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.
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.
Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan – the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the UAE, hosted an awards ceremony on Wednesday 14th September 2022 to celebrate this year’s winning agencies.
The 2022 Cannes Lions Festival received a total of 358 entries from the UAE, of which 61 received shortlists and 22 won Lions – including 2 Grand Prix, 2 Gold, 13 Silver and 5 Bronze Lions.
This year’s winners across Outdoor, Print & Publishing, Media, Entertainment for Sport, Direct, Digital Craft, Creative Commerce, Social & Influencer, PR, and Film Craft categories include:
Creative heads and their respective team members from this year’s winning agencies attended the awards ceremony for an evening of networking over refreshments, followed by being presented with the most coveted trophies in the advertising industry – the LIONS.
Also in attendance were Rebecca Menezes and Eduardo Cesar from Saatchi & Saatchi MEA who represented the UAE at the Young Lions Digital Competition, and Fatma Al Suwaidi from American University in Dubai who represented the country at the Roger Hatchuel Academy student program as part of the Cannes Lions Festival.
Congratulations to all winning agencies, and we look forward to many more wins at next year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
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
UAE Jury for Cannes Lions 2021 include Paul Shearer, Jennifer Fischer, Dida Atassi and seven other highly respected and award winning advertising and media personalities.
As the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan are pleased to announce that ten leading advertising and media professionals from the UAE have been selected as jury members for the 2021 Festival.
UAE jury members who will be on the Awarding and Shortlisting jury panel include:
Industry Craft Lions
Paul Shearer | Chief Creative Officer | Impact BBDO Dubai
Paul has always believed in bringing something different to the table.
His work for Guess Jeans, Nike, Audi and Levi’s has won him respect and numerous advertising awards.
During his time at BBH, Paul had the opportunity to work collaboratively with clients, which contributed to his work being impactful and successful in the marketplace. Paul then decided to broaden his horizons globally and took a job at Wieden and Kenedy Amsterdam as the Creative Director. It was here that he had the chance to work on the Nike account.
Paul prides himself on understanding the digital world and has won 54 Cannes Lions (the most recent being a Grand Prix). When it comes to awards, Paul believes that winning a client some new customers is far more satisfying. Other awards won include 8 D&AD pencils, 15 One Show and 9 British Television awards.
Innovation Lions
Jennifer Fischer | Chief Innovation Officer | TBWA\RAAD
Always dissatisfied with the status quo, Jennifer spent years shaping the future of some of the most valuable brands in the world such as Coca-Cola, Apple, Ikea, KFC, Expo 2020, Facebook or Nissan.
Her role as Chief Innovation Officer MENA for TBWA\RAAD is to lead an always in beta transformation – harnessing the power of technology, strategy, collaboration, and creativity to re-imagine the way companies work, innovate and grow.
Her career milestones include many firsts from launching the first opera house in the region to communicating the first space mission from an Arabic nation or working on the first Apple campaign in MENA.
Her ideas have been published and shared by Forbes, Campaign Magazine, Communicate, Marketing Society, Arab Ad, Arabian Business among others.
Design Lions
Dida Atassi | Design Director | Accenture Interactive Middle East
An accomplished digital professional, Dida has spent 18 years developing compelling world-class experiences for global and local brands across telecommunication, banking, retail, lifestyle and government sectors. From ideation workshops to polished design deliverables, Dida places a particular focus on crafting unique, loveable products and services that resonate with local cultures. As an advocate of the user, Dida tries to help people see how digital can make life a little easier by designing simple and rewarding experiences.
Dida’s skills include user experience design, interface design, service design, and digital strategy using tools such as prototyping, user research and design thinking workshops and methodology. She has a particular interest in studying local cultures and norms and how they impact design.
Media Lions
Asad Rehman | Director Media and Digital Transformation | Unilever MENA
Asad manages Unilever’s Media & Digital Marketing Transformation for Middle & East North Africa. He also sits at the Unilever MENA/Turkey/Russia Board. He has been in Dubai since 2013, prior to which he spent 6 years at the Unilever HQ in London. Earlier on in his career, Asad worked for WPP/Group M in various parts of the world. He managed local offices in Pakistan and Vietnam, did a global role in London, and managed regional projects in Asia and LATAM.
