LIA Creative LIAisons 2026 to bring 130 Young Creatives to Las Vegas next week
The LIA funded Creative LIAisons program is set to bring 130 young creatives from around the globe to Encore @ Wynn, Las Vegas for 5 days of seminars, panel discussions, an interactive workshop, the experience of observing statue discussions live in the jury rooms and a fireside chat with the 2026 LIA Legend, Susan Credle. The program takes place from next Monday, 27th September through 1st October, running in tandem with LIA 2026 Judging. All 130 attendees will be given the rare and novel experience of being in the judging rooms, witnessing the jury’s final debates and discussions that set the creative benchmark for the year.
Says Tara McKenty, Chief Creative Officer, AKQA AU/NZ: “LIA is the first festival to invest in creative talent. 130 young creatives in a room together, staying together, seeing some of the best creative minds speaking. It’s almost like a mini crash MBA in creativity. And the speakers that are exposed to LIAisons are stellar.”
Each year, Campaign Brief selects two young creatives from the CB New Zealand and Australian Agencies of the Year to attend the all-expenses-paid, once-in-a-lifetime Creative LIAisons onsite program, alongside 130+ rising stars from around the world.
This year Leilani Horthy Banks, Junior Art Director, Clemenger BBDO, Sydney ~ current CB Australian 2025 Agency of the Year and Georgia Henare, Intermediate Art Director at McCann New Zealand ~ current CB New Zealand 2025 Agency of the Year, will be making their way to Las Vegas in September for the Creative LIAisons Global Coaching Academy.
To see the legacy of talent that has come through the Creative LIAisons program via Campaign Brief since 2012, click here.
Other on-site participants from Australia and New Zealand include:
Louis Devine, AWARD School 2026 National Top Student
Darcy Keely, Creative Tinker, Thinkerbell
Ella Liddell, Integrated Media Manager, Motion Sickness
Baxter Atkins, Senior Copywriter, Leo
Madeleine Batkin-Walkerden, Senior Art Director, Leo
Campaign Brief’s Kim Shaw, Adam Shaw and Michael Lynch have again been invited to the LIA Judging and Creative LIAisons program.
This year, the Creative LIAisons program includes hot topics like “What CCOs are looking for”, Everything you’ve wanted to ask a CCO, Entertainment vs. Content vs. Traditional Advertising, The Reality of Making Great Creative Work, and many other talks/panel discussions thoughtfully curated by the Creative LIAisons speakers.
LIA also hosts a special evening mixer at the Neon Museum for the LIAisons attendees to meet their creative heroes and mingle with jurors and speakers over drinks and dinner.
Another highlight to this year’s line-up: Marco Venturelli, President and Chief Creative Officer, Leo; CCO, Publicis Groupe France; CEO/COO, Publicis Conseil, Paris will conduct an unconventional workshop. Interestingly, the You’re on the Jury workshop puts the young creatives in the judges’ seats as they have the chance to view the work and award it as they see fit. LIAisons attendees will compare how their awards stack up against what was actually awarded by the jury. Venturelli will also share exclusive insights from the judging process and explain what makes an award-winning piece of work, shedding light on the decisions and discussions that led to the success of the work.
There’s great anticipation among the attendees leading up to Creative LIAisons in Las Vegas.
Says Louis Devine (pictured below), AWARD School 2026 National Top Student, APAC: “I’m brand new to this industry. Since winning AWARD School’s National Top Student in Australia, people have been remarkably open with their time and advice, and Creative LIAisons feels like that same generosity on a global scale. A room full of some of the best creative minds in the world, alongside the juniors I’ll be working with for the next thirty years. That’s a pretty rare opportunity to be given this early.”
Says Susan Credle, former Chair & Global Chief Creative Officer of FCB and the LIA Legend 2026 Honoree: “What I love about Creative LIAisons is having watched it birth and grow. There are very few things that I see that I wish that I had that when I was coming along. And that’s one of them. I would have loved to have been a part of something like that,”
Credle, who will be honored with the LIA Legend Award 2026 live at Creative LIAisons, will share riveting narratives of her experience in a fireside chat. She has been a great supporter and cheerleader of the LIAisons program since its inception in 2012.
LIA Judging sessions take place from 25th September through 3rd October, 2026. LIA funds Creative LIAisons from festival entry fees. Proceeds from entries are reinvested into supporting and directly benefiting the development of this educational program for emerging talent.
Look out for Campaign Brief’s coverage of the 2026 LIA Awards in Las Vegas from next week, including several Juror Diaries, exclusive to CB.
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