Leo Burnett’s team wins inaugural Bright Sparks Competition at SLIM Effie Awards

Four young marketers from Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. (LBSI), the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide, recently emerged as the winners of the Bright Sparks Competition. Conducted by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM), the competition took place in the run up to the annual Effie Awards. The winning team from LBSI comprised Wasim Akram, Sarah Hassanally, Tasneem Dawoodbhoy and Nirasha Gunawardene, who competed against a total of 15 corporate and agency teams. 

The Effie Awards show, which is presented by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) to recognise creative effectiveness, marked the start of the award season by launching the Effectual Marketing Forum and the Bright Sparks Competition. Both pre-events were aimed at injecting new thinking and innovation into the local communications industry. As part of the Bright Sparks Competition, the teams were required to decode a brief and develop an effective communications campaign, which they then had to present to a panel of industry specialists. 

From left: Hemas Holding Executive Director/CEO Steven Enderby, Leo Burnett’s Nirasha Gunawardene and Sarah Hassanally, SLIM President Upul Adikari, Effie Awards 2015 Chairman Shaminda Perera, JDC Printing Technology Marketing Director Meliza Cyril, Leo Burnett’s Wasim Akram and Tasneem Dawoodbhoy  

Commenting on the Leo Burnett team’s win, Leo Burnett Solutions Inc. Managing Director Ranil de Silva stated, “I am extremely proud of our team for winning the inaugural Bright Sparks Competition, which is an important part of the Effie Awards program. At Leo Burnett, we have always placed a strong emphasis on the importance of developing young talent and in grooming the next generation of professionals. This focus has always been one of our top priorities. The entire agency is proud of our team for being the first ever winners of the highly coveted Bright Sparks competition. The Bright Sparks competition undoubtedly provides an important platform for young executives to showcase their skills and abilities whilst learning the importance of effective marketing communications from leading professionals in the industry. I would like to congratulate Wasim, Sarah, Tasneem and Nirasha on their outstanding achievement.”

Leo Burnett’s team at the Bright Sparks Competition won the grand prize of a three-day all-expenses paid trip to Singapore, which was sponsored by JDC Printing Technologies and HP Indigo. The team will also have the opportunity to spend half a day at the Hewlett Packard Centre of Excellence and will be able to present their winning campaign to the directors of the company. 

The Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) started presenting the Effie Awards program in Sri Lanka in 2008 and the show has become an annual highlight in the marketing communications industry, which celebrates not only creative excellence but the effectiveness of such creativity. The Effie awards show strives to cultivate a culture of accountability amongst the advertising fraternity by recognising communication campaigns that have delivered tangible results. The Effie Awards show recognises that the most important objective of all communication initiatives is to build a brand’s equity, which ultimately contributes to a consistent stream of revenue. Since 1968, winning an Effie has become a global symbol of achievement and today the award show honours all forms of effective marketing communications that is produced by companies and individuals from six continents and over 40 countries. 

As Leo Burnett celebrates its 16th year of operations in Sri Lanka and looks ahead to the future, the agency will continue to focus on its HumanKind approach to help build powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, while delivering gratifying results and gaining peer recognition in the industry.