Sri Lankan Young Lions to compete at Cannes

Jayantha DE SILVA

Seven young prominent marketing communications professionals from Sri Lanka's advertising and marketing industries were selected to represent the country at the annual Young Lions Competitions and the Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes, France, next month, after having successfully completed the Sri Lankan Cannes Young Lions Competition. The local competition to select the contenders was organised by Metal Factor the representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Sri Lanka, in partnership with the International Advertising Association (IAA). The Association Accredited Advertising Agencies (4As) and the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.

The Sri Lanka Young Lions will compete against teams from around the world at the Young Lions TV, Print and Young Marketer Competitions. This year we once again saw a keen competition from the Youths in the advertising industry who vied for titles in the print and TV competitions. A total of 20 teams engaged in the competition. The winning duo in the TV category was Leo Burnett's Rameez Fazal and Danushka Kathriarachchi. In the print category Ruani Wijenaike and Tarisha de Alwis of Triad took the title in a close competition.

The jury for these two competitions comprised Gian de Rose (Leo Burnett) as Chairman, Russell Miranda (Grant McCann Erickson), David Blacker (JWT), Rajiv Wirasinha (Heensare) and Krishna Iyer (Phoenix O & M). In the TV competition the contestants were required to shoot their campaign on a Samsung Note.

Sri Lanka Telecom came forward this year to be a partner to the Young Lions Competition and were the sponsors of the print team. Their commitment to the marketing communications industry and the development of the youths in it prompted SLT to support the Young Lions competition.

Commenting on the programme, President of SLIM Tilan Wijeyesekera, stated: "We are happy to be associated with a programme such as this. The Cannes Lions will give young marketers in Sri Lankan invaluable exposure which would fuel our industry to greater heights."

Grant McCann Erickson's Lakmini Wahalathanthri won the placement for the Roger Hatchuel Academy at the Cannes Lions Festival from amongst nine contestants. A jury comprising Laila Gunesekere Martenstyn (Grant McCann Erickson) as Chairman of the panel, Murtaza Tajbhoy (Leo Burnett), Renuka Marshall (TBWA/TAL), Chandini Rajaratnam (JWT) and Sheron Jayasundera (Bates Strategic Alliance), selected Lakmini for this opportunity, for the compelling presentation made by her.

"I am delighted that seven young Sri Lankans will be attending the Cannes Lions Festival this year. It is encouraging to see the delegation growing as well as to witness the growth of the local competition. More and more youths in the industry are eager to avail themselves of this opportunity. Such enthusiasm augurs well for the programme and development of the industry," stated Ranil de Silva, Sri Lanka's representative for Cannes Lions.