Leo Burnett bags gold at Sumathi Awards

Tuesday, 19 November 2013 00:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI) – the local office of creative giant Leo Burnett Worldwide won the much acclaimed ‘Commercial of the Year’ award at the prestigious Sumathi Awards, the biggest festival of the Sri Lankan television industry, held recently at the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Exhibition and Convention Centre. Leo Burnett won gold for the TV commercial produced for the Coca-Cola Company’s brand Minute Maid Mixed Fruit. The commercial titled ‘palathuru kottu’ was created by Leo Burnett to introduce the mixed fruit variant under the Minute Maid brand. The agency’s challenge was to differentiate Minute Maid from the other mixed fruit drinks, which is the biggest category in the fruit drinks market. The idea was bought to life with a story built around a fruit vendor, a common sight on the streets of Sri Lanka. The use of a popular personality for this role enhanced the memorability of this campaign. This commercial introduced two new terms; ‘amba-pera’ and ‘palathuru kottu’ in day to day parlance making this commercial very popular. In fact on repeated studies this commercial has secured the highest unaided recall and won the country’s most popular commercial at the Peoples Awards. The agency also bagged a Merit Award for the TV commercial produced for Commercial Bank Savings. In order to communicate and strike a chord with the larger base of Sri Lankan consumers the commercial was created to help the Sri Lankan consumers understand the importance of saving their hard earned money in the right place. This commercial beautifully narrated a story by deploying a father and his school going daughter. Commenting on the wins, Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. Managing Director Ranil de Silva stated: “We are happy to have won awards at the Sumathi Awards from its inception. In fact for several consecutive years we won the gold award for our work and we are happy to have won the gold once again and to have also received a merit award. This award is a testament that Leo Burnett is an agency that truly understands the Sri Lankan consumer and the local idiom. I am especially grateful to each of the clients, the Coca Cola Company and Commercial Bank for the faith they had in our ideas and the agency team. Such successes would not be possible without a meaningful partnership.” The Sumathi Awards, now in its 18th year, recognises outstanding work done for Sri Lankan TV ranging from teledramas and news programs to documentaries and advertising. Leo Burnett Sri Lanka was able to once again make its mark in the local advertising industry by reinforcing the agency’s ability to understand the local ethos and sensitivities to build powerful brands to create meaningful partnerships with its people. This recognition further demonstrates the agency’s creative supremacy as Leo Burnett was awarded the ‘Rest of South Asia Creative Agency of the Year’ and ‘South Asia Creative Agency of the Year’ at the Campaign Asia Awards 2012 at the end of last year. More recently the agency was rewarded with metal at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Spikes Asia and Adfest for its work. This places Leo Burnett as Sri Lanka’s most creative agency which has the talent, skills and ability to create compelling communications which engages with people in a meaningful and surprising manner to change their behaviour to deliver gratifying results for its clients.