The UAE jury members will collaborate closely with awarding jurors from 54 markets to recognize and honor outstanding work from around the world at this year’s festival
Cannes Lions has unveiled the cohort of global experts selected to award the world’s finest creative and effective work, setting the standard for excellence this June at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Among the distinguished jury members announced, this year will feature thirteen representatives from the United Arab Emirates.
The 71st edition of Cannes Lions will witness Leo Burnett’s Kalpesh Patankar serving as the first Jury President for Industry Craft Lions from the MENA region, marking the second consecutive jury representation in two years.
Commenting on the Jury, Simon Cook, CEO of LIONS, said: “We’re delighted to have a balance and breadth of expertise and global representation across our Juries. The Awarding Juries represent the global industry’s leading talent from a diverse range of disciplines, and we welcome the unique perspectives they bring. We thank them for their time, dedication, and care in setting the global creative benchmark for our industry.”
Regarding the Cannes Lions jury panel from the UAE, Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner of Motivate Media Group, said, “We are excited to see the continuous increase in the UAE’s footprint at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity. Kalpesh Patankar’s appointment as the second consecutive jury president in two years serves as a clear indication of the creative industry’s development here, steered by a diverse and talented group of experts. This reflects the UAE’s steadfast dedication to upholding standards of excellence and innovation in advertising, marketing, and communications. With a further twelve talented jury members, each bringing their own unique perspectives to the judging process, this is a great representation of our region at the international level.”
The 2024 Awarding Jury Members from the UAE have been named as:
Brand Experience & Activation:
Nayaab Rais, Senior Creative Director, FP7 McCann Dubai
Creative Commerce:
Sebastien Boutebel, Chief Creative Officer, Saatchi & Saatchi ME
Creative Effectiveness:
Islam Eldessouky, Global VP, Creative & Strategy, Coca-Cola TM
Digital Craft:
Stacy Andersen, Head of Digital Transformation & Innovation, Merkle MENAT
Direct:
Saymon Medeiros, Creative Director, and us
Entertainment Lions For Music:
Pierre Carnet, Managing Director, MENA, MassiveMusic
Film:
Camila Venegas Gomez, Associate Creative Director, M&C Saatchi
Industry Craft (Jury President):
Kalpesh Patankar, Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett
Media
Elda Choucair, Chief Executive Officer, Omnicom Media Group (MENA)
Pharma
Darius LaBelle, President, BPG Group
PR
Marie Claire Maalouf, Chief Creative Officer, Edelman
Radio & Audio
Federico Fanti, Chief Creative Officer, FP7 McCann Dubai
Titanium
Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer, Impact BBDO
With shortlisting jury line-up alongside the Luxury & Lifestyle Lions Jury to be announced soon, see the full list of Global Presidents and Awarding Juries here.
Further information on this year’s Festival and the Lions Awards can be found at visit www.canneslions.com
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE.
Source: Cannes Lions
The UAE Cannes Lions Awards Ceremony celebrated the country’s triumph at the 2023 Cannes Lions Festival, with 21 wins across various categories
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan – the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE, hosted their annual UAE Cannes Lions Awards Ceremony on Tuesday 12th September 2023 to celebrate this year’s winning agencies.
The 70th edition of the Cannes Lions Festival witnessed the UAE’s active participation with a total of 640 entries from 22 agencies. The UAE distinguished itself by securing a total of 21 Lions, including 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 6 Silver, and 13 Bronze awards, spanning various categories. Notably, the UAE achieved inaugural victories in the categories of Glass: The Lion for Change, Entertainment for Music, and Creative Data. The UAE also amassed an impressive tally of 89 shortlisted entries, solidifying its position as a creative powerhouse on the global stage.
This year’s winners across Print & Publishing, Brand Experience and Activation, Creative Commerce, Creative Data, Creative Strategy, Design, Direct, Entertainment for Music, Health & Wellness, Industry Craft, Media, Outdoor, PR, Radio & Audio, and Glass: The Lion for Change categories included:
*VMLY&R Commerce New York in collaboration with VMLY&R Dubai secured 1 x Silver (Radio & Audio)
Creative heads and their respective team members from this year’s winning agencies gathered for an evening of networking and refreshments, culminating in the prestigious LIONS presentation.
