Cannes Lions is presenting LIONS Live, a curated digital experience for everyone, everywhere, who believes in creative possibility from 22-26 June 2020. LIONS Live will bring the global creative community together to address the future of creativity.
LIONS Live will be broadcast from a London studio, hosted by BBC journalist and presenter, Tina Daheley, with a week of compelling, live-streamed and on-demand sessions. A wide range of creative people and companies from around the world are contributing beautifully-produced content and experiences, in a range of compelling digital formats. LIONS Live will be available to watch from any screen, anywhere in the world, for free.
The full programme offers original thinking and expert perspectives on what’s coming next, masterclasses and beautifully produced short films, crafted by some of the most creative people on the planet. LIONS Live unites experts from across the creative industry, from the brands adapting to fast-shifting consumer behaviours to the agencies adjusting business models and the pioneers innovating future solutions.
Sessions and talent announced so far: Saatchi & Saatchi New Directors Showcase celebrates 30 years of New Director talent and identifies some new names to watch; renowned innovators and VFX specialists, Framestore, will demystify deep fakes and unlock the future of creativity with the help of celebrity guests. Wyclef Jean, musician and Chief Strategy Officer, Carnival World Music Group, looks at how Entertainment and marketing are collaborating in new ways; Scott Galloway, Professor of Marketing, NYU Stern & Founder, Section4, will provide a highly provocative view of where we go from here; and Creative Director and Founder of Quiet Storm, Trevor Robinson, will share some of his sharpest learnings.
Unilever’s newly-appointed Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, Conny Braams, will give her first address to the creative community in an important CMO Spotlight; and Global Co-president, dentsu mcgarrybowen, Merlee Cruz-Jayme, will explore how creativity will be crucial for brands trying to bounce back in the new normal. Plus LIONS Live will include a forecast on what’s next for creativity in a Future Gazers session with Cheil Worldwide’s Group CEO, Pully Chau.
Tune in for a LIONS Keynote from creative agency Alma and diversity and inclusion advocates We Are All Human, showcasing how a creative idea allowed the Hispanic community to emerge from the shadows and support recovery from the global pandemic.
What to expect from LIONS Live
Compelling formats
Some of the world’s best creative talent sharing what they have learned; CMO Spotlight sessions from global brands; Cannes Lions President briefings; plus networking events to inspire and connect throughout the week.
Celebrating sustained creative success
The Lions Creativity Report of the Decade, compiled using unique data on Lion-winning and shortlisted work, will present the definitive rankings of sustained creative success over the past ten years. Winners will be announced throughout the week and the report made available to all.
Exploring The Work
A week of free access to The Work – the Lions learning and intelligence platform. It’s home to decades of Lion-winning work, insights and data from nearly 70 years of creativity. As well as big thinking from the brands, agencies and people behind the global community’s greatest ideas.
Cracking the effectiveness code
Marketing effectiveness experts, James Hurman and Peter Field, present a major new global study of creative effectiveness, for Cannes Lions and WARC. Hurman and Field will showcase a new framework – The Creative Effectiveness Ladder – designed to create a universal definition and shared language of effectiveness, and help marketers use creativity more effectively, involving an analysis of nearly 5,000 effectiveness case studies from 2011 – 2019.
Driving a culture of progress
LIONS Live is a reboot moment and a confidence forum. Over the LIONS Live week, the global community can access a host of whitepapers, creative resources and online courses to inspire creative output, impact culture and drive business results.
Learning for everyone
In collaboration with 42courses, we’ve selected lessons from our Cannes Lions online course series, and launched a free masterclass for all. The course is a whistle-stop tour through ten key lessons for a career in the creative industry. Each lesson brings Lion-winning work together with insights from experts like Quiet Storm’s Trevor Robinson OBE, Ogilvy’s Rory Sutherland and VMLY&R’s Debbi Vandeven.
Join LIONS Live
LIONS Live is free to access, for the entire global community, from 22-26 June 2020.
The full LIONS Live programme will be available on the platform from 18 June 2020.
Click here to join the LIONS Live community
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE.
