Leo Burnett wins Effies for five brands

Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI), the Sri Lankan office of the internationally acclaimed advertising agency, made its mark in the annals of the Sri Lankan advertising industry yet again by winning five Effies comprising two silver and three bronze awards at the Effie Awards Sri Lanka.  

Leo Burnett’s solid performance was even more remarkable considering the agency was able to achieve recognition for a cross section of clients for five different brands representing five different categories, thus demonstrating the breadth and competency of the agency in delivering effective communications solutions for a wide and varied range of clients and their brands.

Commenting on the wins at the Effie Awards, Ranil de Silva, Managing Director, Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. stated: “My team and I are extremely honoured to have received five awards at this year’s Effies. Our creative successes both locally and globally are further augmented by these wins as it clearly demonstrates that our work is both creative and delivers the desired results.

“We at Leo Burnett believe that ‘creativity has the power to transform human behaviour’, and these five awards are a testament to our belief. These awards recognise not only the prowess of our creative teams but also of the brand leaders and the thinkers within the team. So it is a fitting tribute to great insights, thinking, ideas and executions. Winning these Effie awards reaffirms the effectiveness of our work and our ability to produce results across a broad range of categories for a diverse client portfolio.”

Further commenting on the wins, de Silva added, “These wins would not have been possible without our clients, who are an invaluable partner to our pursuits. I would like to thank the heads and marketing teams at Nestle, Commercial Bank, People’s Leasing, and Stage Light and Magic for giving us the opportunity to jointly create winning campaigns for their brands. ’’

The two silvers awarded to the agency were in the packaged food and entertainment categories. The first silver was awarded to Nestle for the ‘Maggi Devilled’ campaign. The second silver was won in the entertainment category, for the ‘Pusswedilla-Arsetolk’ campaign for the client Stage Light and Magic Inc., where the agency created and launched a new language, Arsetolk – a hybrid between English and the Sri Lankan native tongue, Sinhala.

Winning one of the three bronze awards in the beverages category was the campaign created by the agency for Nescafe. The Hey-ya song and dance routine created by the agency for Nescafe propelled the brand to new heights.

Bagging a bronze in the financial services and product category was the Peoples Leasing Company’s IPO campaign. This integrated campaign created by the agency established PLC as the leader in the leasing industry whilst highlighting its financial prowess and generating excitement amongst the retail investing publics.

The Commercial Bank Savings commercial was awarded Leo Burnett’s third bronze in the corporate reputation and professional category. This commercial derived from a deep human insight and developed on a human story, differentiated the brand and its offering in a vastly crowded category.

Commenting on this success, Subhash Pinnapola, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. stated, ‘‘At Leo Burnett we firmly believe that big ideas will always deliver big results. These awards we have won are a clear demonstration of this belief. I appreciate the work of the entire agency team and the support of every client who made these awards possible.”  Murtaza Tajbhouy, Director – Brand Planning at Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. noted, “There are only two things that matter – people and their behaviour. In this pursuit, we are actively engaged in trying to understand people and their behaviour. It is this understanding which enabled us to create these winning ideas. They are not just creative achievements. These campaigns are communications which have successfully delivered results for our most valued partners, our clients.”

On behalf of the team at Leo Burnett, Chrishani Kotelawela, Chief Operating Officer stated, “We are very grateful to SLIM for putting together this awards show and for giving us this recognition for our work. We do hope that the Effie Awards and SLIM continue grow from strength to strength.”