Also in attendance was Jonathan Cruz, who, along with Saymon Medeiros, represented the UAE and And Us at the International Young Lions Digital Competition, as well as Chloe Salloum from the American University in Dubai, who proudly represented the UAE in the Roger Hatchuel Academy student program as part of the Cannes Lions Festival.
This year’s Festival marked a remarkable milestone for the UAE, boasting the largest assembly of jurors to preside over a single festival, totaling 18 esteemed jury members. Particularly noteworthy is Ali Rez from Impact BBDO, who made history by becoming the first Jury President from the MENA region.
Impact BBDO was also presented with the MENA Network of the Year award. This prestigious recognition follows the agency’s consistent performance as the No.1 agency in the Middle East and North Africa at Cannes Lions in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022.
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan extend our heartfelt congratulations to all the winning agencies, and we eagerly anticipate continued success at the upcoming Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity next year.
Jonathan Cruz and Saymon Medeiros from And Us won gold at the UAE Young Lions Digital Competition 2023
The 20th edition of the esteemed UAE Young Lions Digital Competition, hosted by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan – the official UAE representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, witnessed 21 teams across 15 agencies compete on Saturday, 4th March 2023.
The Judging and Awards Ceremony followed on Wednesday, 8th March 2023, with Jonathan Cruz and Saymon Medeiros from And Us winning Gold.
Jonathan Cruz and Saymon Medeiros will receive a full week’s delegate pass and an all-expense-paid trip to represent the UAE at the International Young Lions Digital Competition – part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in June 2023.
Adila Fataliyeva and Isha Sharma from Science and Sunshine secured Silver, while Haneen Chaarawi and Sebastian Galindo Rubiano from McCann Dubai and Rim Reda and Kezia Shamil from Leo Burnett tied for Bronze.
This year’s client brief was from RoadSafetyUAE – an award-winning CSR & engagement program established in 2014, which serves as a communication, improvement, and education platform for all traffic participants in the UAE. Participating teams were challenged to develop a creative and innovative, ‘root cause’ based, long-lasting and universally true awareness campaign to help change the behaviour and mindset of young drivers in the UAE.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Thomas Edelmann, Managing Director, RoadSafetyUAE stated: “Young drivers represent about 50% of all road fatalities in the UAE and hence, this segment must be tackled by creating awareness for safe behavior, in a relevant manner. The team members of all twenty-one participating teams precisely represented the target audience, resulting in the creation of a series of genuinely insightful and pertinent campaigns that adhered to the guiding principle of “by them…for them!” As a means of honouring the outstanding creative endeavors, it would be ideal for the agencies behind the twenty-one teams to engage their clients and invite them to adopt the cause of road safety, while also leveraging some of the innovative concepts presented in partnership with RoadSafetyUAE. We want to thank Motivate Val Morgan and Getty Images for organizing and supporting the UAE Young Lions Digital Competition 2023, as well as the team members and the agencies behind them for their commitment and hard work.”
The jury panel for this year’s competition comprised of Girogia Fattoracci (Leo Burnett), Ingersol Jayakumar (Precise Communications), Andrej Arsenijevic (Commonwealth McCann), Steve De Lange (And Us), Anton Marais (Publicis Middle East), Anshuman Bhattacharya (Havas Middle East), Claudia Canas (FP7 McCann), David Willett (Weber Shandwick), Jordache Fernandes (KEKO Dubai), Raja Rizkallah Nadim (Science & Sunshine), Saleh Elghatit (Serviceplan), Rodrigo Scapolan (TBWA\RAAD), Rita Harbie (Saatchi & Saatchi MEA), and Robert Habib (C2 Communications)
Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner, Motivate Media Group, said: “This year has seen a notable increase in the number of entries, signifying the industry’s progress and resilience in the aftermath of the pandemic. I was mightily impressed with the quality of the work produced by the future of the creative industry. As always, it was extremely difficult to narrow down the top submissions but in the end there had to be a winning team – I want to congratulate everyone who put their all into the competition, but especially the winners, Jonathan Cruz and Saymon Medeiros from And Us, who I’m sure will be great ambassadors during this year’s Cannes Lions event.”
The UAE Young Lions Digital Competition – hosted by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan and supported by Getty Images (exclusive image provider of the competition), aims to unveil the brightest creative minds from across the UAE, and is part of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – the world’s biggest celebration of creativity in communications. The 2023 festival will take place between 19-23 June at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France.
