Young Lions winners announced

This year’s winners of the Cinemark Young Lions Competition have been revealed in an exciting and much anticipated announcement following an intense competition that put young industry talent to the test. Roberto Adamo and Ryan Allman from Havas Worldwide are honoured winners for their interactive commercial, supporting Lead SA’s  #StopRape campaign.  This winning team will be flown to the 60th annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to take part in the international Cannes Young Lions competition, going up against some of the best in the world.

The winners were judged on very careful criteria, selected not just for their fresh ideas but for a message that packed an emotional punch. Film category juror at the 2012 Cannes Lions Festival, Catherine Ireland says “The jury in Cannes looks for new fresh ideas. Anything that feels as if it has been done before is not considered.” She explains that film entries need to be powerful enough to make viewers consider the issue from a new perspective. This was certainly the case with most of the entries received in the local Young Lions Competition.

Teams were briefed on 26 February and given just 48 hours to prove that their creativity was enough to take them all the way to Cannes. The brief was simple but challenging: film and edit a commercial, no longer than 60-seconds strictly using a cell phone. The project was on behalf of the Lead SA #StopRape initiative and needed to carry a very powerful anti-rape message. Cinemark, the local representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, hosts the South African Young Lions Competition each year to give local creatives an opportunity to compete with some of the best and the brightest in the world.

“With over 40 film entries this year, we are highly impressed by the very high standard and the level of skill that our local creatives have brought to the competition,” says Cinemark Marketing Manager, Yvonne Diogo. “The judges found it a challenge to make their selection as there were some very low hanging fruit but as usual the better ads were head and shoulders above the rest.  Congratulations also to the two teams who tied for second position Candice Lind and Candice Claassen from Draft FCB and Alison Parker and Michele Fry from JWT. Cinemark is not only happy to be sending this year’s winners to the international awards where we are confident that they will show the global creative arena what South Africa has to offer, we are also very proud to be contributing to the critical  #StopRape  initiative in a meaningful way.”

Apart from a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Cannes Lions advertising festival, Adamo and Allman will also see their film ad screened at Ster-Kinekor cinemas.

View the winning entry here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd-hULUSHa4

View the second place entries here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8q69ibLYSo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erWCDYuyaZo

Other entrants work can be viewed on the Cinemark website at http://www.cinemark.co.za/young_lions/view_work/