Asad is an award-winning marketer with accolades from D&AD, Cannes Lions, WARC, Global Effie’s, and Spikes, Lynx, Festival of Media, and MENA Effie’s, and is passionate about bringing together technology, data, and creativity to help craft purposeful brands.
Asad was the Founding Chair of The Marketing Society Middle East Chapter from 2016 to 2018 and sits on the board of the IAA UAE. He was awarded The Marketing Society Fellowship in 2019 and was also the Effie’s Marketer of The Year in 2018.
PR Lions
Amy Brill | Head of PR | M&C Saatchi
As M&C Saatchi Public Relations’ market lead for the UAE, Amy is responsible for the overall direction of the team, creative work and business growth. An experienced PR professional, she has worked for some of the world’s most recognisable brands across corporate and consumer sectors.
Amy has a BA Hons degree in Public Relations from Bournemouth University in the UK and started her career at BBC Worldwide before embarking on agency life, working for clients such as Rolls-Royce, Discovery, Hilton, Disney, PayPal and the British Embassy in both the UK and Middle East.
She established the M&C Saatchi Public Relations business in the UAE in 2017, aged just 27 and has been recognised by industry leaders as a Rising Star and Face to Watch. In the two years the agency has been running, Amy and her team have picked up gold and silver accolades at both the PRCA and MEPRA Awards.
Brand Experience and Activation Lions
Vidya Manmohan | Founder and Creative Chairwoman | V4 Advertising LLC
Vidya Manmohan is the Founder & Creative Chairwoman of V4 Good and Ex-Executive Creative Director of GREY Dubai.
She also happens to be one among the rare breed of female Executive Creative Directors in the region today, celebrated for having travelled off the beaten track, across the span of her career – from walking out of the gates of medical school to pursue a career in Advertising and switching from Art direction to copywriting mid-way through her successful career.
What’s more, this mom of a University student has gone back to University herself to pursue her Master’s in Digital Management, whilst having successfully launched a new-age communication hub.
Her work reflects the pop culture around her and has bagged International awards, not only in the print and outdoor categories, but also in radio, design, digital, integrated and advertising for good.
Vidya has also been on the jury panel of International Advertising Festivals such as Cannes Lions, New York Festivals, Clio, Adfest, Lisbon Advertising Awards, The White Square and the Young Guns to name a few.
Film Lions
Serena Abi Aad | Head of Content | Havas Dubai
Serena is an award winning film director whose short films have travelled international festivals across the Middle East, Europe and Canada.
As a passionate storyteller, her professional journey has been diverse and always centered around storytelling.
She spent most of her twenties on film sets, learning every job in a film crew. She then decided to understand the ad world better and became a TV producer at Leo Burnett, where she worked on films for DSF, Chevrolet and Hummer, among others.
Following her time at Leo Burnett, she worked with MBC as writer, producer and director of a first of its kind reality TV show. In 2012, she joined Yahoo as branded content manager and supervised multiple video content productions for brands such as P&G and DSF.
She had her own content production house for a couple of years, before joining Havas DXB as Head of Content.
She is currently Creative Director at Havas DXB, telling stories for clients such as FAB, Barakat, Veet and Durex.
Social & Influencer Lions
Akanksha Goel | Founder & CEO | Socialize
A digital marketing pioneer, Akanksha Goel is the founder of Socialize; Middle East’s first dedicated social media agency.
Akanksha started her career at the age of 20, as the youngest ever Editor-in-chief for STUFF Magazine. She gained experience working across India & Singapore, where she was at the forefront of the Web2.0 revolution and helped organise Asia’s first-ever pod-camp. She then moved to Dubai amidst the region’s economic crisis, and in 2010 created Socialize to harness the untapped business potential of then-emerging social networks.
In her current role as Managing Director, she is actively involved in driving business growth, leading team development and overseeing the strategic mandate across the agency’s coveted client roster that includes iconic brands like Dubai EXPO 2020, Volkswagen, Sony, General Mills & Bioderma.
An executive graduate from Harvard Business School; she holds a business degree in Marketing Communications from Singapore Management University. Nominated as Emirates Woman of the Year and named to Holmes Report’s Innovator 25 list in 2018, Akanksha is widely recognized as a business influencer, speaker, and a reference for social media in the Middle East.
