JWT duo bring international fame

Ralston Joseph and Sithum Walter

Ralston Joseph and Sithum Walter duo of JWT Colombo's emerging creative stars were selected to represent Sri Lanka at the Young Lotus creative challenge at Adfest 2009 that concluded last weekend in Pattaya. The selection was initially made locally as young creative talent from across agencies in Sri Lanka had to compete in an intense local competition run by the Accredited Advertising Agencies Association Sri Lanka (4As) before they are chosen to represent Sri Lanka. Ralston and Sithum emerged winners in the local competition and then went to challenge other countries which included teams from Australia, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Seoul, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and a host of other nations at the ADFEST 2009 Young Lotus Workshop in Pattaya.

The teams were asked to create a multimedia campaign that would encourage young college graduates to consider a career in advertising. The Sri Lanka team won with a surprising campaign that said "our industry is terrible- You will have to travel all over the world, work long hours, and go to glamorous advertising festivals". It was based on the clever insight that many young people are more likely to respond to negativism and can be cynical of positive messages.

It was a very difficult assignment says Akira Kagami Executive officer and Global Executive Creative Director at Dentsu Inc who was one of the judges. We looked for a unique core Idea, good strategy and integrated communication design. All the teams worked very hard but the most impressive campaign came from the team from JWT Colombo which explained what our industry really represents.

Thayalan Bartlett Chief Executive Officer of JWT Colombo said "we made a conscious decision some time ago to recruit young. "Go young" decisions come with risks as you rely on young talent to achieve big challenges. Ralston and Sithum bear testimony of the decision and I am immensely delighted by their performance.

They have brought honour to Sri Lanka. Honour to JWT and above all I am honoured to have them in our team.