Seven Lankan Cannes Lions roar!

Dulen Dissanayake

Hiruni Mendis and Lakshitha Wijesinghe receiving their certificates

Seven young marketing communications professionals who were selected to represent Sri Lanka at the annual Young Lions Competitions and the Roger Hatchuel Academy were announced at a media briefing held recently, at the Kingsbury Hotel, Colombo 1. The representatives were chosen through a rigorous process to represent the country at the Young Lions TV, Print and Young Marketer competitions which will be held from June 16 to 22 at Cannes, France.

Hailed as the world’s largest advertising festival, The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will be held for the 60th time this year. This seven day festival is a much looked forward event for those working in advertising and other related fields worldwide.

Explaining to the audience on the significance of the festival, Ranil de Silva, Representative for the Cannes Lions in Sri Lanka, emphasised on the international experience and exposure it gives to the advertisers to utilise their skills as well as its contribution to the advertising field to enhance possibilities and open new dimensions.

The local competition to select the representatives this year saw the participation of 20 teams all together. In the TV category sponsored by Samsung, Ashan Bandaranaike and Dushan Peiris of Phoenix Ogilvy emerged the winners for creating a commercial themed, “Choose not to fit yourself in, but what that fits you” to promote the Samsung Galaxy Tab. The print category aimed at bringing out unique features of the Lipton Laojee brand, and sponsored by Unilever, was conquered by Triad’s Shehan Samarasinghe and Suchintha de Silva for their multi-layered creation.

The winning, runners-up and second runners-up creations were shown to the audience and they indeed were engaging pieces full of novel imaginative thinking done with an artistic sensibility.

Thushari Palipane (chairman), Eraj Weerasinghe, Ransley Burrows, Dilshan Ahmed and Johan Latiff adjudged the winners of these two competions.

The nomination of the student to the Roger Hatchuel Academy was supported by The ABC Radio Network.

Induwarani Munasinghe of Leo Burnett bagged this opportunity for a compelling presentation made on the concentration: ‘Getting Parents Facebook Literate’.The jury for this comprised of Selonica Nalawansa (chairperson), Madurim Gupta, Rajeeve Wirasingha and Renuka Marshall.

The Young Marketer Competition conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing was held for the second consecutive year as well. Lakshitha Wijesinghe and Hiruni Mendis of Etisalat Lanka (Pvt) Limited emerged as Sri Lanka’s Young Maketers. They would compete in the global contest of the Cannes Lions Festival. This competition was coordinated by Shohan Chandiram and judged by a panel comprising Michael Holsinger (chairman), Sheron Jayasundera, Rochelle de Silva and M. Maksoodh.

The local competition to select the contenders was organised by Metal Factor, the Sri Lanka representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, and partnered by, The International Advertising Association, The Association Accredited Advertising Agencies and the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.
 

From left: Induwarani Munasinghe, Suchintha de Silva, Shehan Samarasinghe, Lakshitha Wijesinghe and Hiruni Mendis	Shehan Samarasinghe and Suchintha de Silva of Triad receiving their certificates
Ashan Bandaranaike and Dushan Peiris of Phoenix Ogilvy after receiving their certificates from Ranil de Silva	Induwarani Munasinghe of Leo Burnett receiving her certificate