Direct Lions
Alex Pineda | Creative Director | TBWA\RAAD
Alex Pineda was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and English and Spanish speaker and Crazy about football. He is also a museum hunter, napkin illustrator and comic book artist who has travelled to 5 continents, 77 countries, hundreds of cities, and explored many cultures.
He holds a Master’s degree in ‘Creativity and Strategic Management of Advertising’ from the European Institute of Design in Barcelona, Spain; Specialist in ‘Advertising Management’ from the Jorge Tadeo Lozano University of Bogotá, Colombia; and graduated as a ‘Professional in Graphic Design’ from the same university.
Alex has been awarded at Cannes Lions, Cannes Young Lions, D&AD, One Show, Clio, Dubai Lynx, LIA London International Awards, New York Festivals, Loeries, Webby Awards, Effies, Epica, Cresta, Ojo De Iberoamérica, Festival El Dorado and ‘Lápiz de Acero’ (National Design Award of Colombia).
He was also elected as ‘Associate Creative Director of the Year’ for the Middle East and North Africa, by the ‘Black & White Report’ in 2018; the Number 1 Creative Copywriter in the UAE by ‘Lürzer’s Archive’ Magazine in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and one of the “Best Colombian expats around the world” by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Colombia and the Embassy of Colombia in Abu Dhabi in 2020.
Outdoor Lions
Fabio Silveira | General Manager | Havas Dubai
Fabio has been in leadership positions on strategy and client services in creative agencies for the past 10 years.
His experience spans 15 years and 5 continents – with regional and global responsibilities in Brazil, Portugal and Dubai.
He’s currently responsible for the operations of Havas Creative in Dubai, encompassing Client Services, Strategy, Creative, Social Media, Content and Production.
Cannes Lions 2021 will mark the highest ever representation from global brands, platforms, entertainment and technology companies, bringing a breadth of expertise to the Lions awards.
Furthermore, for the first time ever, the number of female jurors too reaches 51%, up from 48% in 2019.
Cannes Lions 2021 will be fully digital, running as Cannes Lions Live, from 21-25 June. Due to the ongoing pandemic, the event in Cannes, France, will not take place this year. Further information on the Lions can be found at Cannes Lions Awards.
We at Motivate Media Group and Motivate Val Morgan warmly congratulate these ten highly respected and award winning advertising and media personalities from the UAE who will be part of the jury panel at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival, and wish them all the very best with the judging ahead.
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.
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity – the largest gathering of worldwide advertising professionals, designers, digital innovators and marketers, drew to a close on 22nd June 2018 in Cannes, France.
1.Awards
United Arab Emirates walked away with 12 Lions this year – 3 Gold Lions, 2 Silver Lions and 7 Bronze Lions, across a number of categories. United Arab Emirates also secured approximately 47 shortlists at this year’s Festival.
This year’s Festival received a total of 32,372 entries – with approximately 456 entries from United Arab Emirates, while last year’s Festival received a total of 41,170 entries – with a total of 997 entries from the United Arab Emirates.
Speaking to Gulf News on TBWA\RAAD’s success at Cannes Lions 2018, Reda Raad – CEO TBWA\RAAD said:
“There’s something deeply satisfying about our wins at Cannes. “The wins confirm that what we have been doing for the past few years has been right. We have transformed ourselves into an agency of the future whilst simultaneously gathering new business, winning the highest industry accolades, and cultivating a creative culture that’s capable of consistently producing exceptional work.
It’s a huge achievement. An achievement that could not have been possible without the bravery and belief of our clients and team, and without the contribution of our partners at OMD, phd, Google and Facebook. These wins are an affirmation that data-driven creativity works. And that a team that believes passionately in what it’s doing can achieve almost anything.”
2.Judges
This year, 413 jury members were chosen to award and celebrate the best creative work from around the world.
This year’s juries were composed of individuals from 50 countries – with first-time representatives from Georgia, Nigeria, Kenya and Sri Lanka. Continuing the drive for a more diverse mix within the jury room, this year included 46% female jury members, as well as a wide mix of creative agencies, brands, media owners and production companies.