Related Article:
Cannes Lions to Release The Global Lions Creativity Report of the Decade
Lions Live is a digital education platform to support the creative community
Cannes Lions has introduced ‘Lions Live’, a digital education, inspiration and networking experience that will run throughout June under the theme ‘Creativity Matters’. Activity will build to a peak during the original dates of the Festival of Creativity, 22-26 June.
Lions Live will comprise masterclasses and hangouts with creative industry legends, lectures from experts, talks from speakers confirmed for the Festival, and a selection of the most impactful professional classes and learning modules from the world of creativity, effectiveness and marketing. The platform will also feature Future Gazers – a collection of industry experts who will assess how Covid-19 has transformed the way the industry will need to approach Cannes Lions’ already-announced 2020 themes. It will also showcase the best of the hundreds of responses to the current crisis from the global creative community currently being shared on the newly-launched Creativity Moves us Forward platform. Access to Lions Live: Creativity Matters will be free of charge to all.
The Work – the subscription-only archive of more than 200,000 Lions campaigns and 1,600 Festival talks – will be made freely accessible to all throughout the original Festival week, providing access to case studies and inspiration to help fuel ideas and creativity. Additionally, during June anyone will be able to access a specially curated course of lessons taken from the Cannes Lions masterclass series on 42courses.com. This will include lessons from the likes of Rei Inamoto, Keith Reinhard and Debbi Vandeven, on topics such as Creative Effectiveness, Strategy, Storytelling, Behavioural Science and Digital Marketing. Meanwhile, Cannes Lions’ sister companies MediaLink and WARC will also be bringing their Cannes activities to life, with a virtual MediaLink networking beach, and lessons on the very best effectiveness strategies from around the world presented by WARC.
Simon Cook, Managing Director of Cannes Lions, said “In order to drive progress through creativity, and support our community at this difficult time, we want to provide the global industry with the opportunity to learn and network throughout June and beyond. For the first time in nearly 70 years, we are unable to bring the industry together in one physical place in June. Lions Live: Creativity Matters will provide a virtual platform for the industry to collaborate, learn and problem-solve, because now more than ever, creativity really does matter.”
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE.
Founder and Managing Partner of Motivate Media Group – Ian Fairservice, explains why staying visible is vital and how partnering with Gulf News will keep print titles top-of-mind.
There are three very pertinent items for the media industry in the Gulf News edition dated Tuesday 21st April 2020.
Their front cover opinion piece is headlined: ‘UAE newspapers in unprecedented crisis’. It makes the point that there is a global surge in the consumption of news and, with so much ‘fake news’ out there, people are turning to established media for reliable information.
True, and whether that’s found in print editions or online is not important. What is important is that without advertising revenue, or as Gulf News points out, a share of the government’s financial stimulus packages, those reliable news sources will dry up forever.
Page 2 poses the question: “Is this really the newspaper industry’s final battle?” and discusses in depth the challenges facing print media locally and globally. Turning through to the bottom of page 15, Vrinda Gupta sums up the situation succinctly with three invaluable recommendations for all companies: Stay agile, remain relevant and be very visible – “being visible in difficult times matters for businesses,” she wrote.
Gupta concludes: “If there is anything that we learned from the 2008 Global Economic Crisis it is that companies that were most visible recovered the fastest”.
Most people in the industry will be familiar with the Wanamaker Dilemma. A prominent US retailer, John Wanamaker famously said: “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half”.
Less true today with more sophisticated data available but, in a serious economic decline, brands can’t afford not to take that chance. Marketing remains a must. Companies need to think long and hard about the best possible media mix and do their utmost to stack the odds in their favour.
A lesser-known story is that of Kellogg’s and Post cereal companies in the 1920s. When the depression hit, Post, who were market leaders – and Kellogg’s biggest rival – cut right back on advertising while Kellogg’s more than doubled its spend. By the early 1930s, Kellogg’s dominated the market. And who now has ever heard of Post cereals?
For our part at Motivate we are not just focusing more energy and talent on our online editions, we’re also maintaining the balance by ensuring that much-loved print products reach readers despite the inherent difficulties. Which is why, Motivate Media Group are moving the vast majority of print to a free distribution model that will continue as long as needed.
