team for each category
will represent the country as “TEAM USA” at the global competitions in France.
The assignment brief provides all information needed to complete the project. Use your
ingenuity to develop a compelling ad or communications strategy. You will find instructions for
all deliverables for submissions starting on page 11 of this document.
All entries are due no later than 6:00 p.m. (EST) Friday, February 27, 2015.
Please visit canneslions.usatoday.com for the complete Official Rules for the 2015 US Young
Lions Competitions.
We are honored to serve as the official US representative to the Cannes Lions International
Festival of Creativity and are very excited about our partnership this year with the Every Mother
Counts! Click here for a personal message from Christy Turlington Burns, founder of Every
Mother Counts (password: emcy0ungli0ns!).
A special thanks to our sponsors for their continuous involvement and generous support in
making the 2015 US Young Lions Competitions better than ever!
Sponsors:
Best of Luck!
USA TODAY & Gannett
Please email YoungLions@usatoday.com should you have any questions

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About Every Mother Counts:
Every Mother Counts is a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to making pregnancy and
childbirth safe for every mother. Every Mother Counts informs, engages, and mobilizes new
audiences to take actions and raise funds that support maternal health programs around the
world.
In 2010, Christy Turlington Burns directed the film, “No Woman, No Cry,” which addressed the
barriers to maternal health care around the world. The people we connected with through the
film were outraged by what they learned, and were inspired to take action.
It was then that Every Mother Counts was established. Initially, it started as an advocacy
organization that provided a platform for people to be part of the solution, as well as to learn
more and spread the knowledge to new audiences. To support the mission, we created
educational assets, including additional films and linked audiences to partner organizations
working directly on related programs in the field.
While there were several organizations focused on women’s health, some focused on
policymaker engagement and others on development more broadly, none were focused on
raising awareness about maternal health amongst the general public.
We recognized an enormous gap and realized we were uniquely positioned to fill it. We needed
to bring the issue into general public conversations, emphasizing the very human, relatable
nature of this topic and the fact that these deaths were preventable. We also wanted to provide
more opportunities for everyday people to get involved and become part of the solution.
We already knew that people were relating to the issue through our story telling but we wanted
to take that a step further by linking the stories we told to programs that prove what IS possible
with the right interventions. In 2012, we became a 501c3 and began to identify a select group of
programs around the world to improve access to critical maternal healthcare. We currently
support 9 programs in 7 countries, including the U.S., Malawi, Haiti, Uganda, Indonesia, India,
and the DRC.
Every Mother Counts invests 100% of the funds raised through individual donations and product
partnerships into these programs improve access to quality and timely maternal healthcare.
The below takeaways can differentiate Every Mother Counts from others:
 Every Mother Counts works to build a community by educating and inspiring all types
citizens to take meaningful action.
 We focus both domestically and internationally.
 We maintain a network of like-minded supporters that fund our campaign.
 We can employ a 100% model.
 We follow and monitor the human impact of our investments.
 We believe in the power of partnerships.
To learn more, visit www.everymothercounts.org/learn: everymothercounts.org/ourwork.
Watch Together We Can: http://vimeo.com/94413779

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How Every Mother Counts Works:
We have been building the pieces to support our mission and organize our efforts into three
main streams of work: reach, engagement and impact. These efforts all reinforce and build on
each other. We do not simply raise awareness and actions in order to make grants, but rather
see these as three mutually enforcing goals. Yes our fundraising efforts do fuel our grants work
but being able to invest directly in lives through our grants also fuels our advocacy work.
All three areas of work are critical to our success but some have been easier to measure than
others. Starting in 2012 we began tracking actions as a way of measuring our overall activity.
Actions were defined as anything a person did to help raise awareness or raise funds to support
maternal health and included social media actions as well as events attended, races run, and
products purchased. After we established our program portfolio, we began measuring the
number of lives impacted so that we could transparently track the difference we were making.
This year, we will continue to track actions, but are also looking to more actively track the size of
our community (as detailed in the goals and communications sections).
The Problem:
289,000 women die each year due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. That’s
one woman, every two minutes. The good news is that up to 98% of maternal deaths are
preventable. With solutions that are readily available and heightened awareness we can elevate
the magnitude of this issue and more lives would be saved in pregnancy and childbirth.
It’s important to note that this issue of maternal health is a global one and the U.S. is part of that
global equation. With the U.S. ranking 60th
in the world for maternal health, we cannot lose sight
of the fact that there is still work to be done here. Two out of nine of our grantees are in the U.S.

