UAE team nominated for Cannes Lions ad festival

The UAE advertising industry will be represented by Bilal Kerbaj and Mohamed Sami Ali at the International Young Lions Competition, which is to be held at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival from June 21 to 27.

The organisers of the 2009 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival have accepted the nomination of the two young advertising professionals from Fortune Promoseven Abu Dhabi, who will participate in the international competition.

Kerbaj and Ali were nominated after winning the Gold Award at the seventh 2009 UAE Young Lions creative competition last week. They are expected to compete with entrants from 35 other countries around the world.

The competition was held at Dubai Media City, where the top three winners were announced by Mohammad Abdulla, Executive Director of Dubai Media City, and Ian Fairservice, Managing Partner of the Motivate Group, representing Cannes Lions.

At the ceremony, Fairservice said: "We are proud of the high quality of work presented by UAE's young creative professionals from the advertising industry."

The Silver Award went to Timsy Vadhani and Omar Bitar from Euro RSCG Promopub, Dubai, while the bronze was awarded to Carlos Khoury and Toby Charles Gomez from AGA Dubai.

"This is the seventh year we have hosted the event and it gets better every year. This is reflected by the superb work created at the Young Lions competition."

Fairservice said all three winners had submitted excellent work, however, the Gold winner team received 60 per cent more votes than the two runner-ups.

The judging panel compised 38 senior marketing and advertising experts from agencies in the UAE.

The judges submitted their votes while visiting the exhibition held for the participating artworks from May 10 to 13. Seventeen teams from the UAE competed, each consisting of a copywriter and art director, both 28 years or below. The teams had nine hours to produce work of global quality based on a brief from Make-A-Wish Foundation UAE. The mandate was to produce an A3 print ad or poster to generate public awareness on the foundation's activities and objectives in the UAE.

Bilal Kerbaj, Art Director at Fortune Promoseven, Abu Dhabi, is going to Cannes for the second time, having been nominated two years ago to represent the UAE at the international festival.

Kerbaj said: "Gaining the privilege of flying to the Cannes International Advertising Festival is exciting not only because of the prospects of winning in an international competition but also enjoying the great experience of being surrounded by the world's creative gurus. It would change the whole perspective on what advertising is."

He said: "The Cannes competition is going to be different. We are going to be evaluated by creative professionals, rather than clients."

Timsy Vadhani, Senior Art Director, Euro RSCG Dubai, said: "The competition was very challenging because it represented a very simple idea and targeted a mass audience. It is quite difficult and requires a higher level of creativity to be able to convey a message that reaches out to everyone."

Vadhani said: "Winning in this competition is a big deal. My agency was very excited about it and many of my colleagues were there to support us. I hope to be there again next year and I am looking forward to a Gold."

Fairservice said the votes were cast independent from the organisers and required the judges to read the client brief thoroughly and choose the best work.

While three winners were announced, all the contestants pinned their hopes on the top award of representing the UAE in the International Young Lions Competition at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in the south of France this June.

The International Advertising Festival – Cannes Lions – is considered the largest gathering of advertising professionals and advertisers from across the world, as well as the most prestigious annual advertising awards.

More than 10,000 registered delegates from 94 countries and around 12,000 total visitors from the advertising and allied industries are expected to attend this event to celebrate the best of creativity across all media mix, discuss industry issues and network with one another.

More than 28,000 ads from all over the world will be showcased and judged at the festival.

Winning companies receive the highly coveted Lion trophy, honouring the most creative TV/cinema, print, outdoor, interactive, radio, design, sales promotion, integrated advertising, as well as the best media and direct marketing solutions.

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