Seven leading creatives represented the UAE in the Awards and Shortlist jury panel under Entertainment, Design, Health & Wellness, PR, Media, Brand Experience & Activation and Direct categories.
Awards Jury from the UAE:
Entertainment – Walid Kanaan (Chief Creative Officer MENA, TBWA\RAAD)
Design – Ali Rez (Regional Creative Director – Middle East & Pakistan, BBDO Worldwide)
Health & Wellness – Alok Gadkar (General Manager & Executive Creative Director, The Classic Partnership Advertising)
Shortlist Jury:
PR – Alex Malouf (Corporate Communications Manager for the Arabian Peninsula, Procter & Gamble)
Media – Ravi Rao (CEO MENA Region, Mindshare)
Brand Experience & Activation – Juliana Paracencio (Regional Creative Director, Memac Ogilvy Dubai)
Direct – Kapil Bhimekar (Associate Creative Director, Y&R Dubai)
Speaking to Gulf News on his experience as an Awards Jury member at Cannes Lions 2018, Alok Gadkar from The Classic Partnership Advertising said:
“It was my first time for Cannes. It was an honor as much as it was a privilege.
No matter how prepared you are for it, you are never quite prepared. The excitement, the anticipation, the experience, they were unlike anything I had ever experienced before and I would classify this as an experience of a lifetime.
I was selected to judge in the Health & Wellness category and it had about 1462 entries waiting to be tried. That was about going through an average of 200 entries daily. What is really interesting in this category is, the work encompasses multiple disciplines ranging from social films, long format films, product innovation, radio, print, direct, media to all there is in the industry.
Our day typically begins at sharp 9 every morning and continues for at least 12 hours. On the final day of judging where the colour of the award had to be determined, the envelope was pushed and we finished at 2.30am the following day.
What’s really interesting though is despite the extended hours, we were never short on enthusiasm. The process of distilling the longlist to shortlist was challengingly fun. The atmosphere in the jury room was different every day. At times it was very silent and there were days where it was the complete opposite . By the end of the judging process, I had ticked two very important things: 1. Judged and selected the best work from around the world. 2. Judged and selected the best work from around the world with a new bunch of good friends.”
3.International Young Lions Competition
The seven Young Lions competitions (Film, Digital, Design, PR, Print, Marketers and Media) let the next generation of creative superstars demonstrate their creativity on a global stage. Taking place live in Cannes, the competitions are judged by members of the Cannes Lions Jury, and is the perfect opportunity to put young talent in the spotlight.
This year, Gaurav Maitreya and Sumer Kotwal (who entered as a freelance team) represented the UAE within the Digital category, and competed against 44 teams from around the world.
2018 International Young Lions Digital Winners:
Gold – Costa Rica
Silver – France
Bronze – Mexico
Speaking on his experience at the International Young Lions Digital Competition 2018, Gaurav Maitreya said:
“Cannes was a life-changing experience. That’s what I knew I’d say before I attended. But, it was so much more and less. More because rubbing shoulders with the world’s best for an entire week helped me set a new bar. Less because the industry seems to be in flux with budgets shrinking, mediocre content and no clear direction forward. But, no matter what, it holds a special place in advertising for a reason – winning a lion is still the pinnacle in the advertising industry.
The competition was spectacular. Competing with the best creatives from around the world was a rush I could only compare to the first time I ate sugar. The standard was high, but we felt we were right up there with them. It’s really anyone’s game.”
4.Roger Hatchuel Academy 2018
The Roger Hatchuel Academy – which runs parallel to the Cannes Lions Festival, trains the Lion winners of tomorrow with intensive mentorship from industry thought-leaders, marketing luminaries and the world’s most celebrated creatives.
Students follow a programme tailored to the current industry landscape, one which combines classroom sessions and a selection of official Festival content.
This year, Lina Ibrahim – a third year student of the American University in Dubai (AUD) who is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree of Fine Arts in Visual Communication (majoring in Advertising), was selected to represent the UAE at the prestigious Academy.
Speaking on her experience at the Roger Hatchuel Academy 2018, Lina Ibrahim said:
“This opportunity allowed me to meet anyone and everyone. Students, professionals, leaders and even celebrities. Every conversation I had and every talk I attended gave me new insights and increased my knowledge and understanding of the industry. The workshops I did alongside other students helped me better my skills. I learned how to be a better leader, communicator, and learned to become more open minded and diverse. This allowed me to become more confident in myself and my skills, which made me not only realize that my work is in fact remarkable, but also helped me fight for what I’m passionate about.
