How LIA’s Creative LIAisons Programme Catapults Creative Careers

For more than a decade, London International Awards (LIA) has championed creative excellence, awarding the best ideas from around the world and nurturing young creatives with its industry-shaping initiative, the Creative LIAisons.

Launched in 2012 and funded entirely by LIA, the programme has developed and inspired over 3,000 young creatives through both onsite and virtual formats. Its goal is to give the next generation access to adland and the opportunity to skill up without a price tag.

Each year, around 125 rising talents are flown to Las Vegas for an immersive five-day programme held alongside the LIA judging. They sit in jury rooms as world-class creatives debate the year’s best work, take part in panels and workshops, allowing them to build a global network of peers and mentors that lasts a lifetime. The virtual programme extends that reach further, connecting hundreds more with one-on-one coaching from industry leaders worldwide. It’s transformed and launched many creative careers.

For many alumni, the defining memory isn’t just the inspiration from keynotes or seminars, it’s the proximity to seniors that sets the programme apart.

"Whoever said, ‘Never meet your heroes’ hasn’t met mine," says Madhura Haldipur, 2016 LIA alumni and industry creative. "It was surreal to be in the same room with legends. Watching how they deliberated over awarding work lit a fire under me. I came back to my team with energy that has shaped ideas and ultimately led to big wins, including a Cannes Lion this year."

That closeness to industry icons is echoed by Ricardo Wolff, 2012 LIA student and now executive creative director at Innocean Berlin. He remembers bumping into creative heavyweights at the bar after hours: "That closeness broke down a barrier, proving they’re [just] normal people,” he says. “And this business is all about people."

Beyond access to their industry heroes, LIAsons has also become a training ground for resilience and leadership, instilling lessons that carry through to the workplace.

Hope Nardini, of LIA’s class of 2016 and now global executive creative director at Grey, credits the programme with helping her understand the reality behind big ideas. "Often we see polished case studies, but the reality is it takes resilience to make great work,” she says. “Hearing the behind-the-scenes struggles was a powerful reminder of what it really takes."

For Umma Saini, one of the most celebrated creative leaders in India who has broken multiple national firsts on the global stage – from being the first Indian woman to rank among the world’s top ten creative directors to leading iconic, culture-shaping campaigns – the programme instilled a leadership mindset. "It sharpened my perspective on creativity and leadership,” says Umma. “The ripple effect of that experience lives on in teams I now lead, it lifts morale, sparks bolder thinking, and influences culture long after the event itself."

A Global Creative Family

What makes the programme unique is the diversity of perspectives provided throughout. Delegates arrive from markets big and small, each with their own cultural lens and they share their experiences.

"I loved seeing how some insights were deeply shaped by culture, yet there were so many shared experiences too," says Madhura. "The all-nighters, the creative process, the agency grind, it was comforting to realise we were all going through the same things."

For others, it was about finding lifelong connections. Alejandro Juli, now creative lead at DoorDash and with LIA in 2017, says: "I ended up becoming friends and even colleagues with people I met there. These weren’t ad gods, they were people I was hanging out with after the talks. You shouldn’t underestimate how rare that is."
Creative art director I-Ping Chiang and 2014 LIA student sums it up simply: "It was surprising how easy it was to connect with like-minded creatives. It made me rethink how humour, strategy, and critique can push ideas further."

Ask alumni what advice they’d give to young talent considering applying, and they’re consistently encouraging, crediting the course for the success of their careers and conditioning their creative thinking. They all tell prospective students not to hesitate with getting their applications in.

"Go for it," says Ricardo. "I can’t remember an experience so rich in my junior years as those few days in Vegas. It was a true injection of inspiration."

Matt Lawson, CCO and co-founder of A Time and Place and alumni of LIA 2012, advises the next generation: "Stay open, stay a student. And remember: it should be fun. Advertising is better when you’re having fun, and LIAsons reminded me of that."

LIA’s Legacy

LIA has provided creatives with the confidence to lead and then seen them accelerate at global networks, enduring the industry years later. It’s a programme that reminds young creatives why they fell in love with and decided to go into advertising in the first place.

"It becomes part of an organisation’s creative bedrock,” says Umma. “Igniting belief, sparking bolder thinking, and influencing culture well beyond the individuals who attend."

This September, the winners and finalists for the next Creative LIAisons onsite programme will be announced, with hundreds more taking part virtually, where their careers and futures will no doubt be reshaped and moulded unexpectedly.
And for those eager to have their work judged by the very same legends who inspire the next generation, LIA’s Awards entry registration deadline is fast approaching, so get your entries in by August 29th, 2025.