While maintaining stock at major retailers, starting immediately, through a new arrangement with Gulf News, free copies of What’s On, Emirates Woman, Gulf Business and Identity will be delivered directly to Gulf News subscribers’ homes.
Copies will initially be supplied to Emirates Hills, Emirates Living, Arabian Ranches, JLT, Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim and Trade Centre 2.
The philosophy is very straightforward – we are adapting our business model to ensure that no magazines go unread.
This is Motivate’s strategy to maintain service to our readers, visibility for our brands and ROI for our advertisers.
Maintaining brand visibility through difficult times and taking advantage of potential stand-out in a less noisy and cluttered media space is essential for those businesses that strive to come through, like Kellogg’s, stronger than ever. Snap, Crackle & Pop.
Source: Gulf Business and Campaign Middle East
Motivate Val Morgan is a joint venture company established in 1999 by Motivate Media Group and Val Morgan Cinema Network.
As the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE, Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan recently concluded the distribution of Lions won by UAE at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
This year witnessed UAE bring home 7 Lions – the region’s first Grand Prix and six Bronze Lions, all of which were won by Impact BBDO Dubai.
Of the 1,252 entries from 62 countries competing in the Print & Publishing Lions category (Communication Track) where 32 Lions were awarded – 1 Grand Prix, 6 Gold, 7 Silver and 18 Bronze Lions, Impact BBDO Dubai snatched the Grand Prix for ‘The Blank Edition’, which saw the agency work with leading Arabic-language daily newspaper An-Nahar to print an entirely blank edition – calling on Lebanese citizens to use the space to send a message to the stalled government.
Ian Fairservice – Managing Partner and Group Editor in Chief at Motivate Media Group, and Avinash Udeshi – Chief Operating Officer at Motivate Val Morgan, paid Dani Richa – Chairman & CEO of BBDO Middle East, Africa & Pakistan, and his team a visit on Wednesday 9th October 2019 to hand over the Lions won by their agency at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival which concluded in June 2019.
We at Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan warmly congratulate Impact BBDO Dubai and look forward to UAE winning many more Lions at next year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Related Article:
Impact BBDO Dubai Wins Seven Lions at Cannes Lions 2019
Motivate Val Morgan has signed an exclusive advertising sales partnership with Muvi Cinemas in Saudi Arabia.
Muvi Cinemas – owned and operated by The Next Generation Company, is the first and only home-grown cinema brand in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Having opened its first cinema at Mall of Arabia in Jeddah on 10th August 2019, the cinema chain plans to launch 250 screens across the Kingdom over the next 24 months – offering customers a range of cinema experiences, which include: SCREENX, Junior, Suites and bespoke Xperience.
Sultan Alhokair, Chairman and Founder of Muvi Cinemas said: “Muvi Cinemas is committed to delivering a world class experience to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Motivate Val Morgan presently has exclusive advertising partnerships with 7 other cinema exhibitors across UAE, Lebanon, Oman, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and a circuit of over 580 cinema screens.
Speaking on the new partnership, Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner of Motivate Media Group said: “Our continued expansion into The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is key to fulfilling our business objectives. We are pleased to be associated with Muvi Cinemas and look forward to a successful partnership for many years to come.”
As the official cinema advertising partner, Motivate Val Morgan warmly welcomes Muvi Cinemas to our circuit in KSA.
Contact us for more information on cinema advertising opportunities at this new location.
For more information on Muvi Cinemas, please visit www.muvicinemas.com
The 66th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity drew to a close on 21 June 2019, with Impact BBDO Dubai winning UAE 7 Lions – the region’s first Grand Prix and 6 Bronze Lions.
Of the 1,252 entries from 62 countries competing in the Print & Publishing Lions category (Communication Track) where 32 Lions were awarded – 1 Grand Prix, 6 Gold, 7 Silver and 18 Bronze Lions, Impact BBDO Dubai snatched the Grand Prix for ‘The Blank Edition’, which saw the agency work with leading Arabic-language daily newspaper An-Nahar to print an entirely blank edition – calling on Lebanese citizens to use the space to send a message to the stalled government.
