Cheekbone Beauty Wins the First-Ever IDEA Competition

Cheekbone Beauty awarded $1 million worth of media inventory for its “Right the Story” campaign in support of Indigenous communities

Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics creative developed by Sid Lee

Bell Media has announced Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics and its agency Sid Lee as the winners of the Institute of Communications Agencies’ (ICA) inaugural Inclusivity, Diversity and Equity in Advertising (IDEA) competition. Held in partnership with Bell Media, this year’s focus was on campaigns highlighting Indigenous communities with the winner awarded $1 million worth of inventory on Bell Media platforms. This year’s winner is the Indigenous-owned Cheekbone Beauty, whose mission is to help Indigenous youth see and feel their impact in the world while creating sustainable colour cosmetics.

Featuring a positive news “smear campaign”, the award-winning creative blocks out negative headlines about Indigenous communities, focusing audience attention on good news championing positivity and defiance, seeking to “right the story” of Indigenous people in the media.

In addition to the creative excellence and ingenuity behind its winning proposal, Cheekbone Beauty’s entry excelled across all competition criteria, including its commitment to promoting an inclusive culture and diverse representation throughout the entire campaign execution.

“The purpose and ambition shown in the entries made judging very hard and at times emotional, which is exactly what we wanted – the agencies and brands put everything into it,” said Scott Knox, President & CEO, ICA.  “I do not doubt that seeing the final campaign delivered by Sid Lee and Cheekbone Beauty will set a new standard, not only for diversity in marketing but excellence in authentic brand building. I’m also sure we’ll see the other entries come to life too.”

This year’s winning entry was selected by a specially curated jury comprised of 12 diverse, established talent from the Canadian media sector, bringing a breadth of creativity, experience and vision toward increasing diverse and inclusive representation in advertising and within the media industry as a whole.

Open to national and international brands and their agencies, the IDEA Competition seeks to create meaningful change in the media industry and to encourage greater representation of diverse communities in Canadian advertising campaigns while also encouraging diversity and inclusivity in the creative process.