Written by Martin Soubeyran, Managing Director, Cossette Media (Eastern Canada)
Ahead of this year’s Festival of Media North America Awards, we caught up with one of our 2025 Gold winners, Martin Soubeyran, Managing Director, Cossette Media (Eastern Canada), to reflect on what winning at the awards meant to him and his team, and why he believes entering the Festival of Media North America Awards is so important.
In our interview, Martin shares his thoughts on what the Festival of Media North America Awards mean to him and his team and why he believes it is important for companies to enter the Festival of Media North America Awards
Entries are now officially open for the Festival of Media North America Awards, now is your opportunity to showcase your work and lead the way in media across North America.
Enter Now: https://www.festivalofmedia.com/north-america-awards/
1. What did winning a Gold award at the Festival of Media North America Awards mean to you and your team?
Winning a Gold award at the Festival of Media North America is both an incredible honor and a powerful validation of our vision at Cossette Media. For our team and our client partners, this Gold trophy means three essential things:
1. Validation of our ‘Creativity Drives Effectiveness’ Philosophy
We firmly believe that media strategy is an art as much as a science. Being recognized on a North American stage with a Gold award proves that pushing the boundaries of traditional media planning and embracing bold, innovative concepts isn’t just creative—it drives tangible business results and real-world effectiveness for our brands
2. Fueling our momentum as Canada’s Top Media Agency
This win cements our position as the #1 agency in Canada for innovation and creativity Competing against the absolute best work across Canada and the U.S. and coming out on top with Gold gives our team immense pride and the confidence to keep pioneering new data-driven and experiential strategies
3. A Celebration of true, seamless collaboration
An award-winning campaign is never the work of a single person. It is the result of deep trust with our clients and seamless synergy between our strategy, performance, and creative teams
These Gold awards are a testament to what we can achieve when we align ambitious goals with fearless execution. It inspires us to raise the bar even higher for our next campaigns.
2. Why do you believe it is important for companies to enter the Festival of Media North America Awards?
Entering the Festival of Media North America Awards is much more than a quest for trophies; it is a vital exercise in business growth, industry benchmarking, and team empowerment. Here is why we believe it is essential for companies and agencies to participate:
1. Benchmarking against the Best in North America
The FOMNA is one of the very few Awards Festival that judges campaigns strictly on their strategic depth, creativity, and—most importantly—measurable business outcomes across the entire North American market. Entering forces us to rigorously audit our own work, ensuring that our strategies are not just locally relevant, but truly world-class and competitive on a continental scale.
2. Driving business growth and brand trust
For brands, being shortlisted or winning a FOMNA award proves to stakeholders and clients that their media investments are being managed with industry-leading efficiency and innovation. For agencies, these accolades are powerful differentiators in competitive pitches. They provide concrete, third-party validation that we deliver unmatched ROI and creative thinking.
3. Attracting and retaining Top-Tier Talent
Exceptional media professionals want to work where boundaries are constantly being pushed. Showcasing our work at the Festival of Media sends a clear signal to the industry’s best talent that we are a hub of innovation. It builds an internal culture of pride, proving to our teams that their hard work and bold ideas are recognized on the grandest stages.
4. Strengthening the Agency-Client partnership
The process of entering awards is a collaborative journey. It requires agencies and clients to align on data, celebrate shared successes, and tell the story of their partnership. When we win together, it deepens trust, aligns our ambitions, and inspires us to take bolder, more creative risks in our future campaigns.