On UAE winning the ‘Top Award’ and taking home the Grand Prix in this category at the Festival’s opening Awards Show, Jury president, Olivier Altmann, CEO and Chief Creative Officer, Altmann + Pacreau, France, said: “We are very happy to award the Grand Prix to a piece of work that celebrates creativity and journalism.”
After the release of the completely blank edition, the newspaper’s editor-in-chief encouraged citizens to use it to write their own headlines and send messages to politicians, over social media.
Altmann said the bold campaign – and political message – led to an easy jury decision.
“It was really unanimous – a good surprise. It took us about five seconds to award the Grand Prix,” he said.
“For us, it was the perfect demonstration that print creativity can do a lot for print media itself, for print journalism. We thought it was really bold to award a Grand Prix to a white piece of paper that people could fill. It’s almost an interactive tool for real life.”
Image Credits: Getty Images, Cannes Lions 2019
Impact BBDO Dubai also won 6 Bronze Lions across Health & Wellness, Industry Craft, Brand Experiences & Activation and Media categories for: ‘The Toxic Flag’ (Waste Management Coalition), ‘The Zero Tolerance Ribbon’ (28 Too Many) and ‘The Black Edition’ (An-Nahar).
Commenting on the Grand Prix win, Paul Shearer, Chief Creative Officer at Impact BBDO MENA, added: “Bringing home the first Grand Prix Lion for not only the UAE but also the region is of course an incredible honor.”
Shearer said he personally hopes that this win will spur on everyone in the business around MENA.
“There is so much talent and esteemed agencies around that this should be just another step on the regions maturity. I also think some of the other work from the region was unlucky not to win at Cannes, as there was some great work there.”
“I would like to thank Cannes Lions for their continued support with Lynx. Without this I fear we would have never achieved Grand Prix level. Lastly, I would like to thank our Chief Executive Officer, Dani Richa, who’s creative eye makes our work so much better,” said Shearer.
Ali Rez, Regional ECD Middle East & Pakistan at Impact BBDO – who was also a Glass Jury member at Cannes Lions 2019, said: “ In what seemed a year featuring very tough juries, it is even sweeter that Impact BBDO managed to bring home such a large haul of Lions: 13 spread across three offices – UAE, Pakistan and Lebanon, and more than 50 shortlists across almost a dozen categories.”
“The Glass jury was an incredible learning experience featuring some of the sharpest minds in the business – it was an absolute honor to be part of such an important jury. We saw solutions from around the globe tackling a number of issues related to gender inequality: financial inequality, stereotyping, health, violence, even technology-related.”
“A trend that emerged this year was that awareness as a goal is simply not enough anymore, and that action is the need of the day,” he added.
Tres Colacion, Creative Director, Impact BBDO Dubai – who played an instrumental role in campaign creation for An-Nahar, said: “The Blank Edition was a very special project for us. We set to change a national conversation through the power of creatively, the ultimate test. We talk a lot about game “changing ideas” and “culture busting”, but there are very few instances that these opportunities truly present themselves. When they do, you absolutely need to take them and meet them with the kind of ideas that will truly resonate with people.”
The Blank Edition team did just that and I’m incredibly proud to have our work recognized at the highest level. To win a Grand Prix, let alone the first in the region, is the highest honor,” he added.
Check out case study for ‘The Black Edition’:
As the official representative of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in UAE, Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan would like to congratulate Impact BBDO Dubai on doing UAE proud by winning 7 Lions – including the most prestigious of them all!
Sources: Cannes Lions 2019, Campaign Middle East, Adweek and PRWEEK
Unable to attend this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity?
Don’t worry! You can still be part of the Festival with the Cannes Lions ‘Digital Pass’!
Here’s your chance to experience the Festival from anywhere in the world. Filmed in glorious detail by dozens of HD cameras, the daily stream is produced by an award-winning production team and fronted by world-class journalists.
Broadcasting for 12 hours every day of the Festival on canneslions.com, the ‘Digital Pass’ gives you access to the mainstage as well as exclusive interviews and behind the scenes goodness.
