Nayan Ganegoda and Braeden Bihag from Almost Impossible Agency won gold at the UAE Young Lions Digital Competition 2024
The 21st edition of the prestigious 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, took place on Saturday, 24th February 2024.
The online competition for the digital category witnessed 23 teams representing agencies, client-side creative teams, as well as freelancers. The Judging and Awards Ceremony followed on Wednesday, 28th February 2024, with Nayan Ganegoda and Braeden Bihag, representing Almost Impossible, winning Gold.
Nayan and Bihag 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 2024.
Jolanda Van Rooyen and Jean Pierre Deaibes from Publicis Middle East claimed the Silver, while Francesco Negri and Michelle Co from FP7 McCann took home the Bronze.
Additionally, this year introduced a new section for honorable mentions, recognizing the exceptional efforts of Faten AlMukhtar and Sevval Asena Celik from TikTok, and Anzan Nahas Mohammed and Kezia Shamil from Leo Burnett.
This year’s client brief was from Every Can Counts, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness about recycling aluminum drink cans. Participating teams were tasked with crafting an integrated digital campaign that communicates the significance of aluminum drink can recycling and inspires change in behaviour to boost recycling rates by utilizing creative storytelling and compelling messaging to resonate with the audience and drive action toward sustainability in the UAE.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Nidhi Sehgal, General Manager- Strategy & Growth, FLC Group – Marketing Agency for Every Can Counts UAE stated, “Amidst the challenges of limited awareness and cultural barriers, the Young Lions teams boldly tackled the mission to transform aluminum drink can recycling in the UAE. With innovation as their compass, they’ve crafted campaigns that not only educate on the importance of recycling but inspire behavioral change, aiming to elevate our recycling rates beyond the current 33%. Each team’s unique perspective contributes to a collective push for a sustainable future, aligning with Every Can Counts’ vision to make every can count in the journey towards environmental conservation and ACT Now.Thank you to Motivate Val Morgan for selecting the initiative to be part of this year’s UAE Young Lions Digital Competition 2024, and the respective teams for their dedication, hard work and unique perspective to make a change.”
The jury panel for this year’s competition comprised of: Ahmed Alotaibi (BPG), Ali Zein (Saatchi & Saatchi), Andre Nassar (IMPACT BBDO), Andrej Arsenijevic (Commonwealth McCann), Aunindo Sen (Publicis Middle East), Fernando Miranda (VML), Frederico Roberto (TBWA\RAAD), Joseph Bihag (Almost Impossible), Kim Jerbo (Create Media Group), Leila Katrib (Incubeta), Muhammad Ali (Leo Burnett), Moemen El Siwi (Memac Ogilvy), Nicolas Garcia (Science & Sunshine), Oliver Robinson (Mullenlowe MENA), Paulo Engler (FP7 McCann),Sandy McIntosh (M&C Saatchi), Saravana Ramakrishnan (FLC Group), Saymon Medeiros (And Us) and Youssef Gadallah (TikTok).
Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner, Motivate Media Group, commented, “In an ever-evolving industry, the UAE Young Lions Festival stands as a beacon of creativity and innovation, showcasing the brightest talents in our region. This year, we witnessed an excellent level of participation, highlighting the festival’s growing importance and the thriving creative landscape in the UAE. The quality of work from all participants was truly exceptional, especially from the winners, Nayan Ganegoda and Braeden Bihag, who I’m sure will be great ambassadors during this year’s Cannes Lions event”
The UAE Young Lions Digital Competition, supported by Getty Images (the 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 2024 festival will take place between 17-21 June at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France.
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.
