Eleven young Sri Lankans to attend62ndCannes Lions International Festival of Creativity

Eleven young marketing communications professionals from Sri Lanka have been selected to represent the countryat the prestigiousYoung Lions Competitions and the Roger Hatchuel Academy in Cannes, France in June 2015. The local competition to select theteams to represent Sri Lanka, was organized by Metal Factor the Sri Lankan Representative of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in partnership with the International Advertising Association (IAA), the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (4As) and the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM).

The Sri Lankan Young Lions willcompete against the best teams from around the world at the Young Lions Competitions in the categories of Film, Print, Design, Cyber and Young Marketer. This year, a total of 100young professionals from the marketing communications industry, took partin the local competition. InfasNias and Sarah Ramu of Digibrush Productions emerged as the winners of theFilmcategory whilst Rinesh Jayarathne and Hassan Samdin of Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. won the Print category.Dushan Pieris and Chanuka Wijayasinghe of Phoenix O & M won the Design category, andShehanSamarasinghe and Dilan Ariyaratna of Triad emerged as winners of the Cyber category. Tasneem Dawoodbhoyfrom Leo Burnett secured her place to attend the Roger Hatchuel Academy andNuwanRathnayake and AveenSathishka Pathirage of Nestlé Lanka won thelocal Young Lions Marketers Competition which was conducted in partnership with SLIM.

Contestants who competed in the Film category were required to produce a TV commercial that created awareness about the importance of proper plastic waste disposal methods. The commercial had to modify people’s attitudes about waste disposal and inspire them to use and dispose of polythene and plastic waste in the correct manner. In the Print category, contestants had to create an advertising campaign for a charity called ‘Ramp Up Sri Lanka’, to convince architects, prospective building owners and lawmakers on the importance of leavingallocations for wheelchair access in buildings across Sri Lanka.

The brief in the Design category, required the contestants to tap into their skills to help recruit young talent into the advertising industry. The contestants had to use their skills to designmaterial to move the younger generation to embrace an exciting career change. The Cyber competition called on teams to showcase a business institute’s superior education product, whilst capturing the social interaction and fun aspects that are offered by the institute as well. The brief required the contestants to develop four activities that could be conducted throughout the yearto engage, inspire and excite potential students.

This year marks the fourth consecutive year in which the Young Lions Marketer Competition has been held. This competition offers young professionals in the marketing industryan opportunity to gain exposure at the world’s most esteemedmarketing communications event. The Young Marketer Competition attracted several teams from various marketing companies in Sri Lanka and was conducted in partnership with the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM).

Commenting on this year’s competition, Ranil de Silva, Sri Lanka’s Representative of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity stated, “I am proud to be standing here today witheleventalentedyoung professionalswho have earned the honour of representing Sri Lanka at the 62^nd Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity this year. It is a great pleasure to see the enthusiasm for this competition amongst the youth in the industry. This year we are proud to have the largest delegation of youthfrom Sri Lanka, representing the country at Cannes. We believe that this opportunity will provide our young professionals with an extremely valuable learning experience that will positively impact their careers and their professional growth.”