Crafted to give a flavour of the entire Festival, the ‘Digital Pass’ means you get the inside track on the latest innovations, insights behind the award-winning work and the big new ideas influencing the market – all of which will be available to watch live and on-demand (even after the Festival draws to a close).
Purchase the pass for €195 + sales tax.
Don’t miss out on being part of the world’s biggest gathering for the entire creative marketing community.
Click here to find out more.
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE
With few days to go for this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, here are some initiatives to make your ‘first time delegate’ experience better.
2019 Initiatives:
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE.
As the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are pleased to announce that seven leading advertising professionals from the UAE have been selected as jury members for this year’s Festival.
The seven leading advertising professionals who will represent the UAE in the Awards and Shortlist jury panel under Print & Publishing, Design, Glass: The Lion for Change, Media, PR, Direct and Brand Experience & Activation categories include:
Awards Jury
Print & Publishing:
Fouad Abdel Malak
Executive Creative Director
TBWA\RAAD
With over 18 years of experience in the region, Fouad is currently serving his second stint at TBWA\RAAD in Dubai as Executive Creative Director, after holding the creative helm at BBDO Dubai for 4+ years.
His career highlights include key business wins and leading some of the most awarded teams in the region, as well as working on sought-after brands such as: Nissan, Louvre Abu Dhabi, KFC, Pepsico, Emirates Airlines, MARS, du, GE, among other notable names.
Fouad drives business results, winning: multiple Grands Prix from Integrated to Direct, and Golds’ at major award shows on SCB, Nissan, Domino’s, MARS, Louvre Abu Dhabi, MTV, and many others from Cannes Lions to the Dubai Lynx and beyond.
He’s a ‘Disruptor’ by nature and is most passionate about integrated ideas centered around innovation. Not only was Fouad named 2019 Executive Creative Director of the Year in the MENA Region – according to the official B&W 2019 Report, but was also ranked 8th worldwide according to The Big One Rankings.
Design:
Vidya Manmohan
Executive Creative Director
Grey Group
From walking out of the gates of medical school and entering an Art campus, to switching from art direction to copywriting half way through her advertising career, Vidya has constantly followed her passion.
After four decades in Dubai and having witnessed sand dunes transform in to skyscrapers, this charming young lady from India, proudly says she’s ‘Made in Dubai’.
Her work reflects the culture around her, be it the awards won in Radio, Print, Design, Outdoor, Integrated or Advertising for Good.
Vidya has been on the Jury of International Award Festivals that include: Clio, NewYork Festivals, Lisbon Ad Fest and recently was also a part of the Young Guns and Adfest, and says she learns as she shares her knowledge.
When asked on how she copes with advertising, this mom of an 18-year old, smilingly adds, “You don’t teach a mom how to cope.”
Glass – The Lion for Change:
Ali Rez
Regional Executive Creative Director – Middle East & Pakistan
BBDO Worldwide
Ranked amongst the Top 15 Creative Directors and the Top 10 Art Directors in the world by the Big Won Report, and named the 2018 South Asian Creative Person of the Year by Campaign Magazine, Ali is one of the most awarded ECD’s in the Greater Middle East region.
Ali has won more than 350 accolades in his career which include multiple Gold Cannes Lions, Gold Clios, D&AD pencils, Gold Effies, One Show pencils, a United Nations peace award, and the honor of setting a record of winning 4 Grands Prix for one campaign at Dubai Lynx.
His creative experience – shaped in the USA at Y&R and Goodby Silverstein Collaboratory and followed by a move to the Middle East, has contributed to BBDO being named Network of the Year at Cannes Lions, Effies, Dubai Lynx, Spikes Asia and AdStars, and Impact BBDO being named Agency of the Year at Dubai Lynx 2019.
Ali has lectured at Oxford University, exhibited at Tate UK, spoken at TEDx, traveled to 122 countries, and captained a county cricket team in the USA. He actively volunteers to fight for gender equality, and has won the inaugural Glass awards at both Dubai Lynx and Spikes Asia.