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There is a global community of women who are naturally connected through motherhood and
energized by each other’s stories. How can we insert Every Mother Counts mission seamlessly
into their dialogue to educate even more people about the issue at large?
Business Model:
Every Mother Counts is a 501(c)(3) organization that informs, engages, and mobilizes new
audiences to take actions and raise funds that support maternal health programs around the
world.
Awareness and education is at the core of our business model. By focusing our communications
and storytelling on challenges and solutions we are able to educate the public about what is
possible when we improve access to maternal healthcare and build a community of individuals
committed to taking our mission forward.
Additionally, we employ a 100% model. Our program grants are funded through individual
contributions, which are typically small online contributions, product partnership proceeds,
individual marathon race donations.
100% of the resources raised through these individual contributions are invested into our grant
portfolio. Our operations are funded by grants from foundations, events, corporate donors and
sponsorships.
Target Audience:
 Women (ages 24-45)
 Mothers, with children under the age of 12
 Men/New Fathers (this is a new target audience we are exploring)
Objectives & Goals
By 2020, Every Mother Counts will be an internationally recognized statement and campaign
that is synonymous with the next big decline in maternal mortality rates and is championed
worldwide by an army of advocates of all types and nationalities.
Over the next five years we plan to take a multi-pronged approach with three key objectives:
Reach, Engagement, Impact. By 2020, we will aim to achieve the following:
1. Reach- Build a community of 2 million committed individuals who have elected to be a part of
fulfilling the EMC mission by raising awareness and taking actions on behalf of our organization.
2. Engagement- Inspire 2 million actions per year that directly advance the EMC mission by
raising awareness and resources to support maternal health.
3. Impact- Impact 2 million lives by 2020 through a portfolio of grants in 6-8 countries that
address 2-3 of the barriers to maternal health in each location.
What has worked:
 Being a clearinghouse and platform for diverse voices on maternal health.
 Human storytelling, our survey showed us that over nearly 50% of people prefer to
understand the subject matter through a human voice affected
 Film has become one of the main assets that separates us from how other NGOs have
done storytelling. We are able to include a visual component into every speaking
opportunity and event, as well as market our content to broadcast for consideration.

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 Mapping out a calendar to spark conversation around key moments throughout the year
 Our founder’s story and her dedication to be on the frontlines to see the organization
thrive and impact so many lives.
What hasn’t worked as well:
 Building a creative campaign without a clear call to action
 Paid media has proven to be a very successful way of increasing actions, but given the
high price point, it will not be part of our larger strategy yet.
 High demand for our founder’s time, and challenges balancing reporters’ interest in the
model/fashion background rather than a focus on Every Mother Counts.
Overall Issues to Consider:
 Localizing Every Mother Counts outreach: We want to connect with people in different
markets either through local press (empowering our ambassadors) events, or key
partnerships with likeminded missions.
 Empowering ambassadors who have a personal story to help make our issue more
relatable/personal with access to influencers in their communities.
 Continue to create original content/storytelling, but leverage new voices as storytellers
with a range of perspectives (moms, caregivers, partners, spouses, children’s).
Key Messaging:
 Every Mother Counts is committed to making quality maternity care more accessible to
mothers everywhere by addressing three main barriers to maternal health care: Lack of
transportation, education and supplies.
 Every Mother Counts brings the issue to life to raise awareness & motivate participation
to improve maternal health.
 Every Mother Counts provides meaningful opportunities to raise awareness and
resources. We direct those resources raised toward programs that address
barriers to maternal health and share those stories to further our outreach.
5 FACTS ABOUT MATERNAL HEALTH YOU MAY NOT KNOW:
1. Approximately 289,000 women die each year due to complications in pregnancy and
childbirth. That’s one woman every 2 minutes.
2. For every woman who dies each year in childbirth, 20-30 more suffer from lifelong
debilitating complications.
3. Pregnancy is one of the leading causes of death in women, 15-19, in the developing
world. Nearly 70,000 young women die every year because their bodies are not ready
for parenthood.
4. Over 200 million women who would like to choose when they get pregnancy don’t have
access to family planning.
5. The United States now ranks 60th for maternal deaths on a list of 180 countries, even
though it spends more on health care per capita than any other nation in the
world. African American women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than
Caucasian women.
Almost all of these deaths are preventable.

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Logo:
All partners should use the logo as the full lockup (Madonna+Wordmark) unless given
permission to use the word mark with the orange MOTHER. Other variations of the logo are
available upon request and under specific circumstances.
The logo should not be locked up with any other images – please give the logo sufficient
clearspace. The logo should never be knocked out against a flood of color. In cases where the
logo must be knocked out, the wordmark should be used and knocked out to white, without the
icon. This can be provided.
Do not angle, rotate, crop stretch, outline, distort, or add effects to the logo.
Brand Guidelines:
I. Colors
Primary brand colors – Pantone
 These can be used as flood colors or text colors. All text executions should use the
brand blue in place of black when possible.
ORANGE – 716C (icon/background etc.)
BLUE – 533C (text/wordmark)
Secondary brand colors – Pantone
 The secondary color palette should only be used with approval to augment creative
executions that are in need of supporting colors.
LIGHT BLUE: Pantone: 7541c
GRAY: Pantone: 422c
TEAL: Pantone: 7464c
II. Brand fonts
Bryant Pro
 Headlines - Bold
 Subheads - Medium
Proxima Nova
 Body Copy - Regular for body copy
 Numbers - Extra Bold
 Emphasis in Body Copy - Semi-bold

