Big Ideas and Self-Belief: How Young Lions Winner Nolan Yu Passed “The Mum Test”

The TikTok Young Lions competition is open for entry and we’re on the lookout for the best and brightest young Aussie talent to compete at the 2022 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

As our mission to glean the wisdom of our past winners continues, we sat down with the world champion of one of our most competitive Young Lions category: Media.  

Nolan Yu, Senior account manager at OMD Australia, chased his ‘Australian Dream’ on a solo journey from China to Australia eight years ago. Since then, Yu has gone on to secure his Master of Commerce from the University of New South Wales, and has become a multi-award-winning media strategist.

Together with his competition partner, Max Learmont, the duo conquered the 2021 Young Lions media category and went on to bring home Gold at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. A win that quite literally lionised them in the eyes of Australia’s adland (pardon the pun).

In Yu’s words, the dream team has “a good historical record of winning” having won the NGEN award twice in a row. Their first win was the inspired idea “League of Nations ‘Hear’oes” – a private server established within Minecraft; a community where the charity Hear For You can connect with teenagers who are hard of hearing in a way that is refreshingly relevant.

It’s this out-of-the-box (or perhaps“block”) thinking that has established the pair as industry darlings. So if there was ever an experience you’ll want to draw from, it’s Yu’s…

B&T: What inspired you to enter the Young Lions competition?

NY: Personally, I believe entering competitions is one of the fairest ways to have your talent and hard work recognised. Regardless of your level of experience or background, you will only be judged by all work. 

No doubt Young Lions is the most prestigious creativity competition in the industry, and there’s always no harm in applying, which is a good learning experience as well.

B&T: In the final round, you only had 24 hours to answer the brief which was focused on One Young World’s Annual Impact Report and subsequent Impact Week campaign. 

I’m oversimplifying, but you were tasked with driving traffic to their website and garnering financial support. What was your MO?

We always try to give the ideation the most time. Thanks to the time difference, we got the brief at about 8 or 9pm, so we could actually read the brief and sleep on it. The next morning we just grabbed a coffee and went for a walk, and talked about the potential ideas. We made the decision very quickly. 

We also checked with our mums and friends about which one they thought was the best, because we have to bear in mind that even if you love the idea, the judges are from different countries, different cultures, and have different experiences and preferences. So you need to make sure your idea is universal. And I think our big idea, Wake Up to a Better World, was universal. 

You know, Team China, had an amazing idea to try to capture the trend of an NFT, but what I think happened was one of the judges had no idea what an NFT was. So basically, their whole presentation didn’t make any sense to the judge! Obviously, they didn’t do the “Mum Test”.

Yu and Learmont’s one-page response

B&T: What do you think was the masterstroke that got you the win?

I’ll say the winning formula was my teamwork with my partner, Max. We just work so well together, and our skill sets complement each other.

Max and I share some common qualities, both of us are very curious, we love learning new things. And I think to come up with those big ideas, first of all, you need to be curious about what is happening outside of your day-to-day work. 

Because Young Lions is a creativity competition, no matter how amazing your insight is, without the knowledge, without the visibility of what’s happening outside of the box, you just can’t come up with those big ideas. 

So when we enter competitions there is a shortcut; we can think of as many big ideas as possible, and then we talk about which idea has legs instead of trying to begin with insights. 

B&T: How have things changed for you since winning?

The main change, I think, is more about my goal setting and also my state of mind. What I can say is I earned it. I’ve been trying so hard just to be visible and not be underestimated in my whole career, which has been quite exhausting, and will continue to be the main challenge for me in the industry. 

But what’s different now is I no longer need to seek validation from others. Now I definitely have more confidence in my own capability, which is the biggest reward I can ever receive. 

B&T: You also became somewhat of a beacon of diversity in the industry after your win, would you agree?

You know, it’s not just a surprise to me, it’s a big surprise to a lot of people in the industry. But I like to surprise them in this way. No one expected a random foreigner like me in media to win this!

After winning, I got so many messages on LinkedIn, and emails from the people I know like my work colleagues who wrote to me saying that I made them proud as a person of colour. I didn’t intend to represent anyone, I just try to do these things representing myself, and ended up inspiring them in some sort of way and motivated them to do better in the industry. 

It just made me feel like all of the hard work paid off, because, you know, the win was visible to the right people. If I can inspire them to make this industry better, and help them to be more motivated and resilient while dealing the hardship, then I’m glad to have helped.

B&T: What else was a surprise takeaway from being part of the competition?

I’ll say that after seeing the work as well as presentations from a few global teams during the competition, I feel quite grateful for being able to develop my marketing skills in Australia and learn from so many talented people. 

When I was in the global arena, I was able to compare my work and my skills against the best talents from the other regions. I grew up in China, and now I was competing against the Chinese team!

I realised I wouldn’t have been able to win without all of the opportunities and experiences given and offered during my time in Australia. I feel really lucky and really grateful.

B&T: Obviously you’re incredible at what you do, but we all make mistakes.What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learnt from your time in the biz so far?

What I can say is that I think all of the junior people need to be more cautious and more realistic when they navigate their career, especially in the early stages, when they try to deal with very senior and powerful people from their companies because not everyone will put your best interest before theirs.

However, we also always need to believe in and fight hard for ourselves, and always have a plan B sooner rather than later. Even if the whole world doesn’t believe in you, you’ve got to believe in yourself. You’ve got to believe in your own value.

B&T: Do you feel there are too many awards in the industry? What makes Young Lions stand out to you?

There may be too many awards in the industry but there are definitely not enough competitions for those young guns to participate in and flex their muscles.

I think the Australian marketing industry is leading globally, and we need to give those young people more spotlights and more opportunities.

B&T: Last question! As you know, TikTok is the presenting partner of this year’s Young Lions. Are you much of a TikTok-er?

I see TikTok as a platform for me to just have a laugh, but I also appreciate what they’ve done as a company; providing a platform for different voices to live in and be appreciated by a broader audience, and I think it serves a great purpose. 

When we’re all trapped in an echo chamber, we’re only served the information that is relevant to us, then we have no visibility of what’s happening outside of our, you know, typical interests or close friend circles. 

But the algorithm of TikTok is different. They actually help you to broaden the sources of information brought to your cognition.

… and they have funny cats.

If you’re under 30 the TikTok Young Lions competition is one of the best places to celebrate your creativity. Entries are open to teams of two young guns in advertising, media or marketing.

This year’s competition will cover five Young Lions categories, including a brand-new category for Design professionals.

Get started on your entry HERE, as the deadline for submissions (14 MARCH 2022) will be here before you know it! You can find all the details you’ll need to enter right HERE.