Please Note: Awards Jury members will join the jury committee in Cannes, France and will receive a complimentary pass to the Festival along with their accommodation paid for in full.
Shortlist Jury
Media:
Tarek Daouk
CEO
Dentsu Aegis Network MENA
Tarek has been at the centre of innovation in media, content, and digital media in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) for almost two decades. He built Starcom Mediavest Group into an early leader in the space, launched innovative new business models such as the content agency LiquidThread and landed Cannes Lions and numerous other awards.
Throughout his career he has amassed a wealth of industry experience, working with a number of blue-chip advertisers including GSK, GM, Mars, Mondelez, P&G, Samsung and Visa.
Today, Tarek is committed to supporting advertisers with their businesses in the region by building a next generation agency – focused on the convergence of creative, media, data, and commerce and which enables the design of unique experiences for consumers.
PR:
Valerie Tan
Vice President – Public Relations, Social Media and Internal Communications
Emirates Group
With 18 years of experience in communications, Valerie has held leadership roles in-house and at a global PR agency in Singapore.
Based in Dubai, she leads an in-house team of 30 professionals, overseeing a support network of over 80 agencies in the implementation of internal and external communications activity for Emirates Group – which comprises the global airline Emirates, the air services provider dnata, and over 100 subsidiaries. The Group employs more than 100,000 employees with operations in over 80 countries on six continents.
Prior to her current role, Valerie worked at a large communications agency in Singapore, leading its healthcare practice, select corporate accounts as well as media skills training and crisis communications.
Valerie was recognised in the Holmes Report Top 100 Most Influential In-house Communicators in 2018, and received an Individual Achievement Sabre Award the same year. She was also recognised in the inaugural PRWeek Middle East Power Book. She most recently served on the jury for the 2018 MEPRA Awards.
Direct:
Dhruv Warrior
Associate Creative Director
VMLY&R Dubai
Dhruv spent a little over 7 years working for JWT Bangalore in India – first two years in client servicing followed by a switch to the creative side, before moving to VMLY&R Dubai in 2015.
His time at JWT saw him work on brands across a multitude of categories. He has diverse work experience spreading across different brands and categories such as United Breweries, Google, ING, Levi’s, Van Heusen and Parikrma Humanity Foundation to name a few. His major successes came on his work for Nike, as he was instrumental in the execution of the ‘Bleed Blue’ and ‘Make Every Yard Count’ campaigns which were awarded at multiple global award shows including Cannes Lions, Clio’s, One Show, and D&AD. The ‘Make Every Yard Count’ campaign was named in the Top 20 films globally by the Gunn Report in 2015 and the Top 10 films & Top 10 digital campaigns in 2014 by the Big Won report.
While at VMLY&R, Dhruv has worked on the agency’s key brands which include Mall of the Emirates, Mashreq Bank, Nando’s, American Garden, UNHCR, Dubai Font, General Mills and more.
He has been an essential part of a team whose work has been recognised by international and regional award shows and has helped VMLY&R EMEA gain regional and global recognition – which includes Regional Network of the Year in 2017 and No. 3 globally in Industry Craft at Cannes Lions.
Dhruv has won awards at Cannes Lions, Clio’s, Spikes, One Show, D&AD, Adfest, The Effies, Goafest and Dubai Lynx. He was named in the 2014 list for Top Copywriters in the World by the Big Won report and was also listed in the Top 30 Under 30 Hot Young Creatives in 2014 by Economic Times.
Brand Experience & Activation
Marie Claire Maalouf
Creative Director
Impact BBDO Dubai
Marie-Claire holds a Master’s degree in Creative Advertising and a Bachelor’s degree in 2D/3D Animation from the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts. Graduating top of her year in 2005, she received an excellence award and was offered an internship in France at the ENSAD — École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs.
During her diploma presentation in 2006, where leading advertising agencies were invited, she was offered to join the Impact BBDO group and has been with them for over a decade, working on their wide range of global brands including Mars, PepsiCo and Johnson’s.
Her work has been recognised at Dubai Lynx, Adfest, Global Cristal Festival, MENA Cristal, Effies and Cannes Lions — she has even hugged a real lion.