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 Personnel Titles - Italic
III. Photography
Every Mother Counts uses photography as a meaningful asset to storytelling.
Intimate Portrait
It is important to have close focus on the subject’s face, capturing an emotion. Best if shot from
shoulders up with focal point on the face, leaving the background out of focus.
Portrait in the Field
Ideally this captures one or two people with a spanning view of the landscape, showing
impactful expression. It is best if a horizon line (sky line) is captured as 50-70% of the
landscape.
Density
When shooting a group portrait, either 7 or 70 people, capture them in a tight frame so that the

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subjects fill the entire frame or even bleed out beyond the crop.
Lifestyle
These images should usually include more than 3 people in the midst of everyday activity.
III. Watermarks
When using Every Mother Counts images, all images must carry the watermark as shown in two
iterations here.
Watermark 1:
Logo lockup carried by a white tag, following the clear space guidelines.

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Watermark 2:
Logo lockup with the word mark knocked out in white against the image.

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Assignment & Deliverables by Category:
I. CYBER TEAMS:
Create an integrated social media campaign that will build awareness of Every Mother Counts,
create one call-to-action to engage the target audience to join Every Mother Counts and take
catalytic action.
Entry should include at least one display ad (banners, rich media, etc.) and up to three (3) social
media concepts. Entry should also include a written submission of the campaign explaining the
creative insight and how the use of social media technology addresses the brief and helps to
provide a creative solution.
The banner ad must be a single ad (i.e.: 728x90 or 300x250, etc.). Flash is not required. The
written submission should be no more than 150 words and the final file must be saved as a PDF
document that is no longer than five (5) pages in length.
The naming convention used for your submission should follow the format,
"Category_Team#_DateSubmitted". Do not identify your name or your agency on the entry
name or creative submission. As you have multiple deliverable items, you will need to submit
your entries as a .zip file. Please upload your entry on the submission page at
canneslions.usatoday.com no later than 6:00pm (EST) February 27.
File must not exceed 15MB.
The Cyber Jury will award points as follows:
 25% Banner Ad
 25% Social Media Concept
 25% Creative Execution
 25% Perceived Effectiveness
II. FILM TEAMS:
Create a thirty (30) second video that will build awareness of Every Mother Counts, create one
call-to-action to engage the target audience to join Every Mother Counts and take catalytic
action.
The naming convention used for your submission should follow the format,
"Category_Team#_DateSubmitted". Do not identify your name or your agency on the entry
name or submission. Please upload your entry on the submission page at
canneslions.usatoday.com no later than 6:00pm (EST) February 27.
File size cannot exceed 40MB. Professional editing is not allowed. Teams can only use: Apple
Final Cut, iMovie, Adobe Premiere or After Effects. The only acceptable file formats are: MOV,
M4V, MP4, MPG or MPEG.
The Film Jury will award points according to the following criteria:
 25% Originality
 25% Overall Concept and Message
 25% Creative Execution
 25% Perceived Effectiveness

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III. MEDIA TEAMS:
Create a strategic/conceptual media plan that will build awareness of Every Mother Counts,
create one call-to-action to engage the target audience to join Every Mother Counts and take
catalytic action.
The final file must be saved as a PDF document that is no longer than ten (10) pages in length.
Please upload your entry on the submission page at canneslions.usatoday.com no later than
6:00pm (EST) February 27. The naming convention used for your submission should follow the
format, "Category_Team#_DateSubmitted". Do not identify your name or your agency on the
entry name or submission.
File must not exceed 15MB.
The Media Jury will award points according to the following criteria:
 25% Innovative Media Strategy
 25% Consumer/ Brand/ Media Insight
 25% Creative Execution
 25% Perceived Effectiveness
Media Strategy Information: Each team will be required to develop an impactful media contact
strategy within a budget of $3,000,000. The campaign will run in Q3 and Q4 (July – Dec) of
2015. The goal will be to combine innovative media selection with creative uses of the media.
The Young Lions Media Competition does not require teams to become immersed in providing
tactical media explanations or numerical exhibits. Rather, concentrate on developing
explanations why mobile marketing, print, TV, outdoor, websites or other media were selected
and how they are intended to be used in a creative and impactful manner. The strategic idea
must be demonstrated clearly across the selected media channels. If appropriate, feel free to
include PR, Promotion etc.
What the jury will seek to celebrate above all else are media efforts that generate access to
consumers in ways that are simultaneously innovative, engaging, encompassing and effective.
Ideas should be kept simple and direct.
Teams will prepare their submissions in the form of a presentation, accompanied by a flow chart
to illustrate media elements and timing. Costs for the media selected must be realistic, but
detailed cost exhibits are not required. Use general cost information, and note the source.
The following should be addressed:
 Detail the media challenge
 Give a description of the key insight
 Identify the strategy that will be used to overcome the challenge, with a definition of the
“Big Idea”
 Explain the media activity, describing the creative use of the media channels selected
and providing a general budget rationale
 Please hold the weeks of April 20th
, and 27th
for finalists’ presentations in New York City.
Upon completion of the second round of judging there will be no more than six (6) Finalists
teams selected based on which entries receive the highest scores. Finalist teams will be
required to present their submission in person at the USA TODAY/Gannett offices in New York
City to the judges selected by Sponsor. The live presentation will take place during the month of