One of the most memorable workshops was a 48-hour brief which was presented to the jurors of Cannes Lions. This was the highlight of my trip as they told my group that our idea was clever and that they would like to see it come to life for next year’s festival as we were labeled the future creatives of the industry! Another bit of the trip that blew me away was the future technological innovations that were introduced to us by Google and other companies. Despite the fact that I was on a whole different continent, I was astounded to realize what a small world it really is. As even in France, I met mutual friends of mine and my family. I’m also glad that I made new friends and that we’ve grown so close together in such a short period of time. We already consider each other family and it was emotional leaving each other behind.
It’s safe to say that the Roger Hatchuel Academy was quite literally the best experience of my life and for that, I would like to thank Motive Val Morgan for the opportunity. I would also like to thank Maksimilian Kallhed and Abraham Abbi Asefaw for organizing the Roger Hatchuel Academy. It’s because of them that I am even more informed and passionate about advertising. I definitely recommend that everyone in the industry should visit Cannes Lions at some point in their lives. It is an unforgettable and seamless experience where you come out as a better and more improved version of yourself.”
5. “See It Be It” 2018
As part of the Cannes Lions Festival, the ‘See It Be It’ programme is an initiative that aims to create a platform for women who face diversity challenges in the industry and enables them to become the drivers for change in their respective regions and throughout the industry by providing access to high-profile leaders, executive coaching and mentoring opportunities with senior figures from across the industry.
This year’s ‘See It Be It’ programme included 20 participants in total from Lebanon, Uganda, USA, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, France, Denmark, Chile, India, Ecuador, Romania and UAE.
Prajakta More – Conceptual Creative from Geometry Global Dubai, represented the UAE at this year’s programme, and she’s written a comprehensive article on her experience which can be accessed here.
As the official UAE representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Motivate and Motivate Val Morgan would like to congratulate all winning agencies in the UAE, and wish those who represented the country at this year’s Festival a job well done!
Sources: Cannes Lions and Gulf News
As the official representatives of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Motivate and Motivate Val Morgan are delighted to announce that seven leading creatives from the UAE have been selected as jury members for this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
The seven leading creatives who will represent the UAE in the Awards and Shortlist jury panel under Entertainment, Design, Health & Wellness, PR, Media, Brand Experience & Activation and Direct categories include:
Awards Jury
Entertainment:
Walid Kanaan
Chief Creative Officer MENA
TBWA\RAAD
With more than 20 years of advertising experience across the Middle East and North Africa, Walid has worked on hundreds of multinational and regional brands. During his recent time as the creative leader at TBWA\RAAD, he has managed to create landmark talk-of-the-region campaigns that generated tremendous impact, including Nissan’s Camelpower, produced in conjunction with National Geographic Abu Dhabi, and the Nissan ‘She Drives’ and Louvre Abu Dhabi projects, among others.
His achievements also include esteemed international award shows such as the Cannes Lions, Clio, One Show, D&AD, Webby, Epica, New York Festivals and the London International Awards as well as Grand Prix at the Dubai Lynx, the Loeries, and many “Agency of the Year” titles.
After receiving the IAA Award for Best Advertising Diploma in Beirut, he began his professional journey with Publicis Beirut in 1992, and after four rewarding years, he joined Impact BBDO Beirut in 1997 as Creative Director.
For more than 18 years, Walid worked within the Impact BBDO network, covering numerous key MENA markets including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE, before moving back to Beirut in 2010 where he was promoted to Chief Creative Officer Levant & KSA.
In September 2015, Walid joined TBWA\RAAD as Chief Creative Officer Mena, propelling the network to win top ranks in regional award shows, culminating in TBWA\RAAD being named Agency of the Year at Dubai Lynx in 2018. He is based in Beirut and Dubai.