Please Note: Shortlist jury members will conduct the first round of judging in advance of the festival – from the UAE, and will be invited to attend the Festival with a complimentary pass.
This year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will run from 17th – 21st June 2019.
We at Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan warmly congratulate the seven judges who will represent the UAE as awards and shortlist jury members at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival, and wish them all the very best with the judging ahead.
The 17th edition of the prestigious UAE Young Lions Digital Competition, hosted by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan – the official UAE representative of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, in association with Dubai Media City took place on Saturday 20th April 2019 at the offices of Motivate Media in Dubai Media City. The Judging and Awards Ceremony followed on Monday 22nd April 2019 at the In5 Media Innovation Centre in Dubai Production City, with Arwa Al Jundi (Art Director) and Warsha J. Dhemani (Copywriter) from Livingroom Communication named the Gold winners of the competition.
The wining duo was selected from a pool of 16 participating teams, and will be flown on an all-expense paid trip to Cannes to represent the UAE at the International Young Lions Digital Competition, which will be held in June 2019.
Not too far behind them were Sumer Kotwal (Art Director) and Gaurav Maitreya (Copywriter) from Publicis Sapient (Gold winners of last year’s UAE Young Lions Digital Competition) who bagged Silver.
With so many creative ideas and inspiring submissions, determining the Bronze winner was a challenge, and this year, the UAE Young Lions Digital Competition saw a tie between three teams – Felipe Menezes (Art Director) and Sabine Haddad (Copywriter) from TBWA\RAAD, Alan Hong (Art Director) and Poroma Pant (Copywriter) from Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai, and Nour Mohammad (Art Director) and Peter Mazloumian (Copywriter) from Socialize.
Other participating agencies at this year’s competition included:
Leo Burnett Dubai, APCO Worldwide, Mullenlowe MENA, Publicis Middle East, RAPP Middle East, Wavemaker, Amber Communications, Rain Creative, and McCann Health Dubai.
The ‘Creative Club’ who judged this year’s competition comprised:
Manuel Bordé – TBWA\RAAD
Prajakta More – McCann Health Dubai
Ali Shabaz – RAPP Middle East
Georgine Hajjar – Wavemaker
Mohamed Bareche – Publicis Middle East
Seyoan Vela – Livingroom Communication
Samer Zouehid – Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai
Anton Marais – Leo Burnett
Prasad Pradhan – Amber Communications
Pascale Youssef – APCO Worldwide
Alfonso Arbos – Mullenlowe MENA
Shwan Nazar – Publicis Sapient
Shamrock Nevis – Rain Creative
Rafael Bergamini – Socialize Agency
Shyam Vipin – Praxis Advertising
This year’s client was World Food Programme (WFP) – the food- assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger, and the competition was sponsored by Getty Images and Xerox Middle East.
Ian Fairservice – Managing Partner, Motivate Media Group, said “After 17 years of hosting the Young Lions competition, we have seen some inspiring work from these exceptional young professionals. This year is certainly not different and I’d like to wish Arwa and Warsha from Livingroom Communication the best of luck representing the region in Cannes. I’m sure they will be great ambassadors for the UAE.”
Majed Al Suwaidi – Managing Director of Dubai Media City, said: “Dubai Media City is proud to collaborate once again with the UAE Young Lions and Motivate to encourage the rise of digital platforms and the region’s creativity. As our mandate to support the growing upcoming talent, the UAE Young Lions and Motivate competition provides the opportunity for our people to gain recognition and grow their careers. Our partnership, with the collaboration of our incubator in5 media, looks forward to a successful outcome and we wish all the participants great learnings every success.”
Congratulations to the winners and a job well done to all 16 teams that participated in this year’s competition.
The UAE Young Lions Digital Competition – hosted by Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan, in association with Dubai Media City and supported by Getty Images and Xerox Middle East, 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 International Festival will take place from the 17th to the 21st of June 2019 in the city of Cannes, located on France’s mesmerizing south coast and will offer five days of award ceremonies, seminars, workshops, master classes, exhibitions, screenings and networking.
