Leo Burnett wins coveted Spike for Effectiveness and 2 Silver Spikes at Spikes Asia

• Leo Burnett was the only Sri Lankan agency to be recognised at Spikes Asia 2015

From left: LBSI Director – Digital Strategy Marsh Dodanwela, LBSI Junior Art Director Nadeera Dharshana, LBSI Managing Director Ranil de Silva, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific Chairman and CEO Jarek Ziebinski and Colenso BBDO Managing Director Nick Garrett

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI), the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide, was the only agency from Sri Lanka to be recognised at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity 2015. 

Creating history for the country once again, Leo Burnett won the highly coveted Spike for Creative Effectiveness for their ‘Mosquito Repellent Newspaper’ – which remains the single most awarded creative idea in Sri Lanka to date. 

The agency also secured two Silver Spikes in the Outdoor category, for the ‘15 kg Extra’ campaign which was created for the dynamic online travel company – findmyfare.com. The agency team received the awards on behalf of the entire team at Leo Burnett, at the exclusive Spikes Asia awards ceremony which took place in Singapore last week.  

As a network, Leo Burnett Worldwide was named the second most awarded creative network in the Asia Pacific region, with the Colombo office contributing to the network’s overall performance alongside the Melbourne, Sydney, Bangkok, Jakarta, Manila, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai offices. Spikes Asia is a collaboration between the Lions Festivals and Haymarket. The festival and awards recognise the best work in the industry and provide the region’s creative communications industry with a platform to network and exchange ideas. Spikes Asia is the region’s most prestigious awards show and brings together the finest creative thinkers from around the world. 

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI) Managing Director Ranil de Silva stated, “We are extremely honoured to have once again won the coveted Spike for Creative Excellence and two Silver Spikes at the Spikes Asia Festival of Creativity 2015. This recognition is a testament to our on-going commitment to delivering world-class standards of creativity to our clients in Sri Lanka.  Each and every day, we relentlessly strive to be the best in the world bar none. This pursuit of excellence is something that our founder, the late Leo Burnett himself believed in. I would like to commend the entire team for conceptualising and executing these two powerful ideas, I would also like to thank our valued clients for giving us the opportunity to bring these ideas to life.” 

For the April holidays, findmyfare.com was offering an additional baggage allowance of 15 kg with every airline ticket purchased. To promote this offer, Leo Burnett designed a series of distinctive posters featuring those unusually shaped objects that travellers would love to carry but are unable to take with them due to the weight restrictions. The Leo Burnett campaign featured items such as a guitar, golf bag and surf board along with the regular luggage to communicate the benefits of the additional 15 kilograms. This campaign for Sri Lanka’s largest online air travel retailer enabled the company to drive bookings via its portal. The posters communicated the offer through its interesting visuals and directed passengers to the brand’s website. 

Over its 16 years of operation in Sri Lanka, Leo Burnett has built many powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, whilst delivering gratifying results and gaining peer recognition in the industry. The agency’s HumanKind philosophy helps it to derive an enduring purpose for brands and recognises that ‘Acts’ and creativity have the ability to transform the way a person thinks, feels and ultimately, behaves.