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April on a date and time designated by USA TODAY/Gannett. Finalists will be notified at least
ten (10) days prior to scheduled live presentation. All expenses incurred for the trip to NYC is
the responsibility of each of the Finalist Media teams.
IV. PRINT TEAMS:
Create a print ad that will build awareness of Every Mother Counts, create one call-to-action to
engage the target audience to join Every Mother Counts and take catalytic action.
Only one print ad submission is allowed per team. The submission can be in full color or black
and white, however you choose. The ad must be a hi-res PDF document. The entry must be
delivered in two (2) methods: (1) Please upload your entry on the submission page at
canneslions.usatoday.com, the naming convention used for your submission should follow the
format, "Category_Team#_DateSubmitted". Do not identify your name or your agency on the
entry name or creative submission. (2) Also, you must mail a printed copy mounted on a 15” x
20” board to the address below. There is no required size for the ad itself. Please note your
team confirmation code, partner’s names, agencies and phone numbers on the back of the
submission. Your ad will need to arrive at the USA TODAY offices no later than 6:00pm (EST)
February 27.
Deliver to:
USA TODAY
Attn: Annie Wang
535 Madison Ave, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10022
The Print Jury will award points according to the following criteria:
 25% Originality
 25% Overall Concept and Message
 25% Creative Execution
 25% Perceived Effectiveness
V. PR TEAMS:
Create a strategic plan that will build awareness of Every Mother Counts, create call-to-action to
engage one or more of the target audiences to join Every Mother Counts and take catalytic
action.
The final file must be saved as a PDF document that is no longer than ten (10) pages in length.
Please upload your entry on the submission page at canneslions.usatoday.com no later than
6:00pm (EST) February 27. The naming convention used for your submission should follow the
format, "Category_Team#_DateSubmitted". Do not identify your name or your agency on the
entry name or submission.
File must not exceed 15MB.
The PR Jury will award points according to the following criteria:
 25% PR Strategy
 25% Overall Concept Messaging
 25% Creative Execution
 25% Perceived effectiveness

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PR Strategy Information: Each team will be required to develop a strategic public relations plan
within a budget of $500,000. The campaign will launch in Q3 2015 for 9 months. The goal will
be to present an innovative strategy with creative and measurable tactics.
The Young Lions PR Competition is looking for teams to define the goal, strategy and provide
tactical recommendations. The strategic idea must be demonstrated clearly across the selected
channels. Include explanation of how selected tactics are intended to be used in a creative and
results-oriented manner.
What the jury will seek to celebrate above all else are PR efforts that generate access to [target
audiences] in ways that are simultaneously innovative, engaging, encompassing and effective.
Teams will prepare their submissions in the form of a presentation, accompanied by a flow chart
to illustrate elements and timing. Costs must be realistic, but detailed cost exhibits are not
required. Use general cost information, and note the source.
The following should be addressed:
 Detail the public relations challenge
 Give a description of the key insight
 Identify the objective(s) and strategy that will be used to overcome the challenge, with a
definition of the “Big Idea” and channels to be targeted
 Describe the tactical approach, timeline and execution
 Explain how the campaign results will be measured
 Please hold the weeks of April 20th, and 27th for finalists’ presentations in New York
City
Upon completion of the of first round of judging there will be no more than five (5) finalist teams
selected based on which entries receive the highest scores. Finalist teams will be required to
present their submission in person in NYC (location TBD; live or via video call) to the judges
selected by the Sponsor. The live presentations will take place during the month of April on a
date and time designated by USA TODAY/Gannett. Finalists will be notified at least (10) days
prior to scheduled presentation. All expenses incurred for the trip to NYC is the responsibility of
each of the Finalist PR teams.
For further questions regarding guidelines, visit canneslions.usatoday.com for the
complete Official Rules for the 2015 US Young Lions Competitions.