Design:
Ali Rez
Regional Creative Director – Middle East & Pakistan
BBDO Worldwide
Ranked amongst the top 15 creative directors and top 10 art directors in the world by the Advertising Big Won report – Ali Rez is one of the most awarded creative directors in the Middle East and South Asian region. He has won more than 150 advertising awards in his career which include Cannes Gold Lions, D&AD pencils, Gold Clios, Effies, One Show, LIA, Dubai Lynx and Asian AdStars, amongst many others.
Ali’s creative experience – shaped in the USA at Y&R and Goodby Silverstein Collaboratory, followed by a move to the Middle East – has contributed to BBDO being named Network of the Year at Cannes Lions, Effies, Dubai Lynx and AdStars, while his work led BBDO Pakistan to be named Agency of the Year by Campaign magazine in 2015 and 2016. In the UAE, Ali was part of the team that saw FP7 DXB crowned the most effective agency in the world by the Effies. Ali’s campaigns brought home the first Gold Cannes Lions, Gold Clios and D&AD pencils for Pakistan, and led the agency to Grand Prix wins at Dubai Lynx, Cristals, and AdStars.
His work has been celebrated beyond advertising shows and has been displayed in museums around the world – including the Tate UK and discussed in parliament leading to legislative change. Ali is also a recipient of a peace award by the United Nations and has been selected as a member of the jury at Clios, Effies, Spikes, Andy Awards and AdStars. Ali has spoken at TedX and several prestigious universities, including being invited to lecture on political art at the University of Oxford, London School of Economics and on advertising at Dubai Lynx.
Health & Wellness:
Alok Gadkar
General Manager & Executive Creative Director
The Classic Partnership
Graduated from the prestigious JJ School of Art and holder of a BFA Degree specializing in photography, Alok has close to 20 years of experience in the advertising industry. He has gone through the ranks of the industry and seen action with successful stints at Mudra Communications (DDB), Enterprise Nexus, Lowe Mena, Leo Burnett and currently, The Classic Partnership in Dubai.
Through the years, Alok has hauled an impressive collection of metals in Gold, Silver, Bronze and Grand Prix from the Cannes Lions, D&AD, D&AD Impact, One Show, Clio, The Global Awards, Dubai Lynx, Mena Cristal, Abby and AAAi Awards. A defined all-rounder; Alok has spearheaded work for local fashion brands, Splash and Iconic; for healthcare leaders, Aster and Medcare; and for shakers, Times of India and Economic Times.
A strong believer that the future of communication is integration and horizontality is the new vertical, Alok has sat on the Grand Jury panel of New York Festivals, Global Awards and KYIV Festival and has been a guest speaker at Dubai Lynx and MENA Cristal.
Shortlist Jury
PR:
Alex Malouf
Corporate Communications Manager for the Arabian Peninsula
Procter & Gamble
The first ever recipient of the Holmes Report Innovator Award in the Middle East, Alex Malouf has carved out a niche as a lively voice in the Middle East’s burgeoning media scene, combining razor-sharp observations with a keen understanding of the forces that underpin the region’s digital transformation. Much of which, no doubt, is informed by Alex’s day job at Procter & Gamble, where he manages reputational affairs for the Middle East’s largest FMCG.
Alex’s is also a highly visible advocate for modern public relations, serving in senior roles on numerous industry organizations, including the Middle East Public Relations Association, the International Association of Business Communicators and the Global Alliance. Malouf is also considered the first Gulf-based communicator who holds a Chartered Practitioner certification from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and an IABC Communications Management Professional.
Alex has previously served on a number of juries, including for the MEPRA Awards, the IABC Gold Quill Awards, the Global Alliance Comm Prix Awards, the Holmes Report Sabres, and the MENA Effie Awards.
Media:
Ravi Rao
CEO MENA Region
Mindshare
A management graduate with a career of 25+ years in advertising & media for Unilever, PepsiCo, P&G, Henkel, Mars, Wrigley, FedEx, Dubai Holding, Ravi Rao comes back for a second stint in the MENA region. Rao has a reputable track record in marketing, account management and media. He was earlier with Mindshare India managing South Asia and is now the CEO for Mindshare MENA.
He loves to paint, yearns to be an archaeologist in the far future, but continues to be fascinated with developments in new media.
