Advertising professionals to represent Lanka at Cannes

Three advertising professionals from the Sri Lankan advertising industry were selected to represent the country at the annual Cannes Young Lions Competition, (film category) and the Rodger Hatchuel Academy 2009. A preliminary competition organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies (4A's) together with MetalFactor - the representative for the Cannes Lions Festival in Sri Lanka, selected the best young talent from among the Sri Lankan advertising professionals to represent the country at this annual festival.

Winners

Firzan Mulafer and Lalindra Amarasekera from Arc Worldwide, a part of the Leo Burnett network emerged winners in the Cannes Young Lions competition, competing among 7 other teams representing several agencies.

The team from Arc created a fresh idea in response to the brief given to them, challenging them to produce a commercial to emphasise that 'great advertising gets great results'. Commenting on their win Firzan and Lalindra said "This is an incredible win for us; the initial shock at hearing our names called out at the Chillies was phenomenal. We were up against some of the best young talent in the ad industry. We are indeed honoured to be the team chosen to represent Sri Lanka at the world's most reputed and longest standing advertising festivals. We hope we can make our country proud, as we have our agency Leo Burnett".

Confidence and poise

Surani Perera from Leo Burnett was chosen from participants to represent Sri Lanka at the Rodger Hatchuel Academy, which is conducted alongside the Cannes Young Lions festival. Surani's creative brief in response to the challenge posed to her was both informative and insightful and her confidence and poise was also evident to the jury during her viva.

These factors helped her to secure Sri Lanka's position at the Rodger Hatchuel Academy.

Commenting on her opportunity to represent Sri Lanka at the Rodger Hatchuel Academy, Surani said "It was an awesome feeling to win.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, especially as I am still a fresher in the industry and still studying to become a professional of repute. I was fairly surprised to hear my name called out, but I am delighted that I've been given this exceptional opportunity.

I am humbled by this whole experience. I'm sure this will be an extremely valuable learning experience for me.

I hope to utilise the knowledge I gain in my work at the agency and I also hope that I can make a contribution to the industry upon my return."