The 71st edition of the Cannes Lions Festival will witness the largest cohort of jurors from the UAE to judge at a singular festival.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has announced the lineup of twelve shortlisting jury members from the UAE who will take part in the initial judging phase for this year’s Cannes Lions awards, scheduled to take place in Cannes, France, from June 17-21.
This update follows the earlier announcement of thirteen awarding jury members – including a jury president – who will collaborate with jurors from 54 diverse markets to acknowledge and celebrate exceptional global creative achievements, setting a new standard for excellence.
The 71st edition of the Cannes Lions Festival will feature its largest UAE cohort yet, with 25 jurors overseeing judging duties at a single festival, highlighting the nation’s increasing impact and expertise in the global creative landscape.
Commenting on the global shortlisting jury members announcement, Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS, said: “Our Shortlisting Jurors play a fundamental role in the Cannes Lions judging process. This talented line-up of industry experts will bring us one step closer to defining the creative benchmark on the global stage this June. I’d like to extend my gratitude for their hard work in curating the work that will go on to be awarded and recognised at the Festival this year.”
In reference to the Cannes Lions jury panel from the UAE, Ian Fairservice – Managing Partner of Motivate Media Group, said: “In reference to 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 Shortlisting Jury Members from the UAE have been named as:
Brand Experience & Activation:
Jarrad Pitts, Creative Director, Consulum
Direct:
Zahir Mirza, Executive Creative Director, C2
Entertainment:
Shereen Mostafa, Head of Production Publicis Groupe Middle East, Publicis Groupe
Film:
Serena Abi Aad, Creative Director and Film Director
Film Craft:
Rodrigo Scapolan, Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD
Health & Wellness:
Rana Sadek, Associate Creative Director, ImpactBBDO Dubai
Industry Craft:
Prerna Mehra, Creative Director and Head of Art and Design, MullenLowe MENA,
Gemma Crompton, Creative Director, Landor
Outdoor:
Firas Medrows, Executive Creative Director, DDB
PR:
Shafaq Tariq, Director – PR, Social Media and Influencer Marketing, MKV Digital
Print & Publishing:
Mohamed Bareche, Executive Creative Director, Horizon FCB
Social & Influencer:
Akanksha Goel, CEO and Founder, Socialize / We Are Social
With the Luxury & Lifestyle Lions Jury to be announced soon, you can see the full list of Global Presidents and Awarding and Shortlisting 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.
Ali Rez, Priya Sarma, Akhilesh Bagri, Paul Banham, Lucy Harvey and Ali Cheikhali from the UAE to join Cannes Lions 2022 awarding jury member line-up.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity returns in 2022 as a live event, and will provide an annual forum for the global industry to address the most pressing issues that they and the world are facing today.
As the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE, Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are pleased to announce the line-up of awarding jury members from the UAE who will come together in Cannes to complete the final stage of judging and awarding of Lions.
Print & Publishing Lions
Ali Rez
Regional Executive Creative Director
Impact BBDO Group MENAP
Ranked amongst the Top 10 ECDs in the world on the World Creative Rankings and named Creative of the Year twice by Campaign magazine, Ali Rez is one of the most successful creative leaders in EMEA. Rez’s work has been instrumental in Impact BBDO Dubai being named the No.2 Creative Agency In The World in 2021 on the WARC report, and has brought tremendous positive impact to business and social causes alike — he currently leads creative output for the IMPACT BBDO Group across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region.
Rez has won more than 600 international accolades in his career spanning four continents over 20 years, which include several Cannes Lions, Clios, D&AD, Effies, and a United Nations Peace Medal – awards which have led him to be ranked No.1 ECD in MENA and APAC in 2021 on a number of creative rankings.
Moving from California, Rez currently lives in Dubai, where he is an avid mountain biker. Besides lecturing at Oxford University and St.Martin’s College, Rez has exhibited at Tate UK, spoken at Tedx, captained a cricket county team, and — being a firm believer that curiosity leads to creativity — has traveled to 133 countries.
Sustainable Development Goals Lions
Priya Sarma
Head of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability
Unilever
Priya joined Unilever in February 2008 as the Corporate Communication Manager for Middle East and North Africa (MENA) and is based in Jebel Ali, Dubai which is the regional Unilever headquarter. In January 2012 she was assigned the additional responsibility for Employee Engagement across the countries of MENA, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. In 2019 she was promoted as Sr. Sustainability Head for MENA, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus & Turkey and in 2021 the additional remit of MENA External Affairs was added to her portfolio.
Prior to joining Unilever, Priya worked in global advertising agencies including FCB Ulka, India, Equity Advertising (an affiliate of Grey Communication) Egypt, and Lowe Look (an affiliate of Lowe Worldwide), Egypt.
In 2016, she led the formation of the Advertising Business Group (ABG) and has been its Board Member since 2016. The ABG is GCC’s largest advertising and marketing self-regulatory body with over 60 members who account for over 70% of the MENA’s advertising spend.
Since 2018 she has been representing the Multinational Companies Business Group in the FCSA led Private Sector Advisory Council on the SDG’s. In Nov 2020, Priya led the launch of the UAE Chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance (UA) in partnership with UN Women. The UA is a thought and action platform that seeks to eradicate harmful gender-based stereotypes in media and advertising. For this, she was recognised by Campaign Magazine as a ‘Marketing Game Changer 2020’.
Brand Experience & Activation Lions
Akhilesh Bagri
Chief Creative Officer
Serviceplan Middle East
Akhilesh started his journey in advertising in Mumbai at a malleable age of 17, before which he was a full-time teenager. A copywriter by trait he has worked at various acronymed and unacronymed agencies such as DDB, BBDO, JWT, McCann and Leo Burnett.
Flashback, 2007: Akhilesh wins an all-expenses trip to Cannes as a student to be part of the Roger Hatchuel Academy. Still wet behind the ears he has no idea what to expect from the week. His mind is blown.
Present Day, 2022 : Now a multiple-award winning creative and CCO of Dubai Lynx Independent Agency of the Year (how about that plug) Akhilesh gets invited to an all-expenses paid trip to Cannes, this time as a jury member. He still has no idea what to expect from the week. His mind is prepared to be blown.
Industry Craft Lions
Paul Banham
Regional Executive Creative Director
MullenLowe MENA
Paul has been the ECD of seven world-class agencies over the last 20 years. In that time, he’s helped to steer the way to 22 ‘Agency of the Year’ titles. His work has collected more than 700 awards for creativity and effectiveness. And he’s ranked in the world’s top fifty ECDs four times – 2008 #17th, 2014 #27th, 2016 #9th, 2021 #36th.
He’s judged at D&AD, One Show, Campaign BIG, NYF, IAB, Caples, Immortals, Lories, TIKTOK and many other global shows, and he has spoken on a variety of subjects at the likes of Cannes and Lynx. Paul’s work/opinions have also been published in many advertising books/annuals and editorials in the Guardian and The Wall Street Journal.
After moving from London to Dubai in 2012, he helped steer FP7 McCann to the enviable position of No.1 – ‘The World’s Most Effective Agency’ (Effie’s). Currently, he’s working to lift MullenLowe MENA to equally lofty heights – In 2021 alone, they collected 130+ global Awards – and three ‘Agency of the Year’ titles, including the Campaign Tech’s ‘Global Agency of the Year’ and New York Festival’s ‘Regional Agency of the Year’ 2021. Out of the top 200 agencies on the Drum Report, MullenLowe ranked 17th in 2021. They were the AME Awards’ 2nd Most Awarded Agency Globally in 2021 and the Caples Awards’ 5th Most Awarded Agency Globally.
PR Lions
Lucy Harvey
Managing Director, Middle East, Turkey, India + Africa
Hill+Knowlton Strategies Middle East
Lucy has over two decades of experience in the communications industry. She has worked with some of the world’s most recognisable brands and is currently supporting the growth of the creative firepower of H+K through the development of its award-winning Studio and Innovation + Creative hub in the Middle East, Turkey, India, and Africa.
Now living in Dubai with her family, Lucy has developed and led memorable campaigns, and delivered professional trainings to leaders across the region’s C-suite. Lucy’s resume includes consumer launches, impactful government communications for national and global initiatives, and effective internal campaigns. She champions the intersection of technical innovation and creativity, something the team at H+K are working on; but is most impressed by insightful ideas that are brought to life with simplicity, beauty and clarity. A big believer in giving back, Lucy is known in the industry as an ardent champion of nurturing young talent.
Currently listed in the PRWeek Middle East Power Book, she has been actively involved with Dubai Lynx as a coach and mentor in the See It Be it programme for young female talent, and is a regular judge and speaker for awards, seminars, and workshops.
Originally from the UK, Lucy previously worked for Freud Communications and in video production at The Press Association.
Creative Commerce Lions
Ali Cheikhali
Creative Strategy Lead – Creative Works MENA/TR/SSA
Google
Ali is an award-winning Creative Strategy Lead who works with brands and agencies across MENA, Turkey and SSA on maximizing their creative impact to solve critical business problems. In his role, he pushes the boundaries of Google’s tools and platforms to drive innovative work at the intersection of data, technology, and creativity. Before joining Google from the agency world, Ali was one of the most awarded creative strategists in MENA. The Drum’s ‘Big Won Rankings’ ranked him among the Top 20 Planners Worldwide in 2018 and the B&W Report named him MENA’s Planner of the Year in 2017.
Today, Ali enjoys being on the judging side of top award shows such as Cannes Lions, Dubai Lynx, WARC and New York Festivals in addition to teaching his Design Thinking & Product Creation course at Miami Ad School. Outside of work, and when he’s not agonizing over his favorite football team’s performances, he spends most of his time as a self-proclaimed food and filmmaking critic.
The initial stages of judging will take place remotely, with a cohort of Shortlist jury from the UAE to be announced over the week ahead.
On the judging at the Cannes Lions 2022 Festival, Philip Thomas, Chairman, LIONS, said, “The return of the physical Festival to Cannes in June allows us once again to bring the juries together in person to define the benchmark of creativity.”
The Cannes Lions Festival will take place between 20-24 June, and will be accessible to everyone, and delegate registration is now open. If anyone is unable to travel for any reason, LIONS Members get exclusive digital access to Cannes Lions – plus a series of other benefits, throughout the year.
More information on this year’s Cannes Lions jury can be found at canneslions.com/jury.
UAE creative agencies bag two gold, six silver and thirteen bronze lions at the recently concluded virtual Cannes Lions Festival 2021!
The Cannes Lions Festival 2021 drew to a close on Friday 25th June, which for the first time in history – due to the ongoing pandemic, took place online via the LIONS Live platform.
The UAE bagged 21 Lions in total for 2020 and 2021 – 2 Gold, 6 Silver and 13 Bronze Lions, across multiple categories, including newly introduced categories such as Sustainable Development Goals, Creative eCommerce and Creative Strategy.
This year’s winning agencies from the UAE included Impact BBDO, Memac Ogilvy, FP7 McCann, TBWA\RAAD, Mullenlowe MENA and VMLY&R.
Addressing the Cannes Lions Live audience during the Awards Show, Simon Cook, Managing Director, LIONS, said, “Over the past five days we’ve seen the return of the global creative benchmark, and the winning work that sets the bar for the entire industry. We’ve seen inspirational talks, taken part in learning programmes, celebrated creative excellence through our Award Shows and Debriefs – and come together as a community, united in the belief that creativity has the power to build business, shape society, and change the world for the better.”
2021 also witnessed 10 leading advertising and media professionals from the UAE represent the country as jury members at this year’s Festival.
Paul Shearer (Chief Creative Officer, Impact BBDO Dubai), Jennifer Fischer (Chief Innovation Officer, TBWA\RAAD) and Dida Atassi (Design Director, Accenture Interactive Middle East) were part of the Awards jury across Industry Craft, Innovations and Design categories respectively, and joining them as Shortlist jury members were Asad Rehman (Director Media and Digital Transformation, Unilever MENA) for Media, Amy Brill (Head of PR, M&C Saatchi) for PR, Vidya Manmohan (Founder and Creative Chairwoman, V4 Advertising LLC) for Brand Experience & Activation, Serena Abi Aad (Head of Content, Havas Dubai) for Film, Akanksha Goel (Founder & CEO, Socialize) for Social & Influencer, Alex Pineda (Creative Director, TBWA\RAAD) for Direct and Fabio Silveira (General Manager, Havas Dubai) for Outdoor.
Running parallel to the Cannes Lions Festival are the Young Lions Competitions (for young creative below the age of 30 years) and Roger Hatchuel Academy (a mentorship programme for university students in the field of creative communications).
Having won Gold at the UAE Young Lions Digital Competition 2021, Moemen Metwally and Fernando Montero from Memac Ogilvy Dubai represented the UAE at the International Young Lions Digital Competition.
Kamilla Bakytova – a student at American University in Dubai (AUD), pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Communication (majoring in advertising), was selected to represent the UAE at the prestigious Roger Hachuel Academy.
As the official UAE representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan warmly congratulates all winning agencies, jury members and both Young Lions and Roger Hatchuel Academy participants from the UAE, and look forward to yet another successful Festival in 2022.
Sources: Cannes Lions and Campaign Middle East
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.