Rao has been part of the jury for the prestigious honors below:
Brand Experience & Activation:
Juliana Paracencio
Regional Creative Director
Memac Ogilvy Dubai
Juliana is currently a Regional Creative Director at Memac Ogilvy and Mather in the Middle East and North Africa region, and is leading 15 offices from her hub in Dubai, working for clients such as IKEA, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Arab Bank, Burger King, GSK, Pfizer and many others.
At Ogilvy, she got to grips with an important piece of business in a challenging market in a remarkably short space of time. Her work for the business won 3 Golds, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze at the Cannes Lions, 5 Pencil at D&AD, leading it to be considered the ‘The 5th Most-Awarded Print/OOH campaign in the world by Gunn Report 2016’. This work also led to Ogilvy Jeddah and IKEA Saudi Arabia winning its first awards, and Ogilvy to win Cannes Lions Network of the Year. The campaign stood out especially for its Craft in Design, which led Juliana to be considered as one of the most-awarded art directors in 2016. In 2017, it wasn’t different. Juliana led Ogilvy Jeddah and IKEA Saudi Arabia to win at Cannes for the second time in a row. In the same year, she was recognized as Top 3 Best Art Directors by Lürzer’s Archive.
In São Paulo, she had the chance to learn from remarkable Brazilian art directors, that made and still make history in Cannes. It was an iconic start, of an award-winning art director’s career in 3 countries (Brazil, Germany and United Arab Emirates), 1 independent agency and 3 networks (Jung von Matt, Leo Burnett, Y&R, and Ogilvy).
Direct:
Kapil Bhimekar
Associate Creative Director
Y&R Dubai
Kapil has been in advertising for over 12 years now. He started in Mumbai, India after graduating in applied arts. He worked with Leo Burnett Mumbai for 3 years before moving to Dubai in 2009. His work has been awarded at shows like D&AD, Cannes Lions, One show, Clio, New York Festivals, LIA, Fab Awards London, Dubai Lynx, Loeries and Adfest Asia Pacific.
In 2015, the American Garden campaign he worked on (Little books of big consequences), was named the 10th Best Design Campaign by the Big Won Rankings. He also won the coveted D&AD Yellow Pencil for the same work. In 2017, he was Ranked No. 3 Art Director by The Loeries Awards.
Kapil has passion for illustration. His unique style has been recognized by world renowned designer Stefan Sagmeister. He has undertaken numerous art projects, leaving his unique black & white imprint across the city of Dubai; a passion he practices on weekends and after office hours.
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. Awards Jury members will join the jury committee in Cannes, France and will get complimentary hotel accommodation and registration to the Festival.
Judging at Cannes Lions
Each year, much interest is focused on the winners of Cannes Lions. The global campaigns, agencies, clients, networks and countries that have been successful are given a worldwide platform.
But before there are winners, there’s judging.
Enormous consideration is given to who will judge the work and how. The high calibre of our juries is matched by the high standards that we hold them to and the rigorous processes they undertake.
This is what sets Cannes Lions apart and ensures it continues to be the most respected creative accolade.
How the Judging Works
Judging consists of three rounds involving viewing, voting, discussion and awarding of Lions.
In the first round, judges consider and score each entry on a scale of one to nine based on whether they consider it a shortlist candidate. The second round is a review where judges will consider whether entries on this provisional Shortlist are worthy of being Shortlisted only, a possible winner or a definite winner. Typically about 10% of entries will make it to this stage.
In the final round, guided by the Jury President, judges review and debate entries before voting on whether they consider each a Gold, Silver or Bronze Lion winner, or Shortlist only. It takes a two-thirds majority vote to claim a Lion and only about 3% of entries will do so.
After voting, results are read out and juries confirm the decisions. Candidates for Grand Prix, selected from among Gold Lion winners, are also identified and further discussion follows before a last vote to determine the Grand Prix winner. Entries for public awareness messages, non-profit organisations and charities aren’t eligible in their category, but will be considered for the Cannes Lions Grand Prix for Good and Lions Health and United Nations Foundation Grand Prix for Good. As the Film Craft and Innovation awards are judged on the merit of the craft/ technology behind the idea, they are an exception to this rule. All Gold Lion winners from the Film Craft and Innovation Awards are eligible to win the Grand Prix within their own Lion.
This year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will run from 18th – 22nd June 2018
We at Motivate 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 of them.
Source